Deck 10: Worlds of Gas and Liquid the Giant Planets

Question 1

Why were Adams and Le Verrier acknowledged as the discoverers of the planet Neptune?

A) They were the first to see it through a telescope.
B) They took time-lapsed photos to show its motion across the sky.
C) They predicted its position based on the observed discrepancies in the orbit of Uranus.
D) They were the directors of the observatory at which it was discovered.
E) They paid for the observations that discovered it.

Answer 1

They predicted its position based on the observed discrepancies in the orbit of Uranus.

Question 2

Which planet receives the least amount of energy from the Sun?

A) Jupiter
B) Earth
C) Neptune
D) Saturn
E) Uranus

Answer 2

Neptune

Question 3

When charged particles oscillate around magnetic field lines of a planet, they emit radiation in the microwave region of the spectrum.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Jupiter radiates more energy than it receives from the Sun, mostly because it is still contracting under its own gravity.

Question 5

Jupiter and Saturn are composed primarily of:

A) hydrogen
B) helium
C) water
D) ammonia
E) carbon

Question 6

Assume you want to deduce the radius of a planet in our Solar System as it occults a background star when the relative velocity between the planet and the Earth is 30 km/s. If the star crosses through the middle of the planet and disappears for a total of 26 minutes, what is the planet's radius?

A) 3,000 km
B) 23,000 km
C) 15,000 km
D) 5,000 km
E) 31,000 km

Question 7

Jupiter's strong aurorae result from particles ejected by Io's volcanoes.

Question 8

Jupiter is approximately 20 times more massive than the Earth.

Question 9

Jupiter's mass is more than twice the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined.

Question 10

Which of the giant planets was discovered by accident by William Herschel?

A) Jupiter
B) Saturn
C) Uranus
D) Neptune

Question 11

The giant planets are made primarily of water and carbon dioxide.

Question 12

Which of the giant planets was predicted to exist mathematically before it was ever seen through a telescope?

A) Jupiter
B) Saturn
C) Uranus
D) Neptune

Question 13

On the giant planets, the atmospheric vortices that occur almost always lie between oppositely directed zonal winds.

Question 14

What is the angular diameter of Neptune if its diameter is 50,000 km and its distance is 30 AU?

A) 45 arcseconds
B) 30 arcseconds
C) 20 arcseconds
D) 10 arcseconds
E) 2 arcseconds

Question 15

All the giant planets, not just Jupiter, have atmospheric bands and storms.

Question 16

Which of these observations would allow you to measure the mass of a planet?

A) the planet's orbital period
B) the planet's rotational period
C) the planet's distance from the Sun
D) the orbit of one of that planet's moons
E) the planet's temperature

Question 17

The compositions of Uranus and Neptune differ primarily from that of Jupiter and Saturn in that the outer two planets contain more:

A) hydrogen
B) helium
C) water
D) carbon dioxide
E) iron

Question 18

The different cloud layers seen in Jupiter's bands represent clouds at different altitudes in Jupiter's atmosphere.

Question 19

Uranus and Neptune are less massive than Jupiter and Saturn, probably because they formed earlier than Jupiter or Saturn.

Question 20

You observe Neptune as it occults a background star when the relative velocity between Neptune and the Earth is 30 km/s, and the star crosses through the middle of the planet and disappears for 27.6 minutes. What is Neptune's diameter?

A) 5 * 10⁴ km
B) 800 km
C) 4,000 km
D) 9 *10³ km
E) 3 * 10⁶ km

Question 21

When you look at the visible surface of a gas giant planet, you are looking at that planet's _________.

A) oceans
B) core
C) atmosphere
D) metallic hydrogen
E) solid surface

Question 22

You could fit roughly _________ Jupiters across the diameter of the Sun and roughly _________ Earths across Jupiter's diameter.

A) 10; 100
B) 100; 10
C) 10; 10
D) 100; 100
E) 1,000; 1,000

Question 23

If you tracked the motion of the clouds near Jupiter's Great Red Spot, which of the following diagrams shows the correct motion you would observe?

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D
E) E

Question 24

Band systems on Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are most prominent when viewed in which wavelength regime?

A) visible
B) infrared
C) ultraviolet
D) X-ray
E) microwave

Question 25

All the giant planets except _________ experience seasons.

A) Jupiter
B) Saturn
C) Uranus
D) Neptune

Question 26

How is the atmosphere of Saturn similar to the atmosphere of Earth?

A) They are both made of mostly hydrogen and helium.
B) They both create magnetic fields.
C) They both have jet streams and periods of stormy and calm weather.
D) They both rotate in less than 11 hours.
E) They both have a seamless transition between gas and liquid.

Question 27

As a group, the giant planets all rotate _________ terrestrial planets.

A) faster than
B) slower than
C) the same as
D) retrograde compared to
E) sideways compared to

Question 28

The Great Red Spot, Jupiter's most prominent storm system, has a diameter that is _________ times the Earth's diameter.

