Chapter 5 Quiz (6 & 7) Flashcards
What’s density?
The degree of compactness of a substance
What is albedo?
how much light is reflected
How do terrestrial planets differ from the Jovian planets in density and albedo?
Terrestrial planets have an albedo of .37 or less. Joviaan planets have an albedo of .47 or higher
What’s an escape velocity?
the lowest velocity that a body must have in order to escape the gravitational attraction of a particular planet or other object
What gasses make up the atmosphere on Earth today and what is its pressure?
79% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, and other gases. At sea level, earth is 14.7 pounds per square inch
How does global warming work? Why is there more CO2 going into the atmosphere than going out?
Plants take in CO2 to make sugars and produce oxygen. CO2 lets the light energy in, but doesn’t let all of the heat energy out, similar to a greenhouse so it keeps reheating in an endless cycle
What is the Earth’s crust made of?
relatively low density rock, oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium.
What are tectonic plates and what do they do?
tectonic plates are major thick rafts of rocks. They glide over and act as a shell to the mantel
What’s convection and what does it have to do with the plates shifting?
Convection is the transfer of energy by moving currents of fluid or gas containing that energy. Plates are pushed around by the convection currents that circulate beneath them
what causes Earth’s Magnetic Field lines? How can you tell in everyday life that they exist, and which way they’re aligned?
earth’s magnetic field is created by electric charges in motion inside the planet. Reversals of the geomagnetic poles leave a record in rocks
What is the Van Allen belt and what does that have to do with the Aurora Borealis?
It surrounds earth and traps charged particles. When the flow is high from the sun, some of the solar wind trapped in the belt is funneled down into earth’s atmosphere causing the northern and southern lights.
What are the two types of terrain we observe on the moon?
Highlands- heavily cratered and very old. Maria- relatively smooth and younger
How are craters made? How large/ small do they get, what kind of names do we give them?
Craters are made when comets and asteroids strike the moon. 1 mile to 185 miles wide. Lunar craters are: 1) a scientist or explorer who has made some significant contribution, preferably to the study of the Moon and planets; 2) deceased for at least three years before a crater name becomes official; 3) it cannot duplicate any existing lunar name.
what are the different parts of a crater?
Floor: the bottom of the crater, usually below the level of the surrounding ground
Central peak: peaks formed in the central area of the floor
Walls: the interior sides of a crater, usually steep. may have giant stair-like terraces that are created by slumping of the walls due to gravity
Rim: the edge of the crater. it is elevated above the surrounding terrain because it is composed of material pushed up at the edge during excavation
Ejecta: Rock material thrown out of the crater during an impact
Rays: bright streaks extending away from the crater sometimes for great distances, composed of ejected material
What are the Maria? How old are they? How were they formed?
Lowlands. 3.1-3.8 billion years old. Formed by volcano eruptions
What were the Apollo Missions and when were they executed?
Mission 11- 1961
Mission 17- 1972
What significance did the Apollo missions have? What did we learn through them and how?
Made numerous discoveries about maria, brought back lots of rock, started with maria, ended with highlands.
What are the basic three types of rock on the moon?
Mare Basalts, impact breccias, anorthosite
What is the main hypothesis for the moons formation? what evidence supports it?
collision ejection hypothesis. evidence such as lighter rock composition and explains the tilt of the earth
What is the basic idea explaining the tides we see on Earth?
because of the size of the earth, the moon pulls unevenly on both sides
What are spring tides vs neap tides and how do those change with the moon sun position in space?
spring tide- high and low tides that occur at the time of the new or full moon when the sun moon and earth are aligned
neap tide- occurs when the difference between high and low is least; the lowest level of high tide. comes in the first and third quarters, twice a month when the sun moon and earth are at a 90 degree
How did the moon get into its synchronous rotation?
a tidally locked body takes just as long to rotate around its own axis as it does to revolve around its partner. this causes one hemisphere constantly to face the partner
What, in general, is Mercury like? (what can you say about it in just a few words); Which object does it closely resemble?
resembles the moon. mercury has very little atmosphere to stop impacts and is covered with craters. Closest to the sun. Mercury’s dayside is super heated by the sun, but at night temperatures drop hundreds of degrees below freezing. Ice may even exist in craters. Brightest object
What, in general, is Venus like (what is the story with this planet, in a few words)?
Venus is similar to earth but 30% closer to the sun. brightest object. known as morning and evening star
What is the atmosphere like on Venus? What is it made of? What’s special about it?
