Science (earth and space) exam first 9 weeks

Why caused the overall shape of the protoplanets to be more rounded?

As a result, the materials in some protoplanets separated into metallic cores. As more and more bodies clumped together, gravity caused the overall shape of the protoplanets to become more rounded.

Where in the solar system are the most asteroids located?

Between mars and merury: A and B

Where in the solar system is the Kuiper belt located?

Between neptune and pluto_ c and D

Where in the solar system is the Oort cloud located?

Beyond neptune

What are comets composed of?

It is composed of ice, frozen gases, rocks, and dust.

A planet is an astronomical object that meets the following criteria:

It is in orbit around the sun. - It has enough mass to assume a nearly round shape. - It has cleared the neighborhood of smaller bodies around its orbit.

The following diagram shows Earth at the point in its orbit farthest from the sun. (The diagram is not drawn to scale.Based on this diagram, which of these statements is correct?

It is summer in the Northern Hemisphere because that hemisphere is tilted toward the sun

Long peroid comments

Long-period comets take more than 200 years to orbit the sun.

A student learns that a meteorite impact was likely responsible for the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs. He worries that the next meteorite that strikes Earth's surface will trigger a similar extinction event that kills off humans. Is the student's fear justified?

No. Although meteorite impacts are relatively common, most meteorites burn up in the atmosphere and are quite small when they reach Earth's surface

A student argues that all planets in the solar system are equally capable of sustaining life. Is the student correct?

No. Conditions unique to Earth help it to sustain life. The other planets lack these characteristics; therefore, they are much less likely to sustain life.

A student argues that Pluto cannot be a trans-Neptunian object because Pluto is a planet, and trans-Neptunian objects include only minor bodies in the solar system. Is the student correct?

No. Pluto is a dwarf planet, not a planet. Therefore, Pluto is a trans-Neptunian object

These minor bodies include

Our own solar system contains eight planets that orbit a central star, the sun

Many people used to think that our solar system was the center of the universe. What is wrong with this statement?

Our solar system is located within one of the outer spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy, one of billions of other galaxies in the universe

Where in this diagram of the Milky Way galaxy is our solar system most likely located?

Outer spriral :A

Planet A, planet B, and planet C all have equal masses. Planet C is located between planets A and B, but planet A is twice as far away from planet C as planet B is. Which planet exerts the greater gravitational pull on planet C?

Planet B

What advantage does a reflecting telescope have over a refracting telescope?

Reflecting telescopes can be made much larger than refracting telescopes.

Where do scientists think the first reactions that led to the origin of life occurred?

Scientists think that the first reactions that led to the origin of life occurred in water.

Short period comments

Short-period comets such as those from the Kuiper belt complete their orbits in 200 years or less.

How do solar nebulae and planetary nebulae differ?

Solar nebulae result from the explosions of massive stars, whereas planetary nebulae are ejected by smaller stars.

Biogeochemical Cycles:

Some biogeochemical cycles that are critical for life include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the oxygen cycle, the phosphorus cycle, the sulfur cycle, and the water cycle.

When star A dies, it results in a supernova. When star B dies, it results in a white dwarf. Which of the following inferences about these stars is most likely true?

Star A has produced a solar nebula, whereas star B has produced a planetary nebula.

Several conditions that make Earth suitable to sustain life:

The active cycling of matter and flow of energy The planet's mass, which helps retain a substantial atmosphere Its location in the habitable zone of the solar system (where temperature ranges allow water to exist in liquid form)

Which answer best states Newton's law of gravity?

The attractive force of gravity between two objects is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Why are the inner planets called rocky, terrestrial planets?

The inner planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. These planets are called rocky or terrestrial planets because they have crusts and mantles composed primarily of silicate rocks and minerals, like Earth. The inner planets are smaller and denser than the outer planets.

Which statement best compares the four inner planets and four outer planets?

The inner planets are smaller and heavier; the outer planets are larger and lighter.

How does the following image demonstrate parallax?

The position of the mountain appears to change when viewed through two different perspectives.

Currently, the most commonly accepted hypothesis describing the origin of our solar system is called the

nebular hypothesis

What kind of material are asteroids composed of?

of the same materials as planets

The objects that orbit the sun include

planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and comets, as well as tiny particles of space dust.

Oort cloud is part of the trans-Neptunian region, which lies beyond the farthest planet in our solar system

read in front of card

Of all of the planets, Earth has the_______moon compared to its size.

smaller

What does the giant impact hypothesis state?

states that the moon formed as a result of a collision between early Earth and a Mars-sized object.