A) two
B) five
C) 10
D) 50
E) 100

Question 29

The figure below shows a drawing of some of the layers inside the atmosphere of Jupiter. The layer at the top of the figure is closest to the outer surface of Jupiter, while the bottom layer is closer to the core. Which of these is a possible list of what the layers contain, starting with layer 1 and moving to layer 3?

A) gas, solid, liquid
B) gas, smooth transition from gas to solid, solid
C) gas, distinct line between gas and solid, solid
D) gas, smooth transition from gas to liquid, liquid
E) gas, distinct line between gas and liquid, liquid

Question 30

Which giant planet has the most prominent band structures?

A) Jupiter
B) Saturn
C) Uranus
D) Neptune

Question 31

Assume that you discovered a new planet in the Solar System. To study it, you measured the orbital period and semimajor axis of one of its moons and deduced that the planet's mass was 4 * 10²⁵ kg (7 M_Earth), then you observed the planet occult a background star and deduced that its radius is 12,000 km (2 R_Earth). What is this planet's average density? Is this planet's chemical composition more similar to a rocky terrestrial planet or a giant planet? For comparison, the density of iron, rock, and water are approximately 9,000 kg/m³, 3,000 kg/m³, and 1,000 kg/m³, respectively.

A) The planet's average density is 1,200 kg/m³, and its composition is similar to that of giant planets.
B) The planet's average density is 1,200 kg/m³, and its composition is similar to that of terrestrial planets.
C) The planet's average density is 3,100 kg/m³, and its composition is similar to that of terrestrial planets.
D) The planet's average density is 5,500 kg/m³, and its composition is similar to that of giant planets.
E) The planet's average density is 5,500 kg/m³, and its composition is similar to that of terrestrial planets.

Question 32

Why are Jupiter and Saturn not perfectly spherical?

A) They formed from the collision of two large planetesimals.
B) They rotate rapidly.
C) They have storms that develop preferentially along their equators.
D) They have very active aurorae that heat the atmospheres along the poles.
E) They have so much more gravity that the poles get pulled harder than the equators.

Question 33

Uranus and Neptune do not have bands as distinct as those on Jupiter and Saturn, because Uranus and Neptune:

A) have wind speeds that vary more smoothly from the equator to the poles
B) are composed entirely of hydrogen and helium and lack more complex molecules
C) are much closer to the Sun and much colder
D) rotate 10 times slower
E) have larger masses

Question 34

Suppose you attach a weight to one end of a spring and then hold the other end of the spring and spin it above your head. The faster you spin the spring, the farther away the weight will move from your hand. This example illustrates:

A) why the Great Red Spot exhibits anticyclonic motion
B) why winds blow in an easterly direction on Neptune
C) why the poles rotate faster than the equator on Uranus
D) why Saturn is the most oblate of the giant planets
E) why the giant planets are farther from the Sun than the terrestrial planets

Question 35

A planet will have bands in its atmosphere like Jupiter and Saturn if:

A) the planet is more than 3 AU from the Sun
B) the planet rotates slowly
C) the wind speeds vary greatly with latitude
D) the planet has a high temperature
E) the planet has a large mass

Question 36

If you could find a large enough ocean, which one of these planets would float in it?

A) Uranus
B) Saturn
C) Neptune
D) Mars
E) Earth

Question 37

_________ has the most extreme seasons of any planet in the Solar System.

A) Jupiter
B) Saturn
C) Uranus
D) Neptune
E) Earth

Question 38

Each season is on Uranus lasts approximate 21 Earth years because:

A) Uranus takes a very long time to orbit around the Sun
B) Uranus rotates very slowly
C) Uranus's rotational axis is tipped by 45 degrees relative to it orbital axis
D) Hadley circulation is ineffective in transferring heat in Uranus' atmosphere
E) Uranus has many strong storms

Question 39

As you move from the top atmospheric layer toward the center of a gas planet, the temperature _________ and the pressure _________.

A) increases; decreases
B) increases; increases
C) decreases; decreases
D) decreases; increases
E) increases; stays the same

Question 40

Which of these planets has a composition that is most like the Sun?

A) Uranus
B) Saturn
C) Neptune
D) Jupiter
E) Earth

Question 41

Of the giant planets, only Jupiter and Saturn have thick inner layers of:

A) liquid rock
B) solid rock
C) metallic hydrogen
D) liquid methane
E) water

Question 42

If you monitor Jupiter's atmosphere and you see a storm near the equator move from a longitude of 60° west to a longitude of 80° west over six days, what is the wind speed at this storm's latitude on Jupiter? Note that these positions are measured on a coordinate system that rotates with the planet's interior, and the radius of Jupiter is 7.2 * 10⁷ m .

