Solar System HW

Question 1

Put the planets in order of orbit semi-major axis from smallest (1) to largest (8).

Answer 1

1.) Mecury 2.) Venus 3.) Earth 4.) Mars 5.) Jupiter 6.) Saturn 7.) Uranus 8.) Neptune

Question 2

Match the feature of a planet with the property that causes it. Length of Year

Answer 2

Orbit size (semi Major axis)

Question 3

Match the feature of a planet with the property that causes it. Strength of seasons

Answer 3

tilt of the rotation axis

Question 4

Match the feature of a planet with the property that causes it. Length of day

Answer 4

rotation rate

Question 5

Match the feature of a planet with the property that causes it. Rate at which it cools

Answer 5

Planet size

Question 6

Match the feature of a planet with the property that causes it. Surface Gravity

Answer 6

mass and size

Question 7

The jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Netpune) have larger orbits than terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars), which means they are _______ and have a longer _______ than terrestrials

Answer 7

colder, year

Question 8

What information do you need to know to calculate how long it takes a planet to go around the Sun?

Answer 8

semi-major axis

Question 9

Which best describes the spacing of the planets in our solar system?

Answer 9

uneven, planets bunched together close to the Sun and spread out farther from the Sun

even, equal distance between planets

Question 10

Which planet is halfway between the Sun and Pluto? (Another way to think of this: if you had the solar system from the Sun to Pluto on a piece of paper and folded it in half, what would be directly on the fold?)

Answer 10

Uranus

Question 11

Put the planets in order of planet size (diameter) from largest (1) to smallest (8).

Answer 11

Correct1. 
Jupiter
Correct2. 
Saturn
Correct3. 
Uranus
Correct4. 
Neptune
Correct5. 
Earth
Correct6. 
Venus
Correct7. 
Mars
Correct8. 
Mercury

Question 12

Which is a better description of our solar system?

Answer 12

the distances between planets are large compared to their sizes

Question 13

The Moon formed when a protoplanet (a “baby” planet) slammed into Earth as it was still forming. Instead of forming a small Moon and large Earth, what if instead they formed two equally-sized objects that orbit each other. Since they would have the same mass and size (both smaller than Earth), what would you expect about how these two objects would cool?

Answer 13

They would both cool at the same rate, faster than the Earth

Question 14

What causes a planet to have volcanoes?

Answer 14

having a molten (liquid) interior

Question 15

Mercury and Mars are much smaller than Earth and Venus, so Mercury and Mars probably have

Answer 15

very little internal energy and inactive geology

Question 16

If a planet has volcanoes and a strong global magnetic field, it must have

Answer 16

lots of internal energy and is probably large like Earth

Question 17

Which of these is largest?
Sun
Earth
Moon
Jupiter

Answer 17

sun

Question 18

Compared to the Earth, Mercury and the Moon have huge differences between their day and night temperatures. Why is this?

Answer 18

they do not have a thick atmosphere

Question 19

Say a newly-discovered terrestrial (Earth-like) planet is found to have active plate tectonics and volcanism. What characteristic of the planet explains these traits? (Hint: if the interior of a planet is going to flow to cause plate tectonics or a magnetic field, then it must be warm enough to be a liquid.)

Answer 19

large planet size, more like Earth and Venus

Question 20

Say a newly-discovered terrestrial (Earth-like) planet is found to have powerful winds blowing at different latitudes. What characteristic of the planet explains these traits?

Answer 20

faster rotation rate, more like Earth and Mars

Question 21

If we were studying Earth-like planets orbiting another star, we would most likely see a thick atmosphere on a

Answer 21

large planet farther from the star

Question 22

Consider the sizes of the jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) and their distances from the Sun. Which do you expect is true about their “surface” (cloud-top) temperatures and internal energy compared to Earth?

Answer 22

cooler “surface” temperatures, more internal energy

Question 23

Planet cores are made of metal because

Answer 23

metal is denser than rock or gas and sank to the center of the planet

Question 24

Earth’s core is about 6,400K (11,000oF), while Jupiter’s core is about 24,000K (43,000oF). Why is Jupiter’s core so much hotter than Earth’s?

Answer 24

there is more mass above Jupiter’s core, so the core gets crushed more

Question 25

Jupiter’s core is much hotter than Earth, so it’s surface temperature should be

Answer 25

cooler than Earth because Jupiter is farther from the Sun than Earth

Question 26

Mercury is 0.34 AU* from the Sun, Earth is 1 AU from the Sun, and Pluto is 40 AU from the Sun. Constellation stars are 25 million AU from the Sun. Our galaxy of stars is 7.6 billion AU across. Which statement is true?

*1AU = 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers

Answer 26

the stars making up the constellations are just those in the Milky Way galaxy nearest to the Sun

Question 27

Listed below are the wind speeds at different latitudes for different planets. Which planet probably spins on its axis fastest?

Earth northern mid-latitude 130mph, equator 85mph
Saturn northern mid-latitude 280 mph, equator 840 mph
Uranus northern mid-latitude 210mph, equator 110mph

Answer 27

Saturn