Exam 2 study guide
brown dwarf
"Failed" star; Star not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion.
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter isChoose one: A. caused by the interaction between the magnetosphere and Io. B. a storm that has been raging for more than 300 years. C. about the size of North America. D. a surface feature.
B. a storm that has been raging for more than 300 years. With a length of 25,000 km and a width of 12,000 km, the Great Red Spot could comfortably hold two Earths side by side within its boundaries.
Why is Jupiter reddish in color? Choose one: A. because it is rusty, like Mars B. because of the composition of its atmosphere C. because it is moving away from Earth very quickly D. because it is very hot
B. because of the composition of its atmosphere Different chemicals in the Jovian planetary atmospheres reflect sunlight differently, giving the clouds different colors.
The differences in composition among the giant planets support the model of the formation of stars and planets because the model predicts that:Choose one: A. planets more distant from the Sun will have more heavy elements. B. more massive planets will hold onto more hydrogen and helium. C. the elements were differentiated when the Solar System formed. D. less massive planets will hold onto more hydrogen and helium.
B. more massive planets will hold onto more hydrogen and helium The massive Jupiter was able to gravitationally retain the most amount of hydrogen and helium, followed by Saturn, and then the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.
The interiors of the giant planets are heated by gravitational contraction. We know this becauseChoose one: A. the cores are very hot. B. the giant planets radiate more energy than they receive from the Sun. C. the giant planets are mostly atmosphere. D. the giant planets have strong magnetic fields.
B. the giant planets radiate more energy than they receive from the Sun. Eventually this gravitational contraction will stop, meaning that the giant planets will begin to cool off and the convection taking place in their atmospheres will slow down.
If rings are observed around a planet, this indicates thatChoose one: A. the rings formed with the planet. B. there is a recent source of ring material. C. the planet is newly formed. D. the rings are made of fine dust.
B. there is a recent source of ring material. For example, Saturn's moon Enceladus has been observed to be ejecting ice particles that are gradually adding to the outer ring
choose all the statements below that are correct. Note that 273 K = 0°C = 32°F. Choose one or more: A.The Earth absorbs sunlight and reemits it in the ultraviolet. B.The Earth has reached thermal equilibrium, emitting the same amount of energy into space as it absorbs from the Sun. C.It would be beneficial to humanity to develop technology that would eliminate the greenhouse effect on Earth. D.If there were no greenhouse effect, liquid water would not exist on the surface of the Earth
B.The Earth has reached thermal equilibrium, emitting the same amount of energy into space as it absorbs from the Sun. D.If there were no greenhouse effect, liquid water would not exist on the surface of the Earth E.The more carbon dioxide there is in an atmosphere, the stronger the greenhouse effect will be.
bipolar jets
Material streaming away in opposite directions from either side of the accretion disk of a young star (be able to recognize a picture of this).
Redshift and Blueshift
Objects approaching you are blueshifted (look bluer), objects moving away are redshifted (look redder)
planetesimal
One of the small asteroid-like bodies that formed the building blocks of the planets.
The following chemicals either have been or are now part of terrestrial planet atmospheres. Determine whether each is found in either a planet's primary or secondary atmosphere
Primary Atmosphere: Hydrogen, Helium Secondary Atmosphere: Nitrogen, Water, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide
The oxygen molecules in Earth's atmosphere
are the result of life
Place in chronological order the following steps in the formation and evolution of Earth's atmosphere:
1. Hydrogen and helium are capured from the phytoplanetary disk 2. Hydrogen and helium are lost from the atmosphere 3. Volcanoes, coments, and asteroids increase the inventory of volatile matter 4. Life releases CO2 from the surface into the atmosphere 5. Plant life converts CO2 to oxygen 6. Oxygen enables the growth of new life-forms
protostar
A contracting cloud of gas and dust; the earliest stage of a star's life
Saturn's bright rings are located within the Roche limit of Saturn. This supports the theory that these ringsChoose one: A. are formed of moons torn apart by tidal stresses. B. formed at the same time that Saturn formed. C. are relatively recent. D. are temporary.
A. are formed of moons torn apart by tidal stresses.
Individual cloud layers in the giant planets have different compositions. This happens because Choose one: A. different volatiles freeze out at different temperatures. B. the winds are all in the outermost layer. C. there is no convection on the giant planets. D. the Coriolis effect only occurs close to the "surface" of the inner core.
A. different volatiles freeze out at different temperatures. Water is the only substance in Earth's lower atmosphere that can condense into clouds, but the giant planets have a variety of materials that can form clouds at low temperatures.
