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EAS 100 > Chapter 4 - Space and Time > Flashcards

Chapter 4 - Space and Time Flashcards

1
Q

How old is the earth?

A

4.56 billion years old

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2
Q

Why are the rocks on the moon so old?

A

Because the moon has no rock cycle

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3
Q

What are the innermost planets called? What are they? Describe them

A

They are called terrestrial planets, they are; small, rocky, metallic, and dense. The terrestrial planets are; Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

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4
Q

What are the outer planets called? What are they? Describe them

A

They are called jovian planets, they are much larger, less dense and more gaseous than terrestrial planets. They jovian planets are; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

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5
Q

What is the largest known volcano in the solar system?

A

Olympus Mons

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6
Q

What is unique to the earth compared to the other planets?

A

Tectonic activity

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7
Q

What dominates 98% of the suns mass?

A

Hydrogen and helium

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8
Q

Why do seasons occur on earth?

A

Seasons occur on earth because of the tilt of the earth’s axis at 23.5 degrees that keeps the earth at a constant orientation as the planet revolves around the sun.

The northern hemisphere is pointed directly towards the sun during June and the southern hemisphere in December.

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9
Q

How many planets are in the solar system, list them by type.

A

There are 8 planets in the solar system.

Terrestrial - rocky, small, metallic and dense

  1. Mercury
  2. Venus
  3. Earth
  4. Mars

Jovial

  1. Jupiter
  2. Saturn
  3. Uranus
  4. Neptune
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10
Q

What is geocentric?

A

That everything used to revolve around earth, an idea once believed.

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11
Q

What is heliocentric?

A

Everything revolves around the sun

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12
Q

Name the 8 planets in order moving away from the sun

A
  1. Mercury
  2. Venus
  3. Earth
  4. Mars
  5. Jupiter
  6. Saturn
  7. Uranus
  8. Neptune
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13
Q

What is the nebular hypothesis?

A

The nebular hypothesis proposes that a huge swirling cloud of cosmic gas and dust (a nebula) formed the sun and planets

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14
Q

How did the nebular hypothesis work?

A
  • gravity pulled the slower, swirling gas and dust inwards
  • gas became hotter and denser
  • temperature and pressure reached height for nuclear fusion which created the sun
  • surrounding the sun was a flattened rotating disc of gas and dust
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15
Q

What explains the distinct materials of the terrestrial and jovial planets?

A

Distance from the sun and condensation temperatures

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16
Q

What 5 key factors lead to the evolution of terrestrial planets?

A
  1. Melting, impacts, and differentiation
  2. Volcanism
  3. Planatary mass
  4. Distance from the sun
  5. Biosphere
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17
Q

What is an indicator of high internal temperature?

A

Volcanism

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18
Q

What provides earth with a strong magnetic field?

A

It’s molten core

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19
Q

Which planets composition is remarkably similar to the sun?

A

Jupiter

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20
Q

How big is earths moon in relation to earth, how did it form?

A

Earth’s moon is 1/4 the size of earth and likely formed from a catastrophic collision.

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21
Q

Explain the collision that formed earth’s moon

A
  • Earth runs into another growing planet called Theia
  • Theia is destroyed along with a chunk of earths mantle which are blasted into orbit around earth
  • The debris spreads itself into a ring and beings to clump together
  • The larges clump attracts other fragments and begins forming the moon
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22
Q

What are asteroids and meterorites?

A

Subplanatary objects orbiting the sun that are commonly rocky and or metallic.

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23
Q

What are stars classified by?

A

Color and brightness.

Color

  • indication of temperature
  • blue = short wavelengths/hot
  • red = long wavelengths/cool
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24
Q

What is the big bang?

A

The hypothesis that everything originated at one location in an explosion

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25
Q

What is relative age?

A

–refers to the order in which a sequence of past events occurred

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26
Q

What is numerical age?

A

–is the actual time, in years, when a specific event happened, calculated using radioactive decay

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27
Q

What is uniformitarianism?

A

“The presence is the key to the past”

28
Q

Which is the smallest planet in the solar system?

a. venus
b. mercury
c. earth
d. mars

A

b. mercury

29
Q

Jupiter and Saturn are so massive that their atmospheric gases never escaped; their atmospheres still maintain compositions very similar to the solar nebula from which they are formed.

True or False

A

True

30
Q

Radiometric dating is possible if a rock contains a measurable amount of:

a. daughter isotopes
b. parent isotopes
c. parent or daughter isotopes
d. parent and daughter isotopes

A

d . parent and daughter isotopes

31
Q

The model in which the sun is at the center of the solar system is called the

a. newtonian model
b. geocentric model
c. galilean model
d. helocentric model

A

d. helocentric model

32
Q

Life on earth was able to develop primarily due to

a. the chemical composition of its rocks
b. a combination of its size and its distance from the sun
c. is distance from the sun
d. its size

A

b. a combination of its size and its distance from the sun

33
Q

A solar system is comprised of eight planets. All of the planets (other than mercury and venus) have one or more moons. How many moons have been observed?

a. 10 known moons
b. 8 known moons
c. 170 known moons
d. 200 known moons

A

c . 170 known moons

(had to google, could be inaccurate)

34
Q

Earth’s moon is a result of a comet captured within earth’s gravitational field

True or False

A

False

35
Q

The main factors that influenced the evolution of the terrestrial planets shortly after their formation were impact cratering, volcanism, proximity to the sun, and the absence or presence of a biosphere

True or False

A

True

36
Q

Because of the earth’s relatively small mass, our planet’s atmosphere is composed:

a. of the same percentages of gases that exist throughout the solar system
b. of a large amount of carbon dioxide
c. of gases similar to those of the jovian planets
d. of very little hydrogen and helium

A
37
Q

The most widely accepted theory for the formation of the moon is the:

a. capture model, in which the moon formed in another part of the solar system and was captured by earth’s gravitational field
b. quaint idea that the moon is made of green cheese
c. giant impact model, in which material was ripped from the earth after an impact with a mars size object
d. co-formation model, in which the moon formed from a rotating disk of gas and dust around the earth.

