Quiz 2 Flashcards
Why and how are planets inside of the frost line different from those outside the frost line in our solar system?
Planets inside the frost line are HOT, they have their rocks and metals condense while hydrogen compounds stay gaseous. Planets outside the frost line are COLD and they have all their hydrogen compounds, rocks, and metal condense.
Explain why the planetesimals beyond the frost line were initially able to grow larger than those inside the frost line.
Because beyond the frost line temperatures are LOW, planetesimals are able to grow larger because initially they are able to form as ice rocks which enables them to create more mass and attract more planetesimals (rocks).
Why didn’t the terrestrial planets acquire a thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium gas?
Not enough mass
What are the main two types of objects in the solar system that may collide with the Earth?
Earth crossing asteroids (apollo asteroids) and Comets
Where do comets spend most of their lives? What do they look like when they are at that location?
comets spend most of their lives outside the frostline in the OORB cloud since they are composed of compounds that are only form in the outer/cold region of the solar system.
What are meteor showers and what is their origin?
Meteor showers is an INCREASE in the number or meteors at a particular time of the year. A meteor shower originates from the dust that comes off of comets and rains down on our planet as it passes the comets orbit.
What happened in Chelyabinsk, Russia on February 15, 2013?
a 20-meter meteorite traveling at about 40,000 mph exploded about 15km above the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia. more than 1,000 were hurt
What is NASA’s Near Earth Object (NEO) project?
it detects/tracks and characterizes potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that could approach the earth.
Why does the Moon have many more craters than the Earth?
B/c the moon doesn’t have an atmosphere, erosion, volcanism, plate tectonics (cause earthquakes), unlike Earth. This aides on the preservation of craters on the Moon.
How did the Moon form (what is the most likely theory)?
Collisional Ejection Theory: Proto earth and another planetismal were sharing the same orbit. They collided (planetismal hit earth a little off center and breaks off pieces which stay in Earth’s gravity and become the moon and the planetismal merges with earth).
