question

Put the stages of solar system formation in order chronologically, where "1" means it happened first and "5" means it happened last.

answer

collapsing gas cloud forms a disk shape proto-Sun's heat bakes disk, differentiating it planets begin growing sun fusion "turns on" and blows away the gas planets migrate (change orbits)

question

Which of these methods helps us learn the age of our solar system?

answer

radioactive dating of asteroids and meteorites

question

In radioactive materials a parent atom decays into a daughter, such as uranium-238 decaying into lead-206. For some radioisotope dating methods you have to assume you know the amount of daughter atoms in the crystal, so you can tell how much is a result of radioactive decay (and thus get an age for the rock). Please read this article and then answer this question: why are zircon crystals so useful for uranium/lead dating?

answer

zircons form with uranium in them but no lead (initially)

question

Based on radioactive dating of Earth rocks and meteorites, roughly how old is our solar system?

answer

4.5 billion years

question

The nebular hypothesis predicts that protosolar nebula became disk-shaped as it collapsed. While all of these statements about our solar system are true, which observation supports this idea?

answer

all the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction and in nearly the same plane

question

Think about the gas cloud from which our solar system formed. Which pie chart best represents the composition of the protoplasm nebula? H stands for hydrogen and He stands for helium.

answer

Chart D (98% H/He, 2% other matter)

question

The atoms that would eventually become all of the plants and animals on Earth were

answer

already present in the solar nebula

question

Please watch this 4.5min video on the formation of the Earth closed caption icon and then answer this question: where did the heavier atoms present in solar nebula (nitrogen, oxygen, iron, silicon) come from?

answer

they were created in stars that existed before the Sun, who polluted the gas around them

question

What force drove the collapse of the nebula, the first step of the process that would eventually form our solar system?

answer

gravity

question

Please watch part of this NOVA special, "Where did we come from?". While the whole special is almost an hour, just start watching from 8:15 to 14:45 (transcript PDF), and then answer this question: the presence of nickel-60 in meteorites suggests that the gravitational collapse of the solar nebula (the cloud that would eventually form our solar system) might have been triggered by

answer

a shockwave from a nearby supernova

question

Which graph accurately represents how the temperature in the protoplanetary disk changes as you look farther from the proto-Sun?

answer

chart C (temperature drops as you as get further from the sun)

question

Astronomers have determined the mass of a protoplanetary disk around the young star TW Hydrae, using amazingly sensitive observations from the Herschel spacecraft, and found it "weighs in" at about 50 times the mass of Jupiter. Please read this article about TW Hydrae and its protoplanetary disk, and then answer this question: what were astronomers measuring to get the mass of the disk?

answer

the amount of deuterium (like hydrogen but with a neutron) in the disk

question

-original gas clump from which solar system formed -disk-shaped cloud from which the planets would eventually form -thing that would eventually ignite fusion and become our Sun a planet forming outside of the frost line (but not at the edge of the disk) would probably become this type of planet -a general word for the precursor to the planets we know, a "baby" planet -a planet forming inside the frost line (but not inside the soot line) would probably become this type of planet

answer

-protosolar nebula -protoplanetary disk -proto-sun -jovian planet -protoplanet -terrestrial planet

question

The ALMA array of telescopes view sub-millimeter light (between microwave and radio). Please read this article about an amazing observation by ALMA and then answer this question: what did ALMA see that supports the process of solar system formation covered in class?

answer

a disk of gas and dust around the young star, with gaps that might be where planets are forming

question

Which observation suggests that different material became solid particles at different distances from the proto-Sun?

answer

terrestrials are made of rock and metal, jovians of hydrogen and helium, and dwarf planets of rock and ice

question

Say your friend tells you about a star with 5 terrestrial planets orbiting in the opposite direction of its 3 jovian planets. This discovery would be inconsistent with how we expect stars and planets to form since

answer

all the planets formed in a disk-shaped nebula that was rotating in the same direction

question

Given what you know about orbits and Kepler's laws, where in the protoplanetary disk would you expect to find material (gas, flakes of solid material) orbiting fastest?

answer

the inner part of the disk, closer to the protosun

question

Planets have dense material closer to the center due to differentiation by __________ while the proto-planetary disk has solid particles of denser materials closer to the center due to differentiation by _______

answer

gravity, heat

question

f the solar nebula was all made of the same material, why did the protoplanetary disk have solid "ice" particles (flakes of water, ammonia, nitrogen) only found far from the proto-Sun?

answer

the inner regions were too hot and the "ices" evaporated and became gas

question

Which of these can exist as solid particles inside the soot line at 0.3 AU? Select all that apply.

answer

none of these

question

Which of these can exist as solid flakes between the soot line and the frost line (outside the soot line at 0.3 AU but inside the frost line at 3.5 AU)? Select all that apply.

answer

rocks & metal

question

What happened to the molecules of the "ices" (water, methane, ammonia) present inside the frost line?

answer

they existed as a gas

question

Which of these can exist as solid flakes outside both the soot line and the frost line (beyond 3.5 AU)? Select all that apply.

answer

rocks & metal "ices" (water, ammonia, nitrogen)

question

Planetesimals that became the Jovian planets formed ____ the soot line and ____ the frost line

answer

outside,outside

question

Protoplanets that became the terrestrial planets formed ____ the soot line and ____ the frost line

answer

outside,inside

question

jovian planets absorbed hydrogen and helium from the protoplanetary disk; why didn't the terrestrials do this?

answer

terrestrials were too small and their gravity too weak to hold any hydrogen or helium

question

Jovian planets grew larger and faster than terrestrials because jovians formed _____, where there were solid particles of ice, rock, and metal --- rather than just rock & metal

answer

farther from the proto-Sun than the frost line

question

What event cleared out the gas from the protoplanetary disk?

answer

the Sun became a star and its solar wind blew away the gas

question

Why did Jovian planets grow larger than terrestrial planets?

answer

both of these reasons (more particles were available in outer solar system ,it was cold enough for the gaseous "ices" to condense they formed early and could gather hydrogen and helium before Sun "turned on")

question

Which observation suggests that planets migrated?

answer

other stars are found to have jovian planets orbiting very close to their star, and the Oort cloud is spherical rather than disk-shaped

question

What force caused the planets to move (migrate) and change each other's orbits?

answer

gravity from planets interacting with each other

question

The planets, asteroids, and some comets all orbit in roughly the same plane, but the comets of the Oort cloud have orbits tilted at every angle in a huge spherical distribution. Why is this?

answer

objects didn't form in the Oort cloud, they were pushed out there much later in the formation of the solar system when the planets migrated

question

The Late Heavy Bombardment was a time when the rate of impacts dramatically increased, and astronomers suspect it was caused by the

answer

jovian planets' migrating, specifically the ice giants hitting the Kuiper belt

question

Please read this article about a surprising mystery that planet migration helps solve and then answer this question: how does planetary migration help explain why Mars is so small compared to Venus and Earth?

answer

Jupiter migrated inward and removed material from where Mars would form millions of years later

question

Please watch this 5 min video on the later stages of planet migration and then answer this question: how did the intense bombardment affect how life would arise on the planet?

answer

the comets delivered water and life's building blocks to Earth in great numbers making life more likely

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