A) 700 m/s
B) 300 m/s
C) 100 m/s
D) 50 m/s
E) 500 m/s

Question 43

The fact that Jupiter's radius is contracting at a rate of 1 mm/year results in:

A) differential convection that powers Jupiter's Great Red Spot
B) Jupiter's rotation rate slowing down with time
C) Jupiter's shape being less oblate
D) Jupiter radiating more heat than it receives from the Sun
E) Jupiter's orbit around the Sun getting smaller

Question 44

If you could watch Saturn form starting from the beginning of the Solar System, which of these features of Saturn would come together first?

A) magnetosphere
B) metallic hydrogen
C) molecular hydrogen
D) rocky core
E) ammonia ice

Question 45

If the flux of sunlight on a planet suggested its temperature should be 200 K, but its actual temperature was 220 K, then how much more energy does this planet emit relative to the energy it receives from its parent star?

A) 5.3 times more energy
B) 2.1 times more energy
C) 2.9 times more energy
D) 1.1 times more energy
E) 1.5 times more energy

Question 46

Why do we find methane clouds above water clouds in the atmosphere of Saturn?

A) Methane clouds are less dense than water clouds.
B) Methane is far more plentiful than water on Saturn.
C) Methane is in a liquid/gas state at lower temperatures than water.
D) We can't observe the methane clouds that are deeper in the atmosphere.
E) All of the above are good reasons.

Question 47

If convection on Jupiter got weaker, what would happen to the storms in the upper atmosphere?

A) They would get stronger.
B) They would get weaker.
C) They would stay the same strength but become larger.
D) They would begin to rotate the opposite direction.
E) They would move deeper into the planet.

Question 48

The Jovian atmospheric vortices are created by a combination of the Coriolis effect and:

A) rapid rotation
B) convection
C) their strong magnetic fields
D) solar radiation
E) gravity

Question 49

Which giant planet does NOT radiate more energy into space than it receives from the Sun?

A) Jupiter
B) Saturn
C) Uranus
D) Neptune

Question 50

If we measure the spectrum of radiation coming from different clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere, and we find that a cloud that appears white in visible light emits the largest number of photons at a wavelength of 3 *10 ^{- 5} m, while a cloud that appears brown in visible light emits the largest number of photons at a wavelength of 1.9*10 ^{- 5} m, how do the temperatures of the clouds compare?

A) The white cloud is 1.6 times hotter than the brown cloud.
B) The brown cloud is 1.6 times hotter than the white cloud.
C) The brown cloud is 3 times hotter than the white cloud.
D) The white cloud is 3 times hotter than the brown cloud.
E) Both clouds are the same temperature.

Question 51

The figure below shows a drawing of bands in the atmosphere of Jupiter, and the arrows indicate the direction the winds are blowing in those bands. At which of the labeled locations would you be most likely to find a vortex storm?

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D
E) E

Question 52

The poles of Uranus can have a higher temperature than its equator because Uranus:

A) has a large axial tilt relative to its equator
B) has a high mass
C) is mostly made of water
D) is far from the Sun
E) has large storms on the surface

Question 53

The colors of the cloud bands on Jupiter and Saturn are due primarily to differences in their:

A) wind speeds
B) chemical compositions
C) altitudes
D) temperatures
E) densities

Question 54

If you monitor Saturn's atmosphere and you see a storm near its equator at a longitude of 0° west on one day and at a longitude of 90° west three days later, what is the average wind speed on Saturn at this storm's latitude? Note that these positions are measured on a coordinate system that rotates with the planet's interior, and the radius of Saturn is 6* 10⁷ m.

A) 720 m/s
B) 120 m/s
C) 360 m/s
D) 540 m/s
E) 1,440 m/s

Question 55

Uranus and Neptune are bluish green in color because they contain large amounts of:

A) ammonia
B) methane
C) water vapor
D) hydrocarbons
E) oxygen

Question 56

We refer to some of the inner regions of Jupiter and Saturn as metallic hydrogen because they:

A) are as dense as lead
B) are solid
C) provide support for the upper layers of hydrogen and helium
D) efficiently conduct electricity
E) are found in the core like iron is found at the core of the Earth

Question 57

Each giant planet has a core made of _________ that is five to 10 times the mass of the Earth.

A) hydrogen
B) rocky material
C) water
D) hydrocarbons
E) methane

Question 58

Why aren't all clouds on Jupiter white, like on Earth?

A) Jupiter's clouds are made of methane.
B) Jupiter's clouds are made of carbon dioxide.
C) There are chemical impurities in the ice crystals in Jupiter's clouds.
D) The Sun is not as bright when viewed from Jupiter compared to what it looks like from Earth.
E) For the same reason that we see colors in rainbows on Earth.

Question 59

Despite the high temperatures deep in the interior of giant planets, their cores remain liquid because:

A) they are under very high pressures
B) gravitational potential energy is being converