Astronomy 103 Test 3 – Chapters 9-11 – Flashcards

Rank the five terrestrial worlds in order of size from smallest to largest.

Under what circumstance can differentiation occur in a planet?

Which internal energy source is the most important in continuing to heat the terrestrial planets today?

The three principal sources of internal heat of terrestrial planets are:

When we see a region of a planet that is not as heavily cratered as other regions, we conclude that:

Volcanism is more likely on a planet that:

How did the lunar maria form?

The polar caps on Mars are composed of:

Which of the following show evidence of ancient river beds? the Moon Mars Mercury Venus all of the above

How does seafloor crust differ from continental crust?

Why are there fewer large craters on the seafloor than on the continents?

Spacecraft have landed on all the terrestrial worlds except: Moon Mercury Mars Venus

How have we been able to construct detailed maps of surface features on Venus?

What is differentiation in planetary geology?

The terrestrial planet cores contain mostly metal because:

Which of the following best describes convection? (A) It is the process in which warm material gets even warmer and cool material gets even cooler. (B) It is the process in which bubbles of gas move upward through a liquid of the same temperature. (C) It is the process by which rocks sink in water. (D) It is the process in which a liquid separates according to density, such as oil and water separating in a jar. (E) It is the process in which warm material expands and rises while cool material contracts and falls.

Which of the terrestrial worlds has the strongest magnetic field?

Which of the following most likely explains why Venus does not have a strong magnetic field? (A) It does not have a metallic core. (B) It has too think an atmosphere. (C) It is too close to the Sun. (D) Its rotation is too slow. (E) It is too large.

Which two properties are most important in determining the surface temperature of a planet?

What type of stresses broke Earth's lithosphere into plates?

Why do we think Mercury has so many tremendous cliffs?

Olympus Mons is a:

How fast do plates move on Earth?

T/F. The strength of a rock depends on its composition, its temperature, and the surrounding pressure.

T/F. Higher temperatures make rocks weaker.

T/F. Very high pressures, like those found deep within planetary interiors, can compress rocks so much that they stay solid even when temperatures are high enough to melt them under ordinary conditions.

T/F. Smaller worlds generally have thinner lithospheres.

T/F. Earth is the only planet in the solar system known to have plate tectonics.

T/F. The magnetic and rotational north poles on Earth are the same.

T/F. Mars have virtually no magnetic field.

T/F. Erosion is the most important geological process on Venus.

T/F. There is no erosion of surface features on the Moon.

T/F. In the inner solar system, the largest surface features are found on the largest planets.

T/F. Earth is the only terrestrial planet to have experienced tectonic stresses and volcanic activity.

T/F. Much of the land on the west coast of North American began as volcanic islands in the Pacific.

T/F. Spreading centers are marked by mid-ocean ridges where hot mantle material rises upward and the spreads sideways.

T/F. The process in which one plate slides under another is called subduction and is marked by deep ocean trenches.

Which of the following worlds has the most substantial atmosphere? (A) Venus (B) Mercury (C) Earth (D) Mars (E) the Moon

Which of the following planets has the least substantial atmosphere? (A) Earth (B) Mars (C) Neptune (D) Mercury (E) Venus

Why does Venus have such a great difference in temperature between its "no atmosphere" temperature and its actual temperature?

Which of the following gases absorbs ultraviolet light best? (A) Ozone (B) Nitrogen (C) Hydrogen (D) Carbon dioxide (E) Oxygen

How does the greenhouse effect work?

The proper order of the layer of a generic atmosphere from lowest altitude to highest is:

Which of the following planets has an exosphere? (A) Mars (B) Mercury (C) Venus (D) Earth (E) All of the above.

The sky is blue because:

What is the difference in meaning between the terms weather and climate?

Why doesn't Venus have seasons like Mars and Earth do?

Why is Mars red?

Venus may have started with an ocean's worth of water. Where is its water now?

Which of the following is not a product of out-gassing? (A) Nitrogen (B) Water (C) Oxygen (D) Carbon dioxide (E) Sulfur dioxide

From where did the molecular oxygen in Earth's atmosphere originate?

Which planet experiences the greatest change between its actual day temperature and actual night temperature?

Earth's stratosphere is heated primarily by which process? (A) Ozone is broken apart by ultraviolet radiation. (B) Greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation. (C) Atoms and molecules absorb infrared sunlight. (D) Ozone absorbs visible sunlight. (E) Greenhouse gases are broken apart by X-rays.

What are greenhouse gases?

Convection occurs in the troposphere but not in the stratosphere because:

There are no aurora on Venus because it:

The strength of the Coriolis effect depends on:

Venus has a high albedo because its surface is covered by:

Why does Mars have more extreme seasons than Earth?

