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Astronomy > Exam 2 > Flashcards

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

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2
Q

What property of a planet determines if it will cool off quickly or slowly?

A

Size of the planet

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3
Q

Two basic types of planets

A

Terrestrial and Jovian

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4
Q

Jovian planets have more internal energy than terrestrials because jovians

A

Are much larger

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5
Q

Jupiter and Saturn have liquid metallic hydrogen but Uranus and Neptune don’t because of the ice giants:

A

Lower mass

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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

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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

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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

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9
Q

Which planet is halfway between the sun and Pluto

A

Uranus

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10
Q

Description of the distances in our solar system

A

The distances between planets are large compared to their sizes

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11
Q

What causes a planet to have volcanoes

A

Having a liquid, molten interior

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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

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13
Q

What characteristic of a planet creates powerful winds

A

Fast rotation rate

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14
Q

What characteristic of a planet determines the length of year

A

Orbit size (semi major axis)

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15
Q

What characteristic of a planet determines the strength of seasons

A

Tilt of the rotation axis

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16
Q

What characteristic of a planet determines the length of day

A

Rotation rate

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17
Q

What characteristic of a planet determines the rate at which is cools

A

Planet size

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18
Q

What characteristic of a planet determines its surface gravity

A

Mass and size

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19
Q

Planets in order of size from SMALLEST to LARGEST

A 
Mercury
Mars
Venus
Earth
Neptune
Uranus
Saturn
Jupiter
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20
Q

Planets in order of semi-major axis from SMALLEST to LARGEST

A 
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
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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

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22
Q

What trait of a planet determines its length of day

A

Rotation rate

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23
Q

What trait of a planet determines whether or not it has seasons?

A

Tilt of the rotation axis

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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

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25
Q

We blue world with swirling white clouds

A

Earth

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26
Q

Frat, barren rocky world covered by craters

A

Mercury

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27
Q

Dusty red world with faint wisps of clouds and a polar ice cap

A

Mars

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28
Q

A world whose rocky surface is permanently hidden by swirling clouds

A

Venus

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29
Q

Earth and mars rotate at about the same rate, but earth has a global magnetic field while mars does not. Why is this?

A

Mars’ metal core is mostly solid

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30
Q

Which planet has the hottest surface temperature and why?

A

Venus due to a powerful greenhouse effect

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31
Q

Why is venus’ greenhouse effect so much stronger than mars’?

A

Venus’ atmosphere is thicker

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32
Q

What is a good analogy for the greenhouse effect?

A

Greenhouse gases delay the escape of infrared light, so they act like an insulation blanket

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33
Q

Why does the surface of the moon have so many craters but the earth doesn’t?

A

The moon has no atmosphere so the craters are not eroded like they are on earth

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34
Q

I had oceans in my distant past, but now all my water hides under the surface under my polar caps

A

Mars

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35
Q

Natural satellite (moon) is absurdly large considering my size

A

Earth

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36
Q

I have an absurdly large metal core covered in craters

A

Mercury

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37
Q

I am mug hotter than I should be, since my greenhouse gasses trap so much of the heat I radiate

A

Venus

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38
Q

I have a lot of volcanoes but I never had any plate tectonics

A

Venus

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39
Q

I am both very hot and very cold and my sky is black during both day and night

A

Mercury

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40
Q

Two basic categories of planets

A

Terrestrial (rock and metal)

Jovian (hydrogen and helium)

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41
Q

Bland mint green cue ball, but infrared light shows us the activity beneath the haze

A

Uranus

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42
Q

Banded with light an dark red clouds with many storms

A

Jupiter

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43
Q

Blue world that is far from bland, with powerful storms and high speed winds

A

Neptune

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44
Q

Bland yellow with spectacular rings

A

Saturn

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45
Q

The core of Jovian planets are much higher than the earths core temperature. Why is this?

A

Jovians have more mass and are larger than terrestrials

46
Q

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

A

More mass (like a gas giant)

47
Q

Why do Jovian planets seem to be radiating more energy than they take in from the sun?

A

They have a lot of heat left over from formation, and energy generated by contraction and condensation

48
Q

Why do Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune look so bland as compared to the high contrast banded look of Jupiter?

A

Clouds can form deeper in the atmosphere, since they are colder and are seen through a thick haze of methane

49
Q

Why does Neptune have faster winds than Uranus?

A

Neptune has a greater internal energy

50
Q

What property of a Jovian causes it to have a global magnetic field and makes shape slightly less spherical and more flattened?

A

Rotating quickly

51
Q

What would you have to do to the ice giants to make them have layers of liquid metallic hydrogen like the gas giants?

A

Add more mass

52
Q

What are the ice giants?

A

Uranus and Neptune

53
Q

What are the gas giants?

A

Jupiter and Saturn

54
Q

Do Jovian planets have magnetic fields?

A

Yes

55
Q

What are seasons like on a Jovian planet?

A

Summer is warmer and has more clouds and storms, winter is colder with fewer clouds and storms

56
Q

How would you calculate the mass of Saturn?

A

Measure the orbit size and orbital period of one of its moons

57
Q

Can Jovian planets have auroras?

A

Yes, they have strong magnetic field and an atmosphere

58
Q

My atmosphere is coldest in the solar system

A

Uranus

59
Q

I have the largest storm in the solar system

A

Jupiter

60
Q

My rotation axis is tilted so far over that I orbit on my side

A

Uranus

61
Q

High wind speeds that reach near super sonic speeds

A

Neptune

62
Q

People on earth realized I existed because they saw my gravity messing with another planets orbital speed

A

Neptune

63
Q

True or false: all Jovian planets have rings and moons?