The chemical compositions of Jupiter and Saturn are most similar to those ofChoose one: A. the Sun. B. the terrestrial planets. C. Uranus and Neptune. D. their moons.
A. the Sun. Jupiter and Saturn are composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, just like the Sun.
Deep in the interiors of the giant planets, water is still a liquid even though the temperatures are tens of thousands of degrees above the boiling point of water. This can happen becauseChoose one: A. the pressure inside the giant planet is so high. B. the density inside the giant planet is so high. C. the outer Solar System is so cold. D. space has very low pressure.
A. the pressure inside the giant planet is so high. The state of matter depends on temperature and pressure.
Select all that apply. The atmospheric greenhouse effect is present on A.Earth.B.the Moon.C.Venus.D.Mars
A.Earth.C.Venus.D.Mars
As Earth's temperature rises, how are Earth's oceans affected?Choose one or more: A.Ocean currents change. B.CO2 is released from the deep ocean. C.Sea level rises because of expansion. D.Sea level rises as meltwater is added.
A.Ocean currents change. B.CO2 is released from the deep ocean. C.Sea level rises because of expansion. D.Sea level rises as meltwater is added.
What causes the auroras of the giant planets? Choose one or more: A.charged particles B.strong electrical currents C.tilted magnetic fields D.strong magnetic fields
A.charged particles D.strong magnetic fields
Studying climate on other planets is important to understanding climate on Earth because
A.other planets offer a range of extremes to which Earth can be compared. B.other planets can be used to test atmospheric models. C.underlying physical processes are the same on every planet. D.comparing climates on other planets helps scientists understand which factors are important.
primary atmosphere
An atmosphere, composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, that forms at the same time as its host planet.
The expansion of ocean water as it heats is a much larger contributor to sea-level rise than the addition of water from melting ice. What implications does this have for global sea levels as greenhouse gases continue to accumulate and the temperature of the oceans continues to rise
As ocean temperatures continue to rise, expansion of ocean water will lead to larger rises in sea levels than what would be expected due to the melting of ice on land alone
The words weather and climate A.mean essentially the same thing.B.refer to very different size scales.C.refer to very different time scales.
B.refer to very different size scales.C.refer to very different time scales.
Measurements of the magnetic fields of the giant planets indicate what about the interior?Choose one: A. The interiors are made of giant, solid pieces of magnetic iron. B. The innermost layers of the interior are made of rock. C. The interiors contain flowing, electrically conductive materials. D. The interiors contain multiple cloud layers, all the way down to the center.
C. The interiors contain flowing, electrically conductive materials. The giant planets create tremendous magnetic fields because of the incredibly strong electrical currents deep within their interiors.
Metallic hydrogen is not:Choose one: A. a result of high temperatures and pressures. B. hydrogen that acts like a metal. C. a metal that acts like hydrogen. D. common in the cores of giant planets.
C. a metal that acts like hydrogen.
Stellar occultations are the most accurate way to measure the _________ of a Solar System object.Choose one: A. mass B. density C. diameter D. temperature
C. diameter Both the amount of time that the star is hidden and how fast the planet is moving gives the size of the planet. How would an astronomer determine how fast the planet is moving?
When viewed through a telescope, Uranus and Neptune are distinctly bluish green in color. What gas is responsible for this striking appearance?Choose one: A. waterB. hydrogenC. methaneD. helium
C. methane Methane strongly absorbs red light and scatters blue light. Additionally, the absence of clouds prevents other scattering effects from washing out the strong color.
One prediction about climate change is that as the planet warms, ice in the polar caps and in glaciers will melt. This certainly seems to be occurring to the vast majority of glaciers and ice sheets around the planet. It is reasonable to ask whether this actually matters, and why. Here you will explore several consequences of the melting ice on Earth.Google "Earth at night" to find a satellite picture of Earth, taken at night. The bright spots on the image are population centers. In general, the brighter they are, the more people live there. Coastal regions are, by definition, near sea level. If both the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets melted completely, sea levels would rise by 60-80 meters.How would a sea-level rise of 60-80 meters affect the global population? (Remember that 1 meter = 3.3 feet, so every 3 meters = 1 story of a building.)
Coastal regions would be flooded, driving everyone inland
Which of the giant planets has the most extreme seasons?Choose one: A. JupiterB. NeptuneC. SaturnD. Uranus
D. Uranus With such a tilt (about 98 degrees), try to imagine how the stars would appear to move from day-to-day from different latitudes, and even more challenging, try to imagine how constellations would appear to shift (if at all!) as Uranus progresses around the Sun.
An occultation occurs whenChoose one: A. the Sun passes between Earth and a planet. B. a planet passes between Earth and the Sun. C. a star passes between Earth and a planet. D. a planet passes between Earth and a star.
D. a planet passes between Earth and a star.
Uranus and Neptune are different from Jupiter and Saturn in that Uranus and NeptuneChoose one: A. are closer to the Sun. B. have no rings. C. have no magnetic field. D. have a higher percentage of ices in their interiors.
D. have a higher percentage of ices in their interiors. Uranus and Neptune have a greater percentage of ices in their interior because of there great distance from the Sun where temperatures are extremely cold. This allows volatiles with the lowest boiling points to condense and gather about the cores of these planets.
Zonal winds on the giant planets are stronger than those on the terrestrial planets becauseChoose one: A. the giant planets have more thermal energy. B. the moons of the giant planets provide additional pull. C. the moons of a giant planet feed energy to their planet through the magnetosphere. D. the giant planets rotate faster.
D. the giant planets rotate faster.
Direct Imaging Method
Direct imaging uses infrared wavelengths to observe planets. This works because at infrared wavelengths a star like the Sun is only 100 times brighter than Jupiter, compared to a billion (109) times brighter at visual wavelengths. This method works for planets that are very far from their stars, so an orbit might take hundreds or thousands of years for a planet discovered by this method.
doppler effect
Doppler effect in physics is defined as the increase (or decrease) in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move towards (or away from) each other. Waves emitted by a source travelling towards an observer get compressed.
If Saturn's rings are made of individual small particles at varying distances from the planet, and given what you know of the laws of physics as governed by gravity, how would you expect these particles to behave? Choose one: A. The particles closer to Saturn will orbit more slowly around the planet than those farther away. B. All of the particles will hover motionlessly within the rings with respect to the stars. C. All of the particles will orbit around Saturn in lockstep with the planet's rotation, so that each particle makes one full revolution around the planet each time the planet rotates once around its axis. D. The particles will all have completely random orbital speeds and directions around the planet. E. The particles closer to Saturn will orbit faster around the planet than those farther away.
E. The particles closer to Saturn will orbit faster around the planet than those farther away. Newton's law of gravity applies in this situation. Not only do particles closer to the planet have a shorter distance to travel around a single orbit, but they will also be moving faster due to the stronger gravitational force closer to the planet.
refractory vs. volatile
Ref: high boiling point, solids at high temps, formed rock planets: Merc, Ven, Earth, Mars, Astroid belt Volatile: low boiling point, condense at low temps: Jup, saturn, uranus, neptune
secondary atmosphere
The gases outgassed from a planet's interior; rich in carbon dioxide.
gas giants
The name given to the first four outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
terrestrial planets
The name given to the four inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Hadley circulation is broken into zonal winds by
The planets rapid rotation
Imagine (or try!) an experiment, where you put a bowl of ice on top of a glass of water. If the bowl had a hole in it, think of what would happen to the water level in the cup as the ice melts.The water in the cup is analogous to the ocean, and the ice in the bowl is analogous to ice on land. Given the results of this experiment, what can you predict will happen to global sea levels when the Antarctic ice sheet, which sits on land, melts?
The water level will increase
Venus is hot and Mars is cold primarily because
Venus has a much thicker atmosphere
accretion disk
a flat, rotating disk of gas and dust surrounding a condensed mass, such as a young stellar object, a forming planet, or a collapsed star in a binary pair
radial velocity method
a technique used to detect extrasolar planets by looking for tiny backwards and forwards motion of the central star, due to the changing direction of the gravitational pull from an (unseen) orbiting exoplanet.
The main greenhouse gases in the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets are
carbon dioxide and water vapor
The Coriolis effect causes winds to
circulate east and west
Wien's law
is the relationship b/w temperature and how much light an object emits (luminosity) at specific wavelengths • Hotter →shorter wavelengths
The ____________ of greenhouse gas molecules affects the temperature of an atmosphere
number
transit method
searches for transits and eclipses by carefully monitoring a star system's brightness over an extended period of time
accretion
slow growth in size or amount
self-gravity
the gravitational interaction of all the parts of the body
Auroras are the result of
the interaction of particles from the Sun and Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field
angular momentum
the quantity of rotation of a body, which is the product of its moment of inertia and its angular velocity.
wobble astrometric measurement
the slight to and fro motion of a star caused by an orbiting planet
luminosity
the true brightness of an object
All weather and wind on Earth are a result of convection in the
troposphere
The ozone layer protects life on Earth from
ultraviolet radiation
