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geology test 1 > lecture 4 > Flashcards

lecture 4 Flashcards

1
Q

What does inner solar system consist of?

A

inner planets (aka. TERRESTRIAL PLANETS): Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars and asteroid belt

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2
Q

What does outer solar system consist of?

A

outer planets (aka. gas giants): Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune

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3
Q

What does outermost parts of the solar system consist of (beyond Neptune)?

A

It is considered a distinct region (e.g., Kuiper Belt)

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4
Q

What do the inner planets have in common?

A

-solid and high density
-made up of rocks and metals
-none have rings (like ones around Saturn)
-small compared to OUTER PLANETS
-made of cooled IGNEOUS (VOLCANIC) rock
-have an IRON (Fe) filled CORE

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5
Q

What do the outer planets have in common?

A

-much larger than INNER PLANETS
-much lower DENSITY (mass/volume) than INNER PLANETS.
-mostly made up of GASES (hence name GAS
GIANTS)
-consist primarily of ELEMENTS hydrogen (H) and helium (He), extremely light gases
-ALL have RINGS (not just Saturn, all)

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6
Q

What is the sun made of and how is it all held together?

A

Sun is huge ball of hydrogen (H) and helium (He) held together by its own GRAVITY.

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7
Q

Which gases escape our atmosphere?

A

Hydrogen and Helium

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8
Q

What happens to hydrogen?

A

While hydrogen still occurs naturally on Earth and is
produced through chemical reactions and bacterial activity,
hydrogen entering ATMOSPHERE can escape.

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9
Q

What happens with Helium, where is it found and who’s the world’s largest producer?

A

-Helium - a non-renewable natural resource – is often
recovered from natural gas/found associated with natural
gas. Like hydrogen, helium can escape Earth’s
ATMOSPHERE!
-Radioactive decay of elements Uranium (U) and Thorium
(Th) in IGNEOUS (i.e., volcanic) rock produces He.
-World’s largest producer of He is United States

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10
Q

Only Saturn’s are easy to observe, what is it made up of and what about its moons?

A

Rings around Saturn made of water ice (H2O) and likely
formed when SOLAR SYSTEM was young.
Has been suggested that MOONS containing ice were
drawn to Saturn (by GRAVITY) and subsequently
broke apart, releasing ice dust and particles.

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11
Q

What are Jupiter’s rings made up of?

A

Jupiter’s rings made of very small dust particles

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12
Q

What are Neptune’s rings made of?

A

Neptune’s rings made of methane (CH4) ice and ammonia (NH3) ice

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13
Q

What are Uranus’ rings made of?

A

Uranus’ rings may consist of rock boulders (i.e., large rocks)

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14
Q

What doe the prefix PROTO mean?

A

“first”, “foremost”, “earliest form of”

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15
Q

How old is earth believed to be?

A

Earth is believed to be 4.54 billion years old

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16
Q

When is our solar system believed to have started forming?

A

4.6 billion years ago

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17
Q

What did our solar system form out of?

A

SOLAR SYSTEM formed from material in cloud of gas and dust called SOLAR NEBULA

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18
Q

What does the solar nebula consist of?

A

Scientists believe most of the SOLAR NEBULA consisted of the ELEMENTS hydrogen (H) and helium (He)

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19
Q

What caused the solar nebula to collapse, spin and flatten into disk shape?

A

GRAVITY caused SOLAR NEBULA to collapse, spin and flatten into disk shape

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20
Q

What is the flattened disk-shaped nebula referred to as?

A

PROTOPLANETARY DISK

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21
Q

How did the protostar form?

A

Most of SOLAR NEBULA’s material was pulled toward center of PROTOPLANETARY DISK, forming a PROTOSTAR

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22
Q

The protostar would go on to become what?

23
Q

What did the rest of the solar nebula’s remaining material came together in?

A

“clumps”, forming “planetesimals”

24
Q

What do planetesimals merged with other planetesimals form and what would they go on to be?

