SCI 101 Chapter 13 Learnsmart
Match the term to its definition.
Meteor: A streak of light in the sky as debris burns up in Earth's atmosphere Meteorite: A piece of space comet or asteroid debris that lands on Earth Meteoroid: A piece of space comet or asteroid debris in space
A spherical "cloud" of objects beyond the orbit of Pluto, extending from about 30,000 AU out to a light-year of more from the Sun, is called the
Oort
Match the asteroid composition to the part of the belt where you would find asteroids of that kind.
Primarily rock: The Mars side (inside of the belt) Rich in carbon compounds: The Jupiter side (outside of the belt) Rich in metals: Can be found throughout
Roughly speaking, Jupiter and Saturn are about ? times wider than Earth.
ten
Which of the following statements regarding Venus's surface characteristics is true?
Venus has a surface that is mostly a flat, rolling plain.
Match the planets to their distances from the Sun.
Venus: 0.7 AU Jupiter: 5.2 AU Saturn: 9.5 AU Neptune: 30.1 AU Uranus: 19.2 AU Mars: 1.5 AU
In the process of forming a solar system, a rotating ? disk is formed.
accretion
Small solar system bodies include ?.
all objects orbiting the Sun that are not planets or dwarf planets
The orange band (A) in the image depicts the ?.
asteroid belt
When a comet is within a few AU of the Sun, the evaporating gases and ions form a tail. The tail always points ?.
away from the Sun
A layer of metallic hydrogen is found deep inside Jupiter (and Saturn). The hydrogen is called metallic because it ?.
can conduct electricity like a metal
A ? is a relatively small, solid body of frozen water, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and methane, along with dust and rocky bits of materials mixed in.
comet
Select all the properties that are smaller or shorter for Mars than for Earth.
- Atmospheric pressure - Mass - Radius
Select all that are common compositions of asteroids.
- Carbon compounds and rock - Primarily stone or rock - Primarily metals (lots of iron and nickel)
Select all the gases that were major constituents of the early atmospheres of Earth, Mars, and Venus (gases released when the planets were molten).
- Carbon dioxide - Water vapor - Nitrogen gas (N2)
Which of the following are true regarding terrestrial planets? (Select all that apply.)
- Composition similar to that of Earth - Similar to the planets of Mercury and Venus - Smaller than giant planets - Mostly made of rocky materials and metallic nickel and iron
Select all that are accomplishments or discoveries of the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn.
- Discovering an atmosphere on Saturn's moon Enceladus - Successful testing of general relativity - Gaining an understanding of Titan's surface
Which of the following components will collapse from a cloud to form a star and planets? (Select all that apply.)
- Gas - Compounds - Helium - Hydrogen - Dust
Select all the surface features that are found on Mars.
- Giant canyons - Impact craters
Rank Venus, Earth, and Mars in terms of their mass, with the least massive at the top.
1. Mars 2. Venus 3. Earth
Rank these planets by size from smallest (top) to largest (bottom).
1. Mercury 2. Mars 3. Earth 4. Uranus 5. Saturn 6. Jupiter
In regard to the stages of the Moon's development, place the oldest (earliest) stage at the top and the newest (most recent) stage at the bottom.
1. The origin stage 2. The molten surface stage 3. The molten interior stage 4. The cold and quiet stage
It takes about ? years for Uranus to orbit around the Sun, and it takes Neptune about ? years.
84; 165
From the ? mission, we learned that the surface of the Moon is covered by about 3 m of fine gray dust that contains microscopic glass beads.
Apollo
True or false: Saturn's rings are solid disks (like a hoop or Frisbee with a hole in the center) rotating with the planet.
False
True or false: The asteroid belt is the remains of a planet destroyed by Jupiter's gravity.
False
Match the feature on the Moon's surface to its correct description.
Lunar highlands: Mountainous regions Maria: Smooth dark regions Craters: Region that may have bright streaks extending from it
Match each Mars mission to its accomplishment(s).
Mariner 9 (1971): First craft to orbit Mars; photographed entire surface and made extensive measurements of the Martian atmosphere Viking 1 and 2 (1975): Spent six years photographing the Martian surface, recorded a major "Marsquake," and recorded data about regular dust storms Opportunity rover (2004): Traveled the surface studying rocks and soil and found that Mars is made of basalt rock and groundwater that is dilute sulfuric acid
The structure of multiple bands and opposing jet streams in Jupiter's atmosphere is a result of ?.
convection, whereby hot gases are forced to the top where they cool, darken in color, and sink back to the surface
The source of the atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars was most likely ?.
gas released from volcanoes when the planets melted during formation
Energy released from gravitational contraction was an important source of ? that resulted in light and heavy matter separating in planets as they formed.
heating
The protoplanet nubular model describes ?.
how the solar system was formed
Giant planets have ? average densities than terrestrials planets because giant planets are composed mostly of ?.
lower; hydrogen and helium
Saturn's moon, Titan, is exciting to study because unlike most moons, Titan has ?. (Select all that apply.)