A

c. giant impact model, in which material was ripped from the earth after an impact with a mars size object

38
Q

What is the kuiper belt?

a. a vast repository for meteors
b. a vast repository for asteroids
c. the location of pluto’s orbit
d. a vast repository for comets

A

d . a vast repository for comets

39
Q

The atmospheres of the jovian planets are made of primarily:

a. liquid metallic hydrogen
b. methane and ammonia
c. oxygen and nitrogen
d. hydrogen and helium

A
40
Q

If pluto is not a planet (but rather a dwarf planet), then where do astronomers believe its point of origin?

a. a comet from the oort cloud
b. a moon from neptune
c. a comet from the kuiper belt
d. an asteroid from the asteroid belt

A

c. a comet from the kuiper belt

41
Q

Numerical age is the actual time when a specific event happened

True or False

A

True

42
Q

If the ages of the earth and the moon are nearly identical, as believed, why are most rocks found on the moon so much older than rocks found on earth?

a. the moon is older
b. age dating techniques are just too inaccurate to really know
c. unlike the earth, the moon as no atmosphere to weather rocks or plate tectonic activity to destroy rocks
d. none of the choices listed

A

c. unlike the earth, the moon as no atmosphere to weather rocks or plate tectonic activity to destroy rocks

43
Q

According to the nebular hypothesis:

a. planets should rotate in the same direction as they revolve around the sun.
b. the hypothesis does not indicate direction or rotation or revolution
c. planets can rotate in any direction around the sun
d. planets should rotate one way and revolve the other way

A

b. the hypothesis does not indicate direction or rotation or revolution

44
Q

We experience seasons due to the extreme changes of earth’s orbit around the sun

True or False

A

False

45
Q

The age of the solar system is about 4.6 million years old

True or False

A

False

46
Q

Differentiation is a process by which

a. the earth’s surface separated into continents and oceans
b. less dense materials sink and denser materials rise to the surface
c. none of the above
d. denser materials sink and less dense materials rise to the surface

A

d . denser materials sink and less dense materials rise to the surface

47
Q

As the sun continues to age, the chemical composition of its core will change. Over time, it will contain a lower percentage of and a greater percentage of:

a. helium, hydrogen
b. oxygen, nitrogen
c. carbon, lead
d. hydrogen, helium

A
48
Q

The principle of uniformitarianism states that the landscape of the earth formed via a series of sudden and catastrophic events in earth’s early history

True or False

A

False

49
Q

The innermost planets in the solar system (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) are large and gaseous.

True or False

A

False

50
Q

If the earth had a 90 degree tilt rather than a 23.5 degree tilt, how many seasons would there be?

a. three (winter, spring, summer)
b. four (winter, spring summer, fall)
c. two (winter, summer)
d. one (little to no seasonal variation)

A
51
Q

Venus unlike earth, mercury, mars spins rotates in a retrograde motion

True or False

A

True

52
Q

Icy comets that were originally orbiting in the inner part of the solar system could have met which of several fates?

a. the loss of their icy constituents due to volatilization
b. all of the above
c. collision with a planet or planetesimal
d. being swept to the outer part of the solar system by a strong solar wind

A

b. all of the above

53
Q

All of the objects in the solar system orbit around earth

True or false

A

False

54
Q

Most of the exoplanets discovered thus far are

a. giant planets, most likely resembling jupiter
b. parts of planetary systems quite different than ours
c. small planets, most likely resembling earth
d. parts of planetary systems very similar to ours

A
55
Q

The sun converts mass into energy by

a. fossil fuel burning
b. all of the above
c. nuclear fusion
d. nuclear fission

A

c. nuclear fusion

56
Q

All of the terrestrial planets lost their primary atmospheres, but Earth, Mars, and Venus evolved and retained secondary atmospheres

True or False

A

True

57
Q

The sun is massive enough to keep burning on the main sequence for another

a. 20 billion years
b. 5 billion years
c. 15 billion years
d. 10 billion years

A

b. 5 billion years

58
Q

The rate of decay of radioactive materials is effected by geologic processes

True or False

A

False

59
Q

What is the widely accepted age of the universe?

a. 20 billion years
b. 4.7 billion years
c. 13.7 billion years
d. 18.5 billion years

A

c. 13.7 billion years

60
Q

The nebular hypothesis proposes that the solar system formed from a huge, swirling cloud of cosmic gas and dust

True or False

A

True

61
Q

The planets formed when bits of solid matter from the solar nebula were drawn together by gravitational attraction and accretion

True or False

A

True

62
Q

The sun is the center of our solar system

True or False

A

True

63
Q

Where is the asteroid belt located?

a. between the orbits of mars and jupiter
b. between the orbits of earth and venus
c. outside of the solar system, in the oort cloud
d. between the orbits of saturn and uranus
e. in the belt of the constellation orion, the hunter

A

a. between the orbits of mars and jupiter ​

64
Q

Which of the following moons has an atmosphere?

a. earth’s moon
b. callisto
c. titan
d. ganymede
e. triton

A

c. titan

65
Q

Radiometric dating has allowed scientists to attach numerical ages to many of the events in the geologic timescale

True or False

A

True

66
Q
A

EAS 100 (10 decks)

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