A

True

64
Q

Why do moons orbit instead of flying away from they host planet?

A

Gravity ties them to the planet

65
Q

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

A

Weaker

66
Q

Why don’t we see large moons very close to the planets, like inside the roche limit?

A

The difference in gravity between the side near the planet and far from the planet would rip apart a large moon

67
Q

What are planetary rings made of?

A

Millions of little particles each orbiting the planet

68
Q

How do the particles in rings orbit?

A

The inner rings orbit faster than the outer rings

69
Q

Why are Jupiter, Uranus, and neptunes rings so dark?

A

They are made of dark particles and there just aren’t many particles in the rings, either

70
Q

What is the Roche limit?

A

How close a moon can get to a planet before being ripped apart by gravity

71
Q

True or false: the moon is the only object that raises the tide on earth

A

False

72
Q

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?

A

Outside the Roche limit the tidal force is much less and won’t tear apart the moon as it tries to form

73
Q

What is the Roche limit/how far is it?

A

Usually around 2.5x the planets radius, or slightly more than the planets width

74
Q

Orbits between mars and Jupiter and is mainly made of rock

A

Steroid

75
Q

Fragile, fluffy ball of ice and dust

A

Comet

76
Q

Made of rock and has a moon orbiting it but never a tail

A

Asteroid

77
Q

Britt streak of light in the sky as air is heated by debris falling from space

A

Meteror

78
Q

Piece of rock or metal that survives entry into the earths atmosphere and lands on the ground

A

Meterorite

79
Q

Rock (usually) left over from a comet tail that is in space but about to enter the earths atmosphere

A

Meteoroid

80
Q

Rock or metal objects orbiting the sun with a semi-major axes between mars and jupiters

A

Asteroid

81
Q

Icy and dusty objects orbiting the sun with semi-major axes ranging from just larger than neptunes to the edge of our solar system

A

Comet

82
Q

How often does the earth enter the asteroid belt?

A

Never

83
Q

Where does the dwarf planet ceres live?

A

Asteroid belt

84
Q

Where does the draws planet Pluto live?

A

Kuiper Belt

85
Q

Why does the earth experience meteror showers?

A

The earth sometimes runs into debris as it crosses the orbits of comets

86
Q

Do asteroids have tails?

A

No

87
Q

How do comet tails behave as the comet orbits the sun?

A

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
Q

What method helps us learn the age of our solar system?

A

Radioactive dating of asteroids and meteorites

89
Q

How old is our solar system?

A

4.5 BILLION years old

90
Q

The atoms that would eventually become all of the planets and animals on earth were

A

Already present in the solar nebula

91
Q

What force drive the collapse of a nebula, the first step of the process that would eventually form our solar system?

A

Gravity

92
Q

What observation suggests that different material became solid particles at different distances from the proto-sun?

A

Terrestrials are made of rock and metal, jovians of hydrogen and helium, and dwarf planets of rock and ice

93
Q

The Kate heavy bombardment was a time when the rate of impacts dramatically increased, and astronomers suspect it was caused by

A

The Jovian planets migrating, specifically the ice giants hitting the Kuiper belt

94
Q

How does the intense bombardment affect how life would arise on the planet?

A

The comets delivered water and life’s building blocks to earth in great numbers making life more likely

95
Q

If I orbit beyond mars alongside ceres with a semi-major axis of 2.8 AU, I must be a part of the

A

Asteroid belt

96
Q

What would you have to do to make Pluto a planet?

A

Move it out of the kuiper belt and into an empty orbit

97
Q

What is 1AU?

A

The average distance between the earth and the sun

98
Q

The earth and the moon are made of similar materials, so why has the moon cooled off while the earth is still warm inside?

A

The earth is larger than the moon

99
Q

More internal heat leads to….

A

Active geology (volcanoes, plate tectonics)

100
Q

What is differentiation by gravity

A

The metal sank to the cores

101
Q

What is special about the earth that allowed it to go from a CO2 atmosphere to a nitrogen rich atmosphere?

A

Earth has plate tectonics which helped lock up the CO2

102
Q

What prevents earths atmosphere from building up too much CO2 like Venus?

A

Plate tectonics

103
Q

Do Jovian planets have surfaces?

A

No , the atmosphere thickens until it behaves like luiquid

104
Q

Why do the clouds form higher in the atmosphere on Jupiter and deeper on Saturn, Uranus and Neptune?

A

Jupiter is closer to the sun and warmer

105
Q

Jovian moons can be volcanic and have oceans of liquid water. What heats these moons?

A

Tidal forces from the planet and from other moons

106
Q

Which has a smaller orbit? Comets or asteroids

A

Asteroids

107
Q

Which get closer to the sun? Comets or asteroids

A

Comets

108
Q

Why do comets grow tails?

A

The sun heats the ice, turning it into gas

109
Q

The earth experiences meteror showers as it orbits when it

A

Crosses the orbit of a comet and runs into debris

110
Q

When you look into the sky and see a bright streak of light, you just saw:

A

A meteor

111
Q

What would you have to do to Pluto to call it a planet?

A

Add more mass so that it’s the largest thing in the region

112
Q

List the TERRESTRIAL planets in order of semi-major axis from SMALLEST to LARGEST

A

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Astronomy (5 decks)

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