Which of the following is not one of the four major factors that can cause a long-term change in a planet's climate? (A) A change in the amount of dust particles suspended in the planet's atmosphere. (B) A change in the planet's axis tilt. (C) A change in the strength of the planet's magnetic field. (D) The fact that the Sun has gradually grown brighter over the past 4 billion years. (E) A change in the planet's abundance of greenhouse gases.

Why isn't Earth's atmosphere mostly hydrogen?

What is the troposphere?

T/F. One bar of atmosphere is roughly equal to Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level.

T/F. Venus has a thicker atmosphere than Earth.

T/F. The "no atmosphere" temperature of a planet is never higher than the planet's actual temperature.

T/F. A planet with an albedo of 10% absorbs 10% of the sunlight that strikes it and reflects the other 90%.

T/F. Clouds, snow, and ice have higher albedos than rock.

T/F. The sky is blue because molecules scatter blue light more effectively than red light.

T/F. Sunsets are red because sunlight must pass through more atmosphere then, and the atmosphere scatters even more light at bluer wavelengths, transmitting mostly red light.

T/F. Without greenhouse gases, Earth's surface would be frozen over.

T/F. Van Allen belts are regions encircling Earth where charged particles get trapped by the magnetosphere.

T/F. The Moon has no detectable atmosphere.

T/F. Winter and summer differ in length on Mars because of its elliptical orbit.

The Coriolis effect is very important to the weather of Venus.

Earth out-gassed as much carbon dioxide as Venus, but it is locked up in the oceans and rocks.

Which terrestrial world has the most atmosphere?

The greenhouse effect occurs in the:

The kind of light that warms the stratosphere is:

Which of the following is a strong greenhouse gas? (A) Nitrogen (B) Water vapor (C) Oxygen

In what direction do hurricanes rotate in the southern hemisphere of Earth?

What is the leading hypothesis for Venus' lack of water?

What kind of gas is most effected by thermal (Jeans) escape?

About what fraction of the Earth's atmosphere is CO_2?

What causes the release of oxygen into the Earth's atmosphere?

Where is most of the CO_2 that has out-gassed from the Earth's volcanoes?

Why do Jovian planets bulge around the equator, that is, have a "squashed" appearance?

How does Jupiter's core compare to Earth's?

Why is Neptune denser than Saturn?

How do astronomers think Saturn generates its internal heat?

The belts and zones of Jupiter are:

The four Galilean moons around Jupiter are:

Why do Uranus and Neptune have blue methane clouds but Jupiter and Saturn do not?

The fact that most moons always show the same face to their planet is:

What is the most important reason why an icy moon is more likely to be geologically active than a rocky moon of the same size?

Which moon has the most substantial atmosphere?

Why does Titan have such a nitrogen-rich atmosphere?

Planetary rings are: (A) Orbiting in the equatorial plane of their planet. (B) Composed of a large number of individual particles that orbit their planet in accord with Kepler's third law. (C) Known to exist for all of the Jovian planets. (D) Nearer to their planet than any of the planet's large moons. (E) All of the above.

How much energy does Jupiter emit compared with how much it receives from the Sun?

How do astronomers think Jupiter generates its internal heat?

Why is Jupiter denser than Saturn?

Why is Saturn almost a big as Jupiter, despite its smaller mass?

How do the Jovian planet interiors differ?

What is Jupiter's Great Red Spot?

Why are there no impact craters on the surface of Io?

What mechanism is most responsible for generating the internal heat of Io that drives the volcanic activity?

What is the most abundant has in Titan's atmosphere?

Which of the following statements about Titan is not true? (A) It may have an ocean of liquid ethane. (B) Its atmosphere is mostly nitrogen. (C) It is the coldest moon in the solar system. (D) Its temperature is too cold for liquid water to exist. (E) Its surface is hidden from view by its thick atmosphere.

Which previously unknown planet's location was predicted from mathematical calculations of orbital motions?

Which of the Jovian planets have rings?

T/F. If Jupiter were 10 times more massive, it would have a smaller radius.

T/F. Hydrogen exists as both a gas and a liquid in Jupiter.

T/F. If Jupiter were 10 times more massive, it would become a star.

T/F. Jupiter does not have seasons because it has little axial tilt.

T/F. Without knowing the distance to Venus, we wouldn't know the size and distance to the Jovian planets.

T/F. Jupiter is slowly shrinking due to gravitational contraction.

T/F. All the Jovian planets have a composition similar to the Sun.

T/F. Jovian planet magnetospheres are comparable in size to the Sun.

T/F. Jovian planets are big because they formed inside the "ice line".