question

The nebular theory of the origin of the solar system was proposed by

answer

Laplace

question

The passing star mechanism of the origin of the solar system was proposed by

answer

Buffon

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Why do astronomers believe that the angular momentum problem is no longer an objection to the solar nebula problem?

answer

The sun's magnetic field interacted with gas leaving the nebula and slowed the sun's rotation.

question

Which one supports the solar nebula theory of the origin of the solar system?

answer

Disks are common around young stars.

question

The oldest rocks found on Earth are about ____ years old.

answer

4.4 billion

question

Which of the following is not a characteristic of the terrestrial planets?

answer

low average density

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The age of the solar system is believed to be approximately 4.6 billions years old based on the data from

answer

samples of lunar rocks. samples of earth rocks. samples of meteorites.

question

In observations, ____ has a heavy element core, and a deep atmosphere made mostly of hydrogen.

answer

Uranus

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The condensation sequence suggests that ____ should condense closest to the sun.

answer

metals and metal oxides

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Condensation in the solar nebula probably led to the formation of

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icy grains beyond the present orbit of Jupiter. metallic grains near the present orbit of Mercury. silicate grains near the present orbit of Earth.

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Protoplanets of the Jovian planets could have grown very hot from

answer

the infall of material at high velocity.

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The planets all lie in nearly the same plane resulting in a disk-like structure for the solar system. This disk-like structure is believed to exist because

answer

planetesimals settled into the plane.

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Which one of the following objects is most like the planetesimals that formed in the solar nebular?

answer

asteroids

question

The large planetesimals would have grown faster than the smaller planetesimals because

answer

their stronger gravity would pull in more material.

question

Accretion among the grains in the solar nebula would have been aided by

answer

static electricity.

question

If a star is found with five planets orbiting it, which of the planets would be expected to have the greatest uncompressed density if the system was formed by a process like that described in the solar nebula theory?

answer

the one closest to the star

question

The current atmosphere of Earth is believed to be

answer

composed of gases that were baked from the rocks sometime after the planet formed.

question

The discovery that Jovian-like planets are common around other stars and that gas and dust is swept out of the solar neighborhood fairly early in the formation of a star suggests that

answer

the Jovians may have formed directly, without the core accretion phase.

question

On a photograph of the moon, the moon measures 30 cm in diameter, and a small crater measures 0.2 cm. The moon's physical diameter is 1738 km. What is the physical diameter of the small crater?

answer

about 12 km

question

Once a terrestrial planet had formed from a large number of planetesimals, heat from ____ could have melted it and allowed it to differentiate into a dense metallic core and a lower density crust.

answer

radioactive decay

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A future news release might report that a new planet has been found around a star very similar to our sun. This newly discovered planet is claimed to have a mass 40 times that of Earth and is located nearly 25 AU from the star it orbits. Which of the following would be a reasonable prediction about this planet?

answer

The planet will probably have a radius of around five to ten times greater than Earth's. The planet will probably have several satellites. The planet will probably have a composition that is mostly hydrogen and helium.

question

Most planets thus far discovered around other stars were found by

answer

varying Doppler shifts of the stars.

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Venus is often called Earth's sister planet because it is similar to the Earth in terms of

answer

mass. size density

question

Compared to the terrestrial planets, Jovian planets

answer

have a much larger diameter.

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The asteroid belt is found between which two planets?

answer

Mars and Jupiter

question

If the catastrophic theory of the formation of the solar system is correct then we should expect

answer

to find a very few number of planetary systems like our own.

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How is radioactive dating used to determine the age of an object?

answer

The amounts of radioactive and decay material are compared to its half-life to determine age.

question

How is the presence of space debris accounted for by solar system models?

answer

Space debris is left over material from the early solar system that never formed into a planet. Space debris was formed by the collision of objects after the planets formed.