Many of these objects are_______ left over after the________ ______ formed

- the scraps -solar system

-Stony -Stony-iron -Iron

-A stony meteoroid derives from the crust of planets or asteroids. Stony meteoroids resemble rocks on Earth, but they are distinguished by a blackened surface. -Stony-iron meteoroids are rare, making up only 2 percent of meteoroids. They are composed of iron, nickel, and silicate minerals, which suggests that these minor bodies formed in the core or mantle of a larger planet. -An iron meteoroid formed in the core of ancient planets or asteroids. Many iron meteoroids are located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Iron meteoroids are composed primarily of iron with trace amounts of nickel or other elements. Iron meteoroids are characterized by a high specific gravity. They are strongly attracted to magnets.

Asteroids are classified as __________, ___________ (stony), or ________

-carbonaceous -siliceous -metallic

Also, Earth's atmosphere helps provide_______ and _______ _____ across the earths surface

-insulation -heat -transfer

Meteoroids are much_________

-smaller

Scientists identify a comet 10 AU from Earth. What is the object's distance from Earth in light-years?

0.000159 light years

An astronomer locates an asteroid of considerable size in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Approximately how many AU from Earth is the asteroid if it is 333 million miles away? (1 mile = 1.6 km)(1 AU = 1.50x108km)

3.55 AU

According to the most commonly accepted hypothesis, approximately how old is our solar system?

5 billion years

Approximately how many astronomical units are equivalent to one light-year?

63,000 AU

Carbaceous

A carbonaceous asteroid, also called a C-type asteroid, is composed primarily of carbon. It is the most common type, accounting for 75 percent of asteroids.

What is a comet?

A comet is a cosmic dirty snowball.

What happens when the comet orbits close to the sun?

A comet's orbit brings it very close to the sun. When this happens, the comet heats up and releases dust and gas. The materials stream away from the comet nucleus, producing tails that stretch millions of kilometers and are visible to the unaided eye. The sun and solar wind shape the gas (or ion) tail and direct it away from the sun at all times. The dust tail curves, following the path of the comet.

Which answer best explains how most scientists think that planets form?

A rotating cloud of space dust and gases begins to flatten and condense, forming a new star; the remaining matter forms an accretionary disc around the star, gradually coalescing to form planets.

Siliceous

A siliceous asteroid, also called an S-type asteroid, is primarily silica with a small amount of iron. S-type asteroids account for 17 percent of asteroids

What does the iron core partly made of liquid water and can generate a strong magnetic field result in?

Earth likely gained a large amount of mass from this collision. However, the impact blasted a large amount of mantle material from both Theia and Earth into space. Some scientists suggest that the impact and the accretion of material onto Earth's surface released such an enormous amount of energy that Earth's outer shell melted, forming an ocean of magma.

Why is the Earth's mass important

Earth's mass helps the planet retain a substantial atmosphere. Much of the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and water used by living organisms are recycled through Earth's atmosphere.

Given that electromagnetic waves generally travel at the same average speed, what is the relationship between wave frequency and wavelength in an electromagnetic wave?

Electromagnetic waves that have a higher frequency have a shorter wavelength and vice versa.

Steps to formation of protoplanets

Eventually, these bodies increased in size to a few thousand kilometers in diameter. These larger bodies are called protoplanets. It is estimated that collisions of planetesimals produced a few hundred protoplanets in the early solar system.

Certain minor bodies and highly concentrated in specific regions of the solar system.

For example: a patch of asteroids orbits between Mars and Jupiter.

According to Kepler's first law of planetary motion, which of the following diagrams most nearly represents a planet's orbit around a star?

Image of elepictal with the sun going around and the sun to the right

Why does a meteor glow?

It burns up as it enters Earth's atmosphere.

Which statement does NOT correctly identify a planet in the solar system?

Mars is an outer terrestrial planet.

Known laws of physics

Matter can not be created nor destroyed, but it can change forms

What is a meteorite?

Meteoroids that survive the trip through Earth's atmosphere and reach the planet's surface are called meteorites. Tens of thousands of meteorites land on Earth every year. Most of these are quite small, but on a few instances, larger meteorites have hit the Earth.

Where do most asteroids in the solar system exist? What is that called?

Most asteroids in the solar system exist in a region between Mars and Jupiter called the asteroid belt. The asteroids in this region do not move in a cohesive fashion—they collide and break apart, forming smaller asteroids.

