Deck 19: The Origin of the Solar System

Question 1

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

A) low average density
B) orbits inside the asteroids
C) craters in old surfaces
D) small diameters
E) very few satellites

Answer 1

low average density

Question 2

A(n)____ is a solar system object that enters Earth's atmosphere and becomes very hot due to friction between the object and Earth's atmosphere.

A) asteroid
B) meteor
C) comet
D) meteoroid
E) planetesimal

Answer 2

meteor

Question 3

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

A) they were moving faster in their orbits than the smaller planetesimals.
B) their stronger gravity would pull in more material.
C) there was more material located near them that could be accreted.
D) the smaller planetesimals were covered by a layer of material that was lost during collisions.
E) all of the above

Answer 3

their stronger gravity would pull in more material.

Question 4

Protoplanets of the Jovian planets could have grown very hot from

A) heat from the sun.
B) radioactivity of light elements such as hydrogen and helium.
C) the infall of material at high velocity.
D) tidal forces due to the sun.
E) collisions with large planetesimals.

Question 5

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

A) Jovian planets
B) metals and metal oxides
C) silicates
D) ices of water,methane,and ammonia
E) low density materials

Question 6

The oldest rock crystals found on Earth are about ____ years old.

A) 10 billion
B) 15.3 billion
C) 4.4 billion
D) 0.9 billion
E) 66.2 million

Question 7

Part pf the current atmosphere of Earth is believed to be

A) the remnants of the original gas from the solar nebula attracted by the protoplanet.
B) the result of the melting and vaporizing of the glaciers during the last ice age.
C) composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
D) composed of gases that were baked from the rocks sometime after the planet formed.
E) the result of a collision between the sun and another star.

Question 8

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

A) Descartes.
B) Laplace.
C) Buffon.
D) none of the above

Question 9

If the terrestrial planets formed by homogeneous accretion,then

A) they formed an iron core first and a silicate crust later.
B) the solar nebula changed during their fragmentation.
C) Earth's original atmosphere was rich in hydrogen.
D) the terrestrial planets should now have the same composition as the Jovian planets.
E) the terrestrials should have had several satellites each.

Question 10

Which one of the following present-day objects is most like the planetesimals that formed in the solar nebula?

A) asteroids
B) Earth
C) Saturn
D) Venus
E) the sun

Question 11

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?

A) the one farthest from the star
B) the one with the greatest mass
C) the one with the greatest radius
D) the one closest to the star
E) the one that has liquid water on its surface

Question 12

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

A) Planets are round.
B) The sun is the least massive object in the solar system.
C) Disks are common around young stars.
D) Disks are rare around young stars.

Question 13

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

A) samples of lunar rocks.
B) samples of earth rocks.
C) samples of meteorites.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 14

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

A) static electricity.
B) gravity.
C) high-velocity collisions.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 15

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

A) the original solar nebulae had a disk-like structure.
B) in a rotating disk the gas atoms will quickly fall to the central disk of the spherical cloud.
C) Jupiter's gravity was great enough to pull all of the other planets to the plane of its orbit.
D) planetesimals settled into the plane.
E) the sun's magnetic field slowed down the rotation of the solar nebula.

Question 16

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

A) proving that most of the solar like stars near the sun also have planets orbiting them.
B) proving that none of the stars near the sun has planets orbiting them
C) finding a planet located beyond the orbit of Pluto
D) finding a meteorite whose age proved to be greater than 4.6 billion years
E) proving that Mercury has the same uncompressed density as Earth

Question 17

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

A) Laplace.
B) Buffon.
C) neither of these

Question 18

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

A) Uranus
B) Mars
C) Venus
D) an asteroid
E) a meteor

Question 19

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

A) The current theory assumes that the solar nebula originally rotated slower than previously thought.
B) Most of the angular momentum has been found to be contained in the planet's orbits.
C) The sun's magnetic field interacted with gas leaving the nebula and slowed the sun's rotation.
D) The solar nebula theory has been proven false,so the angular momentum problem doesn't apply.
E) The extra angular momentum is accounted for by the orbits of the comets.

Question 20

Condensation in the solar nebula probably led to the formation of

A) icy grains beyond the present orbit of Jupiter.
B) metallic grains near the present orbit of Mercury.
C) silicate grains near the present orbit of Earth.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 21

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.

A) radioactive decay
B) the sun
C) volcanic eruptions
D) tidal forces
E) impacts of small meteorites

Question 22

Most planets thus far discovered around other stars were found by

A) seeing the planet next to the star.
B) traveling to the star.
C) varying Doppler shifts of the stars.
D) The planet blotting out the light of the star.

Question 23

Nearly all extra-solar planets actually found thus far are

A) less massive than earth.
B) equal to earth's mass.
C) much more massive than earth.

Question 24

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

A) The amounts of radioactive and decay material are compared to its half-life to determine age.
B) The rate of radioactive decay is measured and compared to models.
C) The amount of decay product weighted to determine age.
D) The amount of heat generated by radioactive dating is measured to determine age.

Question 25

Compared to the terrestrial planets,Jovian planets

A) have a higher density.
B) have a smaller number of moons.
C) have a much larger diameter.
D) are much hotter.

