Exam 3 Answers

Question 1

Which internal energy source is the most important in continuing to heat the terrestrial planets today?

Answer 1

Radioactivity

Question 2

Which of the terrestrial worlds has the strongest magnetic field?

Answer 2

Earth

Question 3

Which of the following has virtually no effect on the structure of a planet?

Answer 3

It’s magnetic field

Question 4

Which of the following does not have a major effect in shaping planetary surfaces?

Answer 4

Magnetism

Question 5

What cooling process allows energy to be lost into space?

Answer 5

Radiation

Question 6

Which surface shaping process is an external factor?

Answer 6

Impact cratering

Question 7

Glaciers moving across the landscape is what type of erosion?

Answer 7

Solid

Question 8

Cooling and contraction of what planet has created huge ridges on the surface of the planet?

Answer 8

Mercury

Question 9

Which moon has the most substantial atmosphere?

Answer 9

Titan

Question 10

What is the most abundant gas in Titan’s atmosphere?

Answer 10

Nitrogen

Question 11

Which of the Jovian planets have rings: Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, or Neptune?

Answer 11

All of them

Question 12

The motion of charged particles in a magnetic field is

Answer 12

Helical

Question 13

What moon is larger than Mercury, the smallest planet?

Answer 13

Ganymede

Question 14

Which of Saturn’s medium sized moons is outgassing water vapor: Mimas, Rhea, Tethys, Dione, or Enceladus?

Answer 14

Enceladus

Question 15

Neptune looks blue because the methane clouds ________ blue light and ________ other colors.

Answer 15

Reflects; absorbs

Question 16

What is differentiation in planetary geology?

Answer 16

The process by which gravity separates materials according to density.

Question 17

The lithosphere of a planet is the layer that consists of

Answer 17

The rigid rocky material of the crust and uppermost portion of the mantle.

Question 18

The terrestrial planet cores contain mostly metal because

Answer 18

Metals sank to the center during a time when the interiors were molten throughout.

Question 19

What describes best why the smaller terrestrial worlds have cooler interiors than the larger ones?

Answer 19

They have relatively more surface area compared to their volumes.

Question 20

Which two properties are most important in determining the surface temperature of a planet?

Answer 20

Distance from the Sun and atmosphere

Question 21

When we see a region of a planet that is not as heavily cratered as other regions, we conclude that

Answer 21

The surface in the region is younger than the surface in more heavily cratered regions.

Question 22

Volcanism is more likely on a planet that

Answer 22

Has high internal temperatures

Question 23

Why does the Moon have a layer of powdery “soil” on its surface?

Answer 23

It’s the result of gradual erosion by micrometeorites striking the Moon.

Question 24

How have we been able to construct detailed maps of surface features on Venus?

Answer 24

By using radar from spacecraft that were sent to orbit Venus.

Question 25

How does seafloor crust differ from continental crust?

Answer 25

Seafloor crust is thinner, younger, and higher in density

Question 26

What drives the motion of the tectonic plates on Earth?

Answer 26

Convection cells in the mantle

Question 27

Is there water in Mars?

Answer 27

No. If there was, it would change straight to gas, skipping the liquid phase.

Question 28

Why do Jovian planets budge around the equator, that is, have a "squashed" appearance?

Answer 28

Their rapid rotation flings the mass near the equator outward.

Question 29

How do astronomers think Jupiter generates its internal heat?

Answer 29

By contracting, changing gravitational potential energy into thermal energy

Question 30

Why is Jupiter denser than Saturn?

Answer 30

The extra mass of Jupiter compresses its interior to a greater extent than that of Saturn.

Question 31

Why does Jupiter have several distinct cloud layers?

Answer 31

Different layers represent clouds made of gases that condense at different temperatures.

Question 32

What is Jupiter's Great Red Spot?

Answer 32

A long-lived, high pressure storm

Question 33

Why do Uranus and Neptune have blue methane clouds but Jupiter and Saturn do not?

Answer 33

Methane does not condense into ice in the warmer atmospheric temperatures of Jupiter and Saturn.

Question 34

The four Galilean moons around Jupiter are

Answer 34

A mixture of rock and ice

Question 35

Why are there no impact craters on the surface of Io?

Answer 35

Io did have Impact craters but they have all been buried in lava flows.

Question 36

Is the backward orbit of Triton (a moon of Neptune) due to tidal forces?

Answer 36

No

Question 37

How were most of the large Jovian planets formed?

Answer 37

By condensation and accretion in a disk of gas around the planet

Question 38

The core, mantle, and crust of a planet are defined by differences in their

Answer 38

Composition