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Which of the following observations would support the solar nebula theory over the passing star hypothesis?

answer

proving that most of the solar like stars near the sun also have planets orbiting them.

question

Most planets thus far discovered around other stars were found by

answer

varying Doppler shifts of the stars.

question

The terrestrial planets are

answer

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon, Mars.

question

The terrestrial planets are all made of

answer

mostly rock, metal.

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The parts of a terrestrial planet from the center out are

answer

core, mantle, crust.

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All terrestrial planets have

answer

a solid surface

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All terrestrial planets have

answer

craters

question

Earth possesses few visible craters while the moon possesses many. This is because

answer

the moon doesn't have an atmosphere that could burn up many of the meteorites before impacting. erosion and plate tectonics have slowly removed evidence of past cratering on earth.

question

In the development of a planet, the stage of ____ occurred when molten rock flowed through fissures and filled deep basins with molten rock.

answer

flooding

question

Slow surface evolution is caused by

answer

wind erosion. plate tectonics.

question

Which of the following is not one of the four stages in the development of a terrestrial planet?

answer

accretion

question

The youngest parts of Earth's crust are

answer

the midocean rifts.

question

The plates of Earth's lithosphere move at speeds of

answer

a few centimeters per year.

question

The Himalayan Mountains are rugged, jagged peaks and the Appalachians are smooth and rolling. Why is there a difference?

answer

The Appalachians are much older and have been smoothed by erosion.

question

The energy that moves the plates of Earth's crust comes from

answer

convection from the hot interior.

question

Diagram 20-1 shows a schematic of Earth. If an earthquake occurs at point X on Earth's surface, at which of the locations indicated by numbers would observers receive S waves from this earthquake?

answer

1, 2, & 3

question

Saying that Earth's mantle is plastic means that

answer

it has the properties of a solid but is capable of flowing under pressure.

question

Which of the following is not produced by plate tectonics?

answer

Earth's magnetic field

question

The central regions of Earth's core are a solid because

answer

the pressure at the center raises the melting point.

question

Which of the following provide evidence that Earth's core is at least partially molten?

answer

S waves do not penetrate Earth's core.

question

Earth's magnetic field is generated by the dynamo effect in the

answer

molten metallic core.

question

The gas that is most responsible for the greenhouse effect on Earth is

answer

carbon dioxide (CO2)

question

If Earth's average surface temperature were to increase by several degrees,

answer

sea level would rise and flood coastal areas.

question

The Van Allen belts are

answer

composed of high energy particles from the solar wind that are trapped in Earth's magnetosphere.

question

The graph below indicates the temperature of Earth's atmosphere as a function of altitude. At what altitude is Earth's atmosphere the coldest?

answer

100 km

question

Why would a decrease in the density of the ozone layer create a public health concern?

answer

The greenhouse effect would not be as efficient and the temperature of Earth would decrease. The greenhouse effect would be more efficient and the temperature of Earth would increase. Plant life would no longer have the ozone it needs for photosynthesis to create chlorophyll. Infrared radiation from the sun would bombard Earth and cause an increase in skin cancers. none of the above

question

Which of the following terrestrial planets does not have a significant atmosphere?

answer

Mercury

question

How are scientists able to study the interior of the Earth?

answer

They study seismic waves that travel through the interior of the Earth.

question

What property does carbon dioxide have that makes it a greenhouse gas?

answer

It easily absorbs infrared radiation.

question

What is the most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere?

answer

N2

question

Earth possesses few visible craters while the moon possesses many. This is because

answer

the moon doesn't have an atmosphere that could burn up many of the meteorites before impacting. erosion and plate tectonics have slowly removed evidence of past cratering on earth.

question

The central regions of Earth's core are a solid because

answer

the pressure at the center raises the melting point.

question

The ____ show(s) an emission spectrum and is(are) caused by large electrical currents that flow into Earth's atmosphere near the north and south poles.

answer

aurora

question

Slow surface evolution on the moon is limited to

answer

low level meteorite impacts.