Expansion of the universe

Most galaxies have redshift, but few will have a blueshift

Cosmic background radiation

Most of the matter in the universe is composed of hydrogen and helium

Relative abundance's of different elements

Nearly all of the light in the universe was released at the same time.

Many trans-Neptunian objects are part of the Kuiper Belt, a sphere of debris and short-period comets 30-50 AU from the sun.

Read the front of the card

Living things on Earth require a set of essential elements for their chemical functioning. Those elements are:

These elements include carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S). The first four of these elements (C, H, N, and O) are among the most common chemically reactive elements in the universe.

A variety of mechanisms cycle these essential elements. The mechanisms include:

These include plate tectonics, the rock cycle, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, food chains and food webs, and important biogeochemical cycles.

Inner planets:

These planetesimals later formed the rocky, terrestrial inner planets.

What is the Oort Cloud?

This region is called the Oort cloud. It is not really a cloud but a collection of billions of comets.

A meteoroid that reaches Earth's surface is called

a meteorite

When the sun shines through a rain storm, the sunlight can be separated into a rainbow. Which of the following instruments is most like the raindrops in this scenario?

a prism

What is meant by a habitable zone of the solar system?

a region around a star that is considered favorable to support life.

What is a comet?

a small body of ice, rock, and dust that orbits the sun

Most scientists think that planets form when the matter in an accretionary disc begins to coalesce (or come together). According to this hypothesis, the accretionary disc surrounds ________.

a star

Which of the following minor bodies could be a trans-Neptunian object?

all of the above

Most meteoroids _______________________________ up in the atmosphere.

are no larger than a pebble, and they burn

How are planets thought to have formed?

as matter in a disc of dust and gas surrounding a young sun clumped together by accretion.

Which of the following is generally considered to be a minor body in the solar system?

asteroid

In fact, most meteorids are probably chunks of _________ and _________

asteroids and comets

Where is the asteroid belt located?

between Mars and Jupite

The solar system contains several planets with crusts and mantles composed primarily of silicate rocks and minerals. Where are these planets located?

between the sun and the asteroid belt only

Which of the following regions in the solar system contains trans-Neptunian objects?

both A and B

All of the mechanisms and cycles are driven by:

by solar energy,

What does the ice consist of?

consists of a rocky core encased by ice and dust-covered organic matter. The ice consists primarily of water, as well as some ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, and carbon monoxide.

What separates the inner planets from the outer planets?

classified broadly as inner planets and outer planets based on their locations relative to the sun. A radial distance of about 2.7 AU from the sun separates the inner planets from the outer planets.

Moon

is an astronomical object that orbits a planet or smaller body. Moons are often called natural satellites.-Often called natural satellites.

How are objects located on the celestial sphere?

declination and right ascension

A light-year is a measure of

distance

Metallic

metallic asteroid, also called an M-type asteroid, is composed of nickel and iron. It accounts for 8 percent of asteroids

Comets orbit the sun in ________________________________ orbits

highly elliptical

Which of the following correctly organizes the electromagnetic spectrum?

in order of increasing wavelength: radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible light, ultraviolet light rays, X rays, gamma rays

Which of the following is NOT a type of asteroid?

iron

They are commonly_________ in shape and pockmarked by numerous impacts with other minor bodies.

irregular

Accretion

is a process of growth by gradual accumulation.

The primary energy source for Earth is the

sun

How do scientists define an astronomical unit?

the distance between Earth and the sun

Steps to formation of planetesimals

the dust particles randomly collided and formed larger clumps several centimeters and even meters in diameter. These clumps continued to collide and stick together, gradually forming larger bodies called planetesimals with diameters of about 1 kilometers or larger.

The most widely accepted explanation for the origin of Earth's moon is called ________.

the giant impact hypothesis

What happens when this happens and what is it called?

the meteoroid appears to glow and becomes visible to the unaided eye. We call this glow or trail of light a meteor. (Meteors are also commonly called shooting stars).

Which of the following is the most widely accepted explanation for the origin of our solar system?

the nebular hypothesis, which states that gravity caused a small fragment of a huge, rotating cloud of space dust and gas to collapse, forming a large accretion disc that became the sun and planets

Many scientists use habitable zone to refer to

the region surrounding a star in which a planet or a moon can maintain liquid water on its surface.

Which of the following images best represents the relative sizes of Earth and the sun?

the sun in a big picture and the earth very small

The solar system's habitable zone is the location where temperature ranges allow ________

water to exist in liquid form