A

PROTOPLANETS would go on to form planets

25
As PROTO-EARTH grew, heavier ELEMENTS sank towards the center, forming what?
forming Earth’s CORE and lighter elements moved towards Earth’s surface.
26
What is differentiation (of earth)? And what would it lead to?
-movement of heavier ELEMENTS (especially iron) towards Earth’s center and lighter ELEMENTS towards Earth’s surface. -DIFFERENTIATION led to the formation of Earth’s layers (INNER/OUTER CORE, MANTLE, CRUST) oceans, atmosphere and eventually continents.
27
What is planetary differenciation?
Process by which chemical elements of a planetary body accumulate in different areas. Heavier iron (Fe) seen sinking towards the center of a planet while lighter materials rise upwards.
28
Who's Theia?
-Greek goddess of sight, vision and brilliance. -supplied gold (Au), silver (Ag) and gems with their brilliance
29
What is the giant-impact hypothesis?
-First proposed by Canadian Geologist Reginald Daly in 1946. -Approximately 4.5 billion years ago, THEIA, a PROTOPLANET, collided with PROTOEARTH, releasing material from both into space. -Some released material came together and formed our MOON
30
Theia was mother of who?
Interestingly goddess THEIA was mother of Selene. Selene is goddess and personification of our MOON
31
What is the legend behind the moon?
In Northwest Coast communities, legend has it Raven stole light in form of sun, moon and stars from old chief who kept it locked away in box. After Raven escaped with box through smoke hole of chief’s home, he placed sun, moon and stars in sky for all beings to enjoy. Originally, Raven had white feathers, but flying through smoke hole made Raven’s feathers black.
32
What's our moon's diameter?
3475 km
33
What size is Earth compared to the moon?
Given that Earth’s diameter = 12760 km, MOON is approximately 27% or one fourth size of Earth
34
Average distance from earth to moon?
384 400 km.
35
What is the shape of the moons orbit around the earth?
MOON ORBITS around Earth along path that is slightly ELLIPTICAL (ELLIPSE shape). Earth is NOT at very center of MOON’s ORBIT. Thus, distance to MOON changes as it ORBITS our planet
36
When the moon is furthest from Earth is at its?
APOGEE when furthest from Earth (approximately 405 696 km away). ➢ FULL MOON looks slightly smaller at this point ➢ we call it MICROMOON
37
When the moon is closest from Earth is at its?
PERIGEE when closest to Earth (approximately 363 104 km away). ➢ FULL MOON looks slightly larger at this point ➢ we call it SUPERMOON
38
Why is our moon called the moon?
Our MOON is called “THE MOON” since humanity didn’t know other MOONS existed until Galileo Galilei discovered 4 of Jupiter’s MOONS in 1610
39
Is the moon moving away from earth and if yes at which rate?
Our MOON is slowly moving away from Earth at a rate of approximately 1 inch per year
40
Can we see both faces of the moon?
From Earth, we can only see 1 HEMISPHERE of MOON (same HEMISPHERE/side of MOON always faces us). HEMISPHERE/side that always faces away from us/that we never see is what we refer to as “dark side” of the MOON (aka. FAR SIDE of the MOON since it is NOT always dark
41
What is an active volcano, a dormant volcano and an extinct volcano?
ACTIVE VOLCANOES: volcanoes with a recent history of eruption; expected to erupt again (e.g., Kilauea in Hawaii USA, Mount Etna in Italy). DORMANT VOLCANOES: volcano that has not erupted in a long time but is expected to erupt again (e.g., Mount Kilimanjero in Tanzania, Mount Fuji in Japan). EXTINCT VOLCANOES: Volcanoes that have not erupted in human history (i.e., often in the past 10,000 years) and not expected to erupt again (e.g., Huascarán in Peru and Ben Nevis in Scotland)
42
What the moons layers and their characteristics?
Like Earth, MOON has a CORE (inner and outer), MANTLE and CRUST. MOON’s CORE is SMALLER than would be expected when it is compared to that of TERRESTRIAL PLANETS. Like Earth, MOON’s INNER CORE is SOLID and rich in IRON (Fe) and OUTER CORE is LIQUID IRON (Fe). Beyond that, have a “PARTIAL MELT” region containing partially molten/liquified materials. Next have a MANTLE mostly made up of magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), silicon (Si) and oxygen (O) containing minerals such as: ➢ OLIVINE ➢ PYROXENE
43
What is olivine chemical formula?
(Mg,Fe)2SiO4
44
What is pyroxene chemical formula?
PYROXENE has CHEMICAL FORMULA XYSi2O6 Here XY = metal X, metal Y. X and Y can be a variety of metals.
45
What does moon's crust contain?
Oxygen (O), silicon (Si), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), calcium (Ca), aluminum (Al) and small amounts of other ELEMENTS.
46
What is the moon's surface like?
-Temperatures range from approximately 127oC in full sun to -173oC in darkness. -Regularly hit by ASTEROIDS, METEOROIDS and COMETS. -ASTEROID, METEOROID and COMET collisions resulted in all CRATERS we see. Also find charcoal/gray dusk and rocky debris everywhere.
47
What is a crater?
large bowl-shaped cavity in ground or on surface of a planet/moon.
48
What are meteoroids?
➢ space objects ➢ made of rocks and/or metals ➢ sizes range from dust grains to small ASTEROIDS ➢ have broken off larger bodies such as COMETS, ASTEROIDS, MOONS, even planets
49
As meteoroids approach Earth's surface and enters earth's atmosphere what happens?
➢ slowed down by gases present ➢ burn up, generating fiery tails
50
What is a meteor and a meteorite?
METEOR – object burning up in atmosphere METEORITE – whatever is left when METEOR formerly known as METEOROID hits ground
51
How much meteoritic material fall on Earth every single day?
44 000 kg
52
What are comets?
➢ frozen leftovers from formation of SOLAR SYSTEM. ➢ made of dust, rock and (frozen) ICES from different substances ➢ from kilometers to several kilometers in size ➢ orbit sun with ELLIPTICAL ORBIT. When approach sun (due to ELLIPTICAL ORBIT), warm up and spew out dust and gases. Dust and gases released result in massive glowing head and extremely long tail (tail can stretch for MILLIONS of miles)
53
Who's Helios and what is named after him?
Helios, ancient Greek god who personifies the Sun and helium is named after him.

geology test 1 (12 decks)

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