Final

Question 1

Meteorites

Answer 1

Rocks that fall from the sky (mostly astroid fragments)

Question 2

Astroids

Answer 2

Rocky bodies that orbit in the inner solar system, most are located in the asteroid belt

Question 3

How big are largest astroids

Answer 3

few hundered kilometers

Question 4

Kirkwood gaps

Answer 4

empty areas with no astroids due to jupiter’s ressonances

Question 5

Meteor

Answer 5

phenomenon of a flash in the sky

Question 6

Comets parts

Answer 6

Nucleus, coma, ion-tail, plasma tail, hydrogen cloud (be able to draw this

Question 7

Oort cloud

Answer 7

10^12 comets sent by jupiter (10^4 AU away)

Question 8

Comet composition

Answer 8

dirty ice or maybe icy dirt

Question 9

Biggest Kuiper Belt Object?

Answer 9

Pluto – discovered by lowells calculations of the perturbations to neptune’s orbit (but those calculations were in error)

Question 10

Planetary Rings composed of?

Answer 10

Billions of small particles in orbit around a body.

Question 11

Why are rings flat?

Answer 11

Collisions dissipate energy and cause the rings to be flat

Question 12

Optical Depth equation

Answer 12

I = Io exp(-T) where T=n*Pi*a^2*H
n = number per vol
a = radius (cross section)
H = thickness

Question 13

What is Roche Limit

Answer 13

inside this, planets ties are stronger than gravity holding objects together

Question 14

Roche limit eq

Answer 14

r

Question 15

What is found in the roche zone

Answer 15

rings

Question 16

Ring natural frequencies

Answer 16

mean motion, epicyclic motion, and vertical oscillation

Question 17

Empty Cylinder Argument

Answer 17

If we have uniformly randomly distributed particles, the probability of volume, V, being empty is a poisson eq

Question 18

Empty Cylinder Eq

Answer 18

P(o) = exp(-T) where T = nopia^2*H

Question 19

How do rings and moons interact

Answer 19

Waves sheppard edges, there is possibly recycling between moons and rings

Question 20

Ring Origins

Answer 20

Moon break-up or frustrated accretion, or comet came to close and broke up

Question 21

Are rings young or old?

Answer 21

Could be either, maybe young, or maybe recycled

Question 22

Jupiter Rings

Answer 22

tenuous, dusty

Question 23

Saturn Rings

Answer 23

broad, thick, made of ice

Question 24

Uranus Rings

Answer 24

narrow, dark

Question 25

Neptune Rings

Answer 25

dusty, hyphenated, ring arcs

Question 26

Planet formation steps (9 steps)

Answer 26

1. Giant molecular cloud collapses, fragments
2. solar nebula surrounds proto-sun
3. solids condense, ices outside of frost line
4. grains accrete to form planetesimals
5. great collisions reduce planet number
6. giand planet cores trap gas
7. moons and rings form in mini nebula around planets
8. continued accretion and impacts clean up solar system
9. solar wind blows away leftover gas

Question 27

Parallels to planetary rings

Answer 27

1. Flat, low temperature
2. accretion in both
3. Embedded bodies interact with disk: propellers, gaps, density waves
4. Angular momentum transfers and cause planet migration (explains ‘hot jupiters’)
5. Gian planets may kill smaller ones before star turns on

Question 28

Temperature Equilibrium Eq

Answer 28

Teq = [ Fo/rau^2 (1-Ab)/(4eps*sig)]^1/4

Question 29

multiple plate tectonic resurfacing time eq

Answer 29

T = circumference / (number of plates * rate)

Question 30

Volcanic resurfacing rate equation

Answer 30

R = num of volc * rate / surfarea

Question 31

Comparitive Planetology

Answer 31

• suffered late heavy bombardment,
• early stage of basaltic volcanism,
• smaller planets have cooled and are now geologically dead.
• Maria indistinguishable (moon, mercury, mars)
• venus, earth were similar when life arose

Question 32

mafic rocks

Answer 32

more magnesium and iron, denser, more viscous, darker

Question 33

sialic rocks

Answer 33

lighter, more viscous, brighter

Question 34

keplers 3 laws

Answer 34

1. all planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun
2. orbit sweeps out area at a constant rate
3. harmonic law p^2 = a^3

Question 35

Def of planet

Answer 35

orbits the sun, spherical, has cleared the neighborhood around it, orbit

Question 36

Why is pluto not a planet

Answer 36

1. orbit is eccentric an inclined
2. small size (2/3 or the moon)
3. composition of rock and ice