Question 26

One main objection to "passing star" tidal encounter theories of the origin of the solar system is ...

A) such close encounters of stars should be very rare.
B) such close encounters of stars should be very frequent.
C) there would be no gravitational force between the sun and another star.
D) the sun is not moving through space.

Question 27

Hubble Space Telescope images of disk shaped clouds of gas and dust around newly formed stars in the Orion Nebula are shown.Different ones are edge-on or tilted toward face-on.Astronomers think___________ are probably forming in these disks.

A) our solar system
B) other planets
C) galaxies
D) quasars

Question 28

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

A) to find many planetary systems like our own.
B) to find a very few number of planetary systems like our own.
C) to find no other planetary system anywhere in the universe.
D) Misleading; the catastrophic theory is not a theory of planetary formation.

Question 29

The present motions of the planets were inherited from the rotation of the solar nebula.

Question 30

Planets are thought to be forming today in ____ around stars.

A) hot disks
B) cold disks
C) spherical clouds
D) none of the above

Question 31

The asteroid belt is found between which two planets?

A) Earth and Mars
B) Mars and Jupiter
C) Jupiter and Saturn
D) Venus and Earth

Question 32

An important mechanism in clearing the solar nebula of gas and dust was

A) impacts by planetesimals.
B) Earth's Moon
C) the planets.
D) the asteroid belt.
E) radiation pressure from the young Sun.

Question 33

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

A) mass.
B) size
C) density
D) All of the above.

Question 34

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?

A) about 1738 km
B) about 12 km
C) about 520 km
D) about 350 km
E) 3.5 km

Question 35

The speed of the solar wind is approximately 400 km/s and the distance from the sun to Saturn is 9.5 AU (1 AU = 1.5*10⁸ km).How long does it take a particle in the solar wind to reach Saturn?

A) about 4.1 hours
B) about 4.1 days
C) about 41 days
D) about 4.1 years
E) about 41 years

Question 36

What observation made of other stars seems to suggest the solar nebula hypothesis is correct?

A) Stars are found to exist more often in binaries than by themselves.
B) Protostars are seen to radiate much of their light at infrared wavelengths.
C) Nearby stars tend to be low mass red dwarfs.
D) Young stars are found to have hot disks that surround them.

Question 37

By the "solar nebula" astronomers mean ...

A) the nearest galaxy to our sun.
B) the nearest star to our sun.
C) the disk of dust and gas from which our sun and planets were formed.
D) the disk of dust and gas from which our whole galaxy was formed.
E) a cloud of particles mostly found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Question 38

The discovery that Jovian-like planets are common around other stars and that gas and dust is swept out of the star's neighborhood early after the formation suggests that

A) the Terrestrial planets must form earlier than the Jovian planets.
B) all comets are much more massive than the Jovian planets.
C) all asteroids had to have formed in planets which then exploded
D) the Jovians may have formed directly very quickly,without the core accretion phase.
E) the Jovians may have formed directly very very slowly,without the core accretion phase.

Question 39

Astronomers have observed nebulae similar to our own solar nebula representing formation of .....

A) our solar system
B) other solar systems
C) Impossible: Our solar system is the only one known and the solar nebula vanished long ago.
D) galaxies outside our own galaxy.

Question 40

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?

A) I and IV
B) I,II,& III
C) II,III,& IV
D) I,II,& IV
E) I,II,III,& IV

Question 41

The Jovian planets have lower average densities than the terrestrial planets.

Question 42

The pressure of sunlight was one of the forces that cleared the solar nebula.

Question 43

The oldest objects found so far in our solar system are earth rocks that are 3.9 billion years old.

Question 44

One common technique used to discover the presence of an extrasolar planet around a star is to detect how they tug their stars about,creating small Doppler shifts in the stars' spectra.

Question 45

Observations in the infrared have detected dusty nebulae around nearby stars such as Vega.

Question 46

Heterogeneous accretion means that all of the particles that formed a planet had the same composition.

Question 47

The passing star hypothesis has been used successful to explain the origin of roughly half the extrasolar planets discovered thus far.

Question 48

Outgassing refers to the formation of an atmosphere by the attraction of gases from the surrounding nebula.

Question 49

When particles in the solar nebula grew large enough,they stopped growing by accretion and began growing by condensation.

Question 50

A planet is much more massive than the star it orbits.

Question 51

A planet is much brighter than the star it orbits.

Question 52

A planet found orbiting a star other than the sun is called a(n)____________________.

Question 53

The dirty snowball model is used as a model for the physical structure of ____________________.

Question 54

Massive planets create ____________________ doppler shifts of their stars than lower mass planets.

Question 55

The condensation sequence cannot explain the composition of the terrestrial and Jovian planets.

Question 56

A solar system with a planet's orbit edge-on to the earth may show ____________________ of the light of the star at certain points in the planet's orbit.

Question 57

The original cloud from which the sun and planets formed had a composition rich in hydrogen and helium.

Question 58

A(n)____________________ theory of the formation of the solar system uses sudden events that drastically alter the form of the early solar system.

Question 59

The adding of material an atom at a time is the process of ____________________.