Exam 2 Flashcards
1
Q
Why is the core of a planet made of metal and not rock?
A
Metal is denser and sank to the core
2
Q
What property of a planet determines if it will cool off quickly or slowly?
A
Size of the planet
3
Q
Two basic types of planets
A
Terrestrial and Jovian
4
Q
Jovian planets have more internal energy than terrestrials because jovians
A
Are much larger
5
Q
Jupiter and Saturn have liquid metallic hydrogen but Uranus and Neptune don’t because of the ice giants:
A
Lower mass
6
Q
What information do you need to know to calculate how long it takes a planet to go around the sun?
A
Semi-major axis
7
Q
Saturn is almost 10x further from the sun than the earth is, so Saturn has a long orbital period and probabaly
A
Rotation rate has nothing to do w orbital period
8
Q
Which best describes the spacing of the planets in our solar system?
A
Uneven, planets bunched together close to the sun and spread out farther from the sun
9
Q
Which planet is halfway between the sun and Pluto
A
Uranus
10
Q
Description of the distances in our solar system
A
The distances between planets are large compared to their sizes
11
Q
What causes a planet to have volcanoes
A
Having a liquid, molten interior
12
Q
If a planet has volcanoes and a strong global magnetic field it must have
A
Lots of internal energy and is probably large like the earth
13
Q
What characteristic of a planet creates powerful winds
A
Fast rotation rate
14
Q
What characteristic of a planet determines the length of year
A
Orbit size (semi major axis)
15
Q
What characteristic of a planet determines the strength of seasons
A
Tilt of the rotation axis
16
Q
What characteristic of a planet determines the length of day
A
Rotation rate
17
Q
What characteristic of a planet determines the rate at which is cools
A
Planet size
18
Q
What characteristic of a planet determines its surface gravity
A
Mass and size
19
Q
Planets in order of size from SMALLEST to LARGEST
A
Mercury Mars Venus Earth Neptune Uranus Saturn Jupiter
20
Q
Planets in order of semi-major axis from SMALLEST to LARGEST
A
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
21
Q
What information do you need to know to calculate how long it takes a planet to go ground the sun if you already know the suns mass?
A
Semi major axis
22
Q
What trait of a planet determines its length of day
A
Rotation rate
23
Q
What trait of a planet determines whether or not it has seasons?
A
Tilt of the rotation axis
24
Q
Mars and Seasons
A
Mars has seasons because it’s rotation axis is tilted, but it’s orbital eccentricity affects the strength and duration of the seasons
25
We blue world with swirling white clouds
Earth
26
Frat, barren rocky world covered by craters
Mercury
27
Dusty red world with faint wisps of clouds and a polar ice cap
Mars
28
A world whose rocky surface is permanently hidden by swirling clouds
Venus
29
Earth and mars rotate at about the same rate, but earth has a global magnetic field while mars does not. Why is this?
Mars' metal core is mostly solid
30
Which planet has the hottest surface temperature and why?
Venus due to a powerful greenhouse effect
31
Why is venus' greenhouse effect so much stronger than mars'?
Venus' atmosphere is thicker
32
What is a good analogy for the greenhouse effect?
Greenhouse gases delay the escape of infrared light, so they act like an insulation blanket
33
Why does the surface of the moon have so many craters but the earth doesn't?
The moon has no atmosphere so the craters are not eroded like they are on earth
34
I had oceans in my distant past, but now all my water hides under the surface under my polar caps
Mars
35
Natural satellite (moon) is absurdly large considering my size
Earth
36
I have an absurdly large metal core covered in craters
Mercury
37
I am mug hotter than I should be, since my greenhouse gasses trap so much of the heat I radiate
Venus
38
I have a lot of volcanoes but I never had any plate tectonics
Venus
39
I am both very hot and very cold and my sky is black during both day and night
Mercury
40
Two basic categories of planets
Terrestrial (rock and metal)
| Jovian (hydrogen and helium)
41
Bland mint green cue ball, but infrared light shows us the activity beneath the haze
Uranus
42
Banded with light an dark red clouds with many storms
Jupiter
43
Blue world that is far from bland, with powerful storms and high speed winds
Neptune
44
Bland yellow with spectacular rings
Saturn
45
The core of Jovian planets are much higher than the earths core temperature. Why is this?
Jovians have more mass and are larger than terrestrials
46
If you went halfway into a Jovian planet, you'd be more likely to find sufficient pressure to make liquid metallic hydrogen in a planet with
More mass (like a gas giant)
47
Why do Jovian planets seem to be radiating more energy than they take in from the sun?
They have a lot of heat left over from formation, and energy generated by contraction and condensation
48
Why do Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune look so bland as compared to the high contrast banded look of Jupiter?
Clouds can form deeper in the atmosphere, since they are colder and are seen through a thick haze of methane
49
Why does Neptune have faster winds than Uranus?
Neptune has a greater internal energy
50
What property of a Jovian causes it to have a global magnetic field and makes shape slightly less spherical and more flattened?
Rotating quickly
51
What would you have to do to the ice giants to make them have layers of liquid metallic hydrogen like the gas giants?
Add more mass
52
What are the ice giants?
Uranus and Neptune
53
What are the gas giants?
Jupiter and Saturn
54
Do Jovian planets have magnetic fields?
Yes
55
What are seasons like on a Jovian planet?
Summer is warmer and has more clouds and storms, winter is colder with fewer clouds and storms
56
How would you calculate the mass of Saturn?
