A Quick Review of the Solar System for Exam #2

Regarding the Solar System in General and Earth and Moon in Particular
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Understand the Moon's period of rotation and revolution.

Understand the relationship of Earth's crust and mantle and continental drift.
Understand the three major types of rocks and how each group is formed.
Geologists use color, luster, acid test, streak test and sometimes even taste,
to differentiate rocks.
5. Near what phase(s) of the Moon would you have neap tides and spring tides
develop?
6. What are minerals?
a. a solid inorganic substance of natural occurrence.
7. Understand the types of erosion on Earth including: volcanism, tectonics,
impact craters, water and wind.
8. Which are the superior planets, which are the inferior planets?
a. Inferior planets are the planets whose orbits lie within Earth's orbit
around the Sun: Mercury and Venus.
b. Superior planets are the planets whose orbits lie outside Earth's orbit
around the Sun: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and,
historically, the former planet Pluto.
9. Know the correct order of the planets.
a. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. An
easy mnemonic for remembering the order is My Very Educated
Mother Just Served Us Noodles.
10.The greenhouse effect occurs because of what properties of gasses?
a. Carbon dioxide is transparent to visible light and opaque to infrared
radiation
11.Why are there so few craters on Earth?
a. The Earths atmosphere protects the planet, asteroids usually get burnt
up within it. Very few make it past the atmosphere
12.Know the location of the portions of the Earth's interior.
13.Understand the properties of a planet that determine its atmosphere.
14.What is the chemical basis of life on Earth?
15.What are the most visible features of the different planets?
16.What are the physical characteristics of the planets?
17.Which planets are terrestrial?
18.Which planets are jovian?
19.What is the goal of comparative planetology?
20.How does one calculate the density of a planet?
21.How do the densities of the terrestrial and jovian planets compare?
22.What is the primary ingredient of the Earth's atmosphere?
23.The presence of a magnetic field is a good indication of what?
24.Where does temperature in the atmosphere remain constant?
25.The differential rotation of the inner and outer core likely contributes to what?
26.A rock starts out with 32 grams of Uranium. After how many half-lives will
there be remaining only 1 gram of Uranium?

27.What force on the Moon causes it to keep a single hemisphere towards the
Earth?
28.What is the Moon's atmosphere composed of?
29.The rate of cratering on the lunar highlands helps to show what?
30.The erosion rate on the Moon is far less than the erosion rate on Earth, why?
31.What theory of the Moon's origin is favored by most astronomers today?
32.Moonquakes helped reveal what characteristic of the Moon?
33.What is the name of energy transport from one region to another by the
movement of material?
34.Tidal forces between the Earth and Moon are causing the rotation of the Earth
to change in what manner?
35.What is the best estimated age for the Earth and the solar system?
36.The existence of earthquake shadow zones indicates that there is an abrupt
change between the properties of the mantle and those of the core. What
does this imply?
37.In what year did human beings first set foot on the Moon? Who was it? Who
was the second?
Regarding Mercury
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4.

Mercury has a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance. Why?

The best information we have on Mercury is from what?
Mercury's surface is similar to what?
Mercury experiences extreme highs and lows in temperature between day
and night, why?
5. Mercury has a slight magnetic field. What does it tells us?
6. Mercury's evolution is different from the Moon's. How so?
Regarding Venus
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Venus is very bright in the sky?

Venus has been explored best by?
Venus atmosphere?
Venus is hot because?
Venus may have had an ocean of water, what happened?
Venus craters are mostly what type? Why?
Venus lacks a perceptible magnetic field, is this surprising?
The greenhouse effect on Venus has caused what?
Much was uncovered about Venus by what craft and means?

Regarding Mars
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Much information about Mars was gotten how?

Mars day is about how long?
Mars surface is partially cratered and partially not as much, what does it say?
Mars seasons are caused by what?
Mars has giant shield volcanoes, why?
Mars volcanoes are higher than Earth's, why?
Mars has runoff channels, how formed?
Mars has outflow channels, how formed?
Mars is reddish in color, why?

10.Viking's search for life demonstrated what?

11.Mars has two moons, what are the names?
12.Mars moons are likely to have been captured what?
13.Venus and Mars evolved differently than Earth, why?
Regarding Jupiter
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Jupiter is noticeably oblate, why?

Voyager 1 and 2 made major discoveries, like what?
Jupiter emits more energy than it absorbs, why?
Jupiter is believed to have a core, of what?
Jupiter's clouds vary day to day, saying what?
Jupiter emits radio waves, why?
Jupiter missed being a star, why?
Jupiter's moons, orbit rotate how?
Largest Jupiter moon is what?
a. Ganymede
10.Most geologically active moon is what?
a. Io
11.Volcanic activity on Io does what?
a. Tidal stresses from Jupiter and Europa
12.Jupiter moon with lots of surface frozen water and few criteria is what?
Regarding Saturn
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Saturn's density is what?

Saturn gives off more heat than absorbs why?
Saturn has oval storm systems and turbulent flow patterns, why?
Saturn atmosphere has less helium than Jupiter, saying what?
Saturn's famous rings are composed of what?
a. Icy Particles
6. The icy particles of Saturn's rings do what?
7. The location of the rings was dictated by what?
8. Saturn's moon Titan is most interesting, why?
a. Because it possesses a thick atmosphere that may be like primordial
Earths atmosphere
9. Titan's atmosphere is mostly what?
a. Gases made from nitrogen
10.Saturn's moon Mimas is different, how?
a. Apparently suffered a huge meteorite impact that nearly shattered it.
11.Saturn's moon Enceladus appears to have volcanic activity, so?
12.Most of Saturn's moons are what (orbit wise)?
a. Are tidally locked by gravity synchronous rotation
13.The Roche limit is an important concept, why?
a. That defines the critical distance from a planet inside of which a moon
can be tidally destroyed
14.The rings of Saturn, what about them?
15.Saturn has shepherd moons, what are they and what do they do?
a. That are small moons which confine a narrow ring
16.Saturn's moon Rhea, what's special?
17.Saturn's moon Hyperion, what's special?

a. Is that it constantly changes its rotation rate

18.Saturn has a magnetic field, caused by what?
Regarding the Remainder of the Solar System
(Uranus/Neptune/Pluto/Comets/Asteroids)
1. What is most peculiar about Uranus?
2. What type of planet is Pluto?
a. Dwarf
3. How were the rings of Uranus discovered?
4. How can we know the composition of the atmosphere of Pluto?
a. We can use spectral analysis
5. What can Pluto's surface and interior be like?
a. It consists of partially hydrated rock, organics, and layers of water ice.
6. Pluto is most similar to what?
a. Triton
7. What is an asteroid?
a.
8. What is a comet?
9. What meteor showers are linked to cometary debris?
10.Where are the orbits of most asteroids?
11.Where do comets come from?
12.What are comets made of?
a. Silicates, dust particles, methane, ammonia, and water ice.
13.What are meteor showers caused by?
a. Earth crossing the orbit of a comets debris.
14.Where are Trojan asteroids found?
a. Have orbits at a distance of Jupiter
15.What part of a comet has only been seen with the aid of a spacecraft?
16.What theory describes the origin of the planets as having been formed by
accretion of small particles into progressively larger and larger bodies?
17.What might have been the cause of the original solar nebula's collapse?
18.What happens when a solar nebula collapses?
19.Why doesn't Earth itself provide many clues to the origin of the solar system?
20.What were the factors that caused the planets to form from different types of
material?
21.What is the conservation of angular momentum?
22.What is accretion?
23.What is a phase diagram?