Exam 6: Formation of Planetary Systems: Our Solar System and Beyond

A) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
B) Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus
C) Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus
D) Earth, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

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A) rocky minerals and water, as on Earth
B) hydrogen and helium
C) ammonia and methane
D) ammonia and water
E) nitrogen and methane

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A) They are relatively smaller than the outer planets.
B) They all have solid, rocky surfaces.
C) Their orbits are relatively closely spaced.
D) They all have substantial atmospheres.
E) They have very few, if any, satellites.

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A) Planets orbit around the Sun in nearly circular orbits in a flattened disk.
B) the compositional differences between the terrestrial and jovian planets
C) the equal number of terrestrial and jovian planets (with the exception of Pluto)
D) the presence of asteroids and comets
E) the craters on the Moon

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A) ammonia
B) methane
C) water
D) rock dust
E) sodium

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A) The Moon formed from material blasted out of the Earth's mantle and crust by the impact of a Mars-size object.
B) The Moon formed when two gigantic asteroids collided with one another.
C) The Moon originally was about the same size as Earth, but a giant impact blasted most of it away so that it ended up much smaller than Earth.
D) The Moon formed just like the Earth, from accretion in the solar nebula.

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A) big planets in edge-on orbits around around small stars.
B) big planets in face-on orbits around small stars.
C) small planets in edge-on orbits around big stars.
D) small planets in face-on orbits around big stars.
E) Earth-like planets in any orbit.

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A) The planet must be closer to the star than Earth is to the Sun.
B) The planet must have a mass about the same as the mass of Jupiter.
C) The planet must be farther from the star than Neptune is from the Sun.
D) You do not have enough information to say anything at all about the planet.

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A) The four largest moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto
B) The two largest moons in the solar system: Ganymede and Titan
C) The moons that orbit their planet "backward" compared to their planet's rotation, such as Neptune's moon Triton
D) The moons orbiting Uranus, which was once named "planet Galileo"

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A) Both planets are nearly the same size.
B) Both planets have very similar atmospheres.
C) Both planets have similar surface geology.
D) Both planets have warm days and cool nights.

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In the nebular theory, jovian ...

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A) Nearly all comets orbit the Sun in same direction and roughly the same plane.
B) Most of the solar system's large moons orbit in their planet's equatorial plane.
C) The Sun and most of the planets rotate in the same direction in which the planets orbit the Sun.
D) All of the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction-counterclockwise as viewed from above Earth's north pole.

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A) Because only metal and rock could condense in the inner solar system, while ice also condensed in the outer solar system
B) Because the Sun's gravity was stronger in the outer solar system, allowing more solid material to collect
C) Because gas in the outer solar system contained a larger proportion of rock, metal, and hydrogen compounds than the gas in the inner solar system
D) Because only the outer planets captured hydrogen and helium gas from the solar nebula

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A) One planet would grow to dominate all the others and gravitationally eject them out of the system.
B) All planets would continue to grow to large sizes but their orbits would be unchanged.
C) The gas in the solar nebula would create a drag on the planets and their orbits would migrate inwards.
D) The gas in the solar nebula would create a drag on the planets and their orbits would migrate outwards.
E) Nothing, the star does not affect the process of planet formation.

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A) Leftover planetesimals that never accreted into planets
B) The shattered remains of collisions between planets
C) Chunks of rock or ice that condensed after the planets and moons finished forming
D) Chunks of rock or ice that were expelled from planets by volcanoes

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A) Measuring the change of light of a star as the planet crosses in front of it
B) Taking a picture of the planet next to the star
C) Measuring a single Doppler shift of a star, one time
D) Measuring change in the Doppler shifts of a star over the course of many nights

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