Measure the orbit size and orbital period of one of its moons
57
Can Jovian planets have auroras?
Yes, they have strong magnetic field and an atmosphere
58
My atmosphere is coldest in the solar system
Uranus
59
I have the largest storm in the solar system
Jupiter
60
My rotation axis is tilted so far over that I orbit on my side
Uranus
61
High wind speeds that reach near super sonic speeds
Neptune
62
People on earth realized I existed because they saw my gravity messing with another planets orbital speed
Neptune
63
True or false: all Jovian planets have rings and moons?
True
64
Why do moons orbit instead of flying away from they host planet?
Gravity ties them to the planet
65
A tidal force could arise on a moon because one side is farther from the planet and feels a ____ force of gravity than the near side
Weaker
66
Why don't we see large moons very close to the planets, like inside the roche limit?
The difference in gravity between the side near the planet and far from the planet would rip apart a large moon
67
What are planetary rings made of?
Millions of little particles each orbiting the planet
68
How do the particles in rings orbit?
The inner rings orbit faster than the outer rings
69
Why are Jupiter, Uranus, and neptunes rings so dark?
They are made of dark particles and there just aren't many particles in the rings, either
70
What is the Roche limit?
How close a moon can get to a planet before being ripped apart by gravity
71
True or false: the moon is the only object that raises the tide on earth
False
72
Particles inside a planets Roche limit don't clump as they stay as a ring system, but particles outside of the Roche limit can clump up and form a large moon. Why is this?
Outside the Roche limit the tidal force is much less and won't tear apart the moon as it tries to form
73
What is the Roche limit/how far is it?
Usually around 2.5x the planets radius, or slightly more than the planets width
74
Orbits between mars and Jupiter and is mainly made of rock
Steroid
75
Fragile, fluffy ball of ice and dust
Comet
76
Made of rock and has a moon orbiting it but never a tail
Asteroid
77
Britt streak of light in the sky as air is heated by debris falling from space
Meteror
78
Piece of rock or metal that survives entry into the earths atmosphere and lands on the ground
Meterorite
79
Rock (usually) left over from a comet tail that is in space but about to enter the earths atmosphere
Meteoroid
80
Rock or metal objects orbiting the sun with a semi-major axes between mars and jupiters
Asteroid
81
Icy and dusty objects orbiting the sun with semi-major axes ranging from just larger than neptunes to the edge of our solar system
Comet
82
How often does the earth enter the asteroid belt?
Never
83
Where does the dwarf planet ceres live?
Asteroid belt
84
Where does the draws planet Pluto live?
Kuiper Belt
85
Why does the earth experience meteror showers?
The earth sometimes runs into debris as it crosses the orbits of comets
86
Do asteroids have tails?
No
87
How do comet tails behave as the comet orbits the sun?
The comet only has tails when it is close to the sun, and the dust tail stays in the orbit and the ion tail always points away from the sun
88
What method helps us learn the age of our solar system?
Radioactive dating of asteroids and meteorites
89
How old is our solar system?
4.5 BILLION years old
90
The atoms that would eventually become all of the planets and animals on earth were
Already present in the solar nebula
91
What force drive the collapse of a nebula, the first step of the process that would eventually form our solar system?
Gravity
92
What observation suggests that different material became solid particles at different distances from the proto-sun?
Terrestrials are made of rock and metal, jovians of hydrogen and helium, and dwarf planets of rock and ice
93
The Kate heavy bombardment was a time when the rate of impacts dramatically increased, and astronomers suspect it was caused by
The Jovian planets migrating, specifically the ice giants hitting the Kuiper belt
94
How does the intense bombardment affect how life would arise on the planet?
The comets delivered water and life's building blocks to earth in great numbers making life more likely
95
If I orbit beyond mars alongside ceres with a semi-major axis of 2.8 AU, I must be a part of the
Asteroid belt
96
What would you have to do to make Pluto a planet?
Move it out of the kuiper belt and into an empty orbit
97
What is 1AU?
The average distance between the earth and the sun
98
The earth and the moon are made of similar materials, so why has the moon cooled off while the earth is still warm inside?
The earth is larger than the moon
99
More internal heat leads to....
Active geology (volcanoes, plate tectonics)
100
What is differentiation by gravity
The metal sank to the cores
101
What is special about the earth that allowed it to go from a CO2 atmosphere to a nitrogen rich atmosphere?
Earth has plate tectonics which helped lock up the CO2
102
What prevents earths atmosphere from building up too much CO2 like Venus?
Plate tectonics
103
Do Jovian planets have surfaces?
No , the atmosphere thickens until it behaves like luiquid
104
Why do the clouds form higher in the atmosphere on Jupiter and deeper on Saturn, Uranus and Neptune?
Jupiter is closer to the sun and warmer
105
Jovian moons can be volcanic and have oceans of liquid water. What heats these moons?
Tidal forces from the planet and from other moons
106
Which has a smaller orbit? Comets or asteroids
Asteroids
107
Which get closer to the sun? Comets or asteroids
Comets
108
Why do comets grow tails?
The sun heats the ice, turning it into gas
109
The earth experiences meteror showers as it orbits when it
Crosses the orbit of a comet and runs into debris
110
When you look into the sky and see a bright streak of light, you just saw:
A meteor
111
What would you have to do to Pluto to call it a planet?
Add more mass so that it's the largest thing in the region
112
List the TERRESTRIAL planets in order of semi-major axis from SMALLEST to LARGEST
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
