Formation of the Solar System Flashcards
When was the Solar System formed?
4.5-5 billion years ago
What is the Frost line?
The boundary after which water, ammonia and methane form solid compounds instead of gas
What does the word accretion mean?
Accretion is the process in which lumps of solid material collide to form larger bodies
Why does the size of a planet’s core increase the further out in the solar system you go?
Beyond the Frost Line there was more material to coalesce with the core that was already there, making the core larger and giving it a greater gravitational pull to attract more material
Give 3 reasons why scientists belive that the early solar system was chaotic.
1) anomalies in the rotation of Uranus, 2) Most bodies have a lot of impact creaters, 3) Mercury’s core makes up 60 percent of it’s volume compared to Earth’s 20 percent.
Why did the rocky planets form closer to the sun whereas the gas planets further out?
Only rocjy material could survive close to the sun, so gaseous and icy material could only coalesce further out.
State and explain 2 factors that determine whether a planet or moon has an atmosphere.
The greater the mass of a planet or moon the greater the gravitational pull on the atmosphere. Also the hotter the temperature the faster the gas molecues move, making them more likely to escape the gravitational attraction of the planet or moon
Describe Tidal forces.
Forces that scretch a body towards and away from the centre of mass of another body due to, a difference in gravitational field strength from the other body. The near side of a body experiences a more stronger force that the far side
State the Roche Limit equation.
d=Rm(2 Mm/Mm)1/3
What is the Roche Limit?
The distance within which the gravitational force of a larger bbody is strong enough to prevent any smaller body from being held together by gravity.
Give 2 example’s of the Roche Limit.
1) Mercury is so small because the sun’s gravity is too strong at that distance to allow any larger bodies to be held toghether under there own gravity. 2) Comet Shoemaker Levy-9 which broke up due to Jupiter’s tidal forces (there is telescopic evidence of this),
Which moon is sometimes know as the “Doomed moon”?
It is the martian moon Phobos which is getting closer to mars and will one day break up as it passes mars’ Roche Limit.
Describe tidal heating
For a rotating body, that is experincing tidal forces internal friction means it’s kinetic energy is transferred to thermal energy.
Name 3 moons that experience tidal heating
Enceladus, Io, Europa
When does Orbital Resonance occur?
Orbital Resonance occurs when orbiting bodies exert regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other, usually because their orbital peroids are related by a ratio of small numbers.