- an atmosphere - rivers (but not of water) - a number of organic molecules in the atmosphere
Compared to Earth, Venus ?. (Select all that apply.)
- has a much higher atmospheric pressure - is nearly the same size
Mercury has essentially no atmosphere because it ?. (Select all that apply.)
- is close to the Sun - is small and has little gravity
Surface features of Mercury discovered by Mariner 10 and MESSENGER missions include ?. (Select all that apply.)
- large craters - craters with lighter colored rays coming from them
The Bode number for predicting distances between planets in our solar system ?. (Select all that apply.)
- led to the discovery of the asteroid belt when they predicted a planet would be at the belt's location - work, more or less, for the planets out to Uranus - appear to primarily be a coincidence
Select all the choices that correctly describe Venus's atmosphere.
- It is mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). - It reflects most of the incoming sunlight. - It has a very strong greenhouse gas effect. - The atmospheric pressure is 100 times that of Earth.
Which of the following can be found on the Moon's surface?
- Lunar highlands - Maria - Craters
Select all statements that demonstrate consequences of heating and melting during a planet's formation process.
- Planets have internal layers with the densent layers at the core. - Planets have atmospheres.
Select all that are sources of heat that melted planets early in their formation.
- Radioactive decay of elements - Gravitational energy released from contraction - A flare-up from the young Sun
Which of the following are findings from the Apollo mission regarding characteristics of the Moon?
- Surface dust on the Moon contains microscopic glass beads. - The surface is covered by a 3 m layer of fine gray dust. - The rocks on the surface are primarily basalts.
One reason that the gas giants may be as large as they are compared to terrestrial planets is that there was more material in the outer disk of the nebula. Select all the reasons that might explain this.
- The Sun attracted much of the material in the inner one-fifth of the disk. - The volume of the outer nebula was larger.
Select all that are evidence for the existence of water on Mars either in the past or present.
- There are sinuous, dry riverbed features with dry tributaries. - The Spirit and Opportunity rovers detected chemical evidence that water altered rocks in the past.
Arrange these parts of a comet from the center outward, with the center at the top.
1. Coma 2. Halo 3. Tail
Rank these terrestrial bodies according to how hot you would expect their cores to be today, assuming they all formed at around the same temperature. Put the hottest terrestrial body at the top and the coolest at the bottom.
1. Earth 2. Venus 3. Mars 4. Moon
Match the compositions of the layers of a gas giant such as Jupiter to the labels on the diagram.
A: Hydrogen, helium, and ammonia compounds in gaseous form B: Liquid hydrogen C: Liquid metallic hydrogen D: Iron-silicate core
Which of the following characteristics describes a planet, not a dwarf planet?
Clears its orbit of other bodies.
Match the elements and compounds to the forms in which they would be found in the solar nebula.
Helium: Gaseous form Hydrogen: As a free gas and bound in compounds Ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4): In frozen form or a slush, if heated by accreting Iron and silicon: Dust grains
Match the Galilean moons of Jupiter to their descriptions.
Io: Has active sulfur volcanoes Europa: Is covered with a 12 mi thick layer of smooth water ice Ganymede: Has valleys, ridges, and folded mountains Callisto: Has a surface densely covered by craters
Match the specific type of meteorite to its description
Iron: Primarily made of metal Stony: Primarily made of rock Chondrite: Spherical lumps of silicate minerals or glass Achondrite: A somewhat homogeneous stony meteorite that resembles volcanic rock Stony-iron: Contains metal and rock
If a Jupiter-sized planet and an Earth-sized planet formed at the same time, you would expect the ? planet to be hotter inside after a billion years.
Jupiter-sized
The ? is a source of short-period comets, as well as objects called centaurs.
Kuiper Belt
Match the stage of the Moon's development to its correct description.
The origin stage: Covers the time period when a large object impacted Earth, ejecting material that became the Moon The molten surface stage: Occurred during the first 200 million years after the collision that created the body that became the Moon The molten interior stage: Involved the melting of the interior of the Moon The cold and quiet stage: Began about 3.1 billion years ago and involved the cooling and solidification of the lava flow
The most abundant element or compound in a nebula that will collapse to form a star and planets is ?.
hydrogen
A ? is the glowing trail of debris left behind as a body burns up in Earth's atmosphere. Before the body hits the atmosphere, it is known as a ?. If it survives to hit the ground, it is a ?. (Hint: They all start with "m.")
meteor; meteoroid; meteorite
Nearly twice as far from the Sun as Mercury, Venus receives only about one quarter as much solar energy. However, Venus's surface temperature is almost the same because ?.
of its extremely strong greenhouse effect
Compared to Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are ? size and ? the mass.
one-third the; one-third
Compared to Jupiter, Saturn is ? radius and ? mass.
slightly smaller; substantially less in
A substantially higher fraction of light elements is found in gas giants than in terrestrial planets. Assuming the planets formed near their current positions, one explanation is that ?.
the light elements near terrestrial planets were accreted by the Sun