93x earths atmosphere. very hot. mostly Carbon Dioxide (~96%) with smaller amounts of Nitrogen, Sulfur Dioxide, Sulfuric Acid, Carbon Monoxide, Hydrogen Chloride and Hydrogen Fluoride. it rains sulfuric acid. its poisonous
What process caused the temperature and pressure on Venus’ surface?
The greenhouse effect
What does the surface on Venus look like and how do we know that? What caused the surface to look like it does?
Surface is smooth due to volcanic overflows, two large highlands
What is its rotation and tilt like? What does that mean?
Revolves counterclockwise like other planets but rotates clockwise. Sun rises in the west. its upside down
What, in general, is Mars like (what’s the story, and why are we interested in it so much)?
most similar to earth, Avg temp is -80 degrees F. it is rocky with canyons, volcanoes and craters all over it. Red dust covers almost all of mars
What is the atmosphere on Mars like? What’s in it and what one important thing is not in it?
The atmosphere on mars is made up of 95% cO2 and a mix of nitrogen, oxygen.
it does not contain water.
What does the atmosphere structure mean for dust? what kind of dust is it?
since there is not much gravity on mars, it has dust floating around. the martian air is full of iron oxide dust
whats the tilt of mars? what does that mean?
It has an Earth like tilt (25 degrees, Earth is 23.5) meaning that there are seasons
whats special about the surface of mars? what kind of things does it include?
completely dry and has broad plains, shallow craters, enormous inactive volcanoes and vast canyons
whats the difference between mars 2 hemispheres? what are they called?
The top hemisphere is mostly flat and barren with most of its volcanoes in the northern hemisphere, while the bottom one is filled with mountains and craters. The Northern Hemisphere is called Vastitas Borealis while the
Southern Hemisphere is called Southern Highlands
What’s Valles Marineris? How was it formed? How old is it?
A system of canyons that run along Mars. It is known as a “tectonic crack” that widened up due to erosion. It first formed as a crack when the planet was still cooling, thus making its exact age unknown.
What’s Olympus Mons? How was it formed? How old is it?
Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the Solar System at a height of 16 miles located on Mars. It is formed by tectonic plate movement and lava flows. It is 115 million years old
How do we know water once flowed on Mars? What specific evidence do we have?
Valles marineris formed from water flow. Also soil samples show 2% water.
Is there water on Mars today? Is there life there? What’s the connection between the two
As of right now we have not discovered water or life on Mars. However, their is fast freezing ice. Life can not exist, how we know it, without water.
How many moons does Mercury, Venus and Mars each have? What are their names?
Mercury and Venus do not have moons. Mars has 2: Phobos and Deimos
How large is jupter compared to earth and compared with the sun?
Jupiter is 319 times bigger than earth and can fit more than 13,000 earths inside of it. 1000 jupiters can fit inside of the sun
What is jupiters atmosphere made of? whats under the clouds?
jupiters atmosphere is mostly made of helium and hydrogen. underneath the clouds is more clouds, they get denser and denser until they become liquid
wha major features do we see in jupiters atmosphere
its surface is covered with zones (light colored) belts (reddish) and storms (darkish ovals)
what are the belts, zones, differential rotation, and the great red spot?
The belts and zones are layers of clouds heading opposite directions. The different rotation is based on the direction of the air current. The Great Red Spot is 1 gigantic storm.
What do we think is the structure of Jupiter as you go in, all the way to the center of the planet?
It is a bundle of clouds that gets denser and denser until it becomes a liquid
How many moons does jupiter have?
63 moons, 4 big ones
What are the names of the 4 Galilean moons? What’s common to all of them and what one or two things are special about each one?
Io- The most geologically active object in the solar system with over 400 active volcanoes; also has mountains bigger than Mount Everest
Europa- Covered in a large layer of water, it is the most likely spot for extra-terrestrial life to live in our Solar System; It is a relatively new object in the SS and therefore has very little impact craters
Ganymede- Largest moon in the solar system, is even bigger than Mercury
Callisto- Has a 3,000 km long basin that is called “Valhalla”. Also has potential for life, but not as likely as Europa
All these moons are unique because they all have water on them
What are the Voyager and Galileo missions and what do they have to do with Jupiter?
To explore and take pictures of the Jupiter and its moons to gather information. Galileo was the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter
Voyager found the volcanoes on Jupiter’s moons
Voyager 1 and 2 are now in Interstellar space (they were launched in 1977)