question

The moon is no longer geologically active because

answer

it is too small.

question

The Earth's moon is airless and inert because its mass is ____ Earth's.

answer

much less than

question

The escape velocity of the Earth's moon is ____ that of the Earth.

answer

less than

question

The lunar maria are

answer

the lava plains of the lunar lowlands.

question

The presence of vesicular basalts among the lunar rock samples shows that

answer

molten lava once flowed over the lunar surface.

question

The presence of breccias among the lunar rock samples shows that

answer

the lunar surface was fragmented by meteorite impacts.

question

The fission theory of the moon's origin has been criticized because

answer

the moon's composition is different from Earth's.

question

As the moon revolves around Earth,

answer

it keeps one side always toward Earth.

question

Which hypothesis, concerning the formation of the moon, makes predictions that best fit the observed lunar data?

answer

the large impact hypothesis

question

The condensation hypothesis for the formation of the moon suggests that the moon and Earth formed as a double planet from the same cloud within the solar nebula. This hypothesis predicts that

answer

the moon and Earth should have identical compositions and densities.

question

The moon's highlands

answer

are older than the maria.

question

The time it takes Mercury to complete a solar day (the time from sunrise to sunrise)

answer

is equal to two revolutions of Mercury around the sun.

question

That Mercury has a large iron core is evidenced by

answer

the large mean density of Mercury.

question

The surface temperature of Mercury is

answer

about equal to that of Earth's deserts. about equal to that on the bright side of the moon. nearly equal to the surface temperature of the sun. about the same on the day and night sides of the planet. none of the above

question

Why is it surprising that Mercury's magnetic field is strong enough to be measured (> >Earth's moon's), yet significantly weaker than Earth's magnetic field?

answer

Mercury's small size suggests that it should no longer have a molten core, so no magnetic field is expected.

question

In contrast to the Earth and Mercury, the fact that the Earth's moon has no magnetic field implies that

answer

the moon's core contains little if any molten iron.

question

Mercury has a mass of 3.3×1023 kg and a radius of 2.4×106 m. The gravitational constant is 6.7×10−11 N⋅m2/kg2. What is Mercury's escape velocity?

answer

4.3 km/s

question

If Mercury is 1.5×108 km from Earth and has a diameter of 2,400 km, what is its angular diameter as viewed from Earth?

answer

3.3 seconds of arc

question

The oldest parts of the surface of Mercury, that are listed below, are believed to be

answer

the intercrater plains.

question

The theory that Mercury shrank slightly when it was young has been proposed to explain Mercury's

answer

lobate scarps.

question

The surface of Mercury is difficult to map from Earth because

answer

it is always near the sun.

question

Slow surface evolution on Mercury is due to

answer

micrometeorite impacts. intense cycles of high and low temperature that weakens the surface rocks.

question

are believed to have formed on Mercury when the planet's interior cooled and shrank.

answer

lobate scarps

question

The temperature on the daylight side of Mercury

answer

is about 400° hotter than the night side because Mercury rotates very slowly.

question

Which of the terrestrial planets has the most difficult time retaining an atmosphere?

answer

Mercury

question

Mercury's major atmospheric gas is

answer

Misleading; the atmosphere is virtually nonexistent.

question

The moon's distance from Earth is measured very accurately by bouncing a laser beam off of a small mirror left on the surface of the moon. If a laser is fired at the moon and the signal returns in 2.6 seconds, what is the distance to the moon? (Hint: speed of light c = 300,000 km/s)

answer

390,000 km

question

How does the large-impact hypothesis explain why the Moon is poor in heavy elements like iron?

answer

The impact occurred after Earth had differentiated heavy elements to its center.

question

The co-accretion hypothesis for the formation of the moon suggests that the moon and Earth formed as a double planet from the same cloud within the solar nebula. This hypothesis predicts that

answer

the moon and Earth should have identical compositions and densities.

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