Mastering Astronomy, Astronomy 2, Chapter 8

How many of the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction that Earth does?

What fraction of the moons of the planets orbit in the same direction that their planets rotate?

The solar nebula was 98 % ...

Which of the following did not occur during the collapse of the solar nebula?

What is Jupiter's main ingredient?

Which lists the major steps of solar system formation in the correct order?

Leftover ice-rich planetesimals are called

Why didn't a terrestrial planet form at the location of the asteroid belt?

What's the leading theory for the origin of the Moon?

About how old is the solar system?

True/ False The more massive planets in the solar system tend to be less dense than the lower mass planets.

True/False Within the frost line, planetesimals were composed entirely of rock and outside the frost line planetesimals were composed entirely of ice.

Vocabulary in Context: Solar System Formation : 1.Our solar system was created by the gravitational collapse of the 2.Our Moon was most likely formed by a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized 3.The first few hundred million years of the solar system's history were the time of the ____, during which Earth suffered many large impacts. 4.Mars was formed by the ____ of smaller objects. 5.The era of planet formation ended when the remaining hydrogen and helium gas of the solar nebula was swept into interstellar space by the ______ 6.Ice can form from a gas through the process of ______ 7.Hydrogen compounds in the solar system can condense into ices only beyond the _______ 8._____ allows us to determine the age of a solid rock

Visual Activity: Condensed Materials in Different Regions of the Disk of the Forming Solar System : A. What substances were found within the inner 0.3 AU of the solar system before planets began to form? B. What substances existed as solid flakes within the inner 0.3 AU of the solar system before planets began to form? C. Where would you expect terrestrial planets to form in the solar nebula? D. The jovian planets are thought to have formed as gravity drew hydrogen and helium gas around planetesimals made of __________.

Suppose you find a rock that contains some potassium-40 (half-life of 1.3 billion years). You measure the amount and determine that there are 9 grams of potassium-40 in the rock. By measuring the amount of its decay product (argon-40) present in the rock, you realize that there must have been 72 grams of potassium-40 when the rock solidified. How old is the rock?

Which of the following puzzles in the solar system cannot be explained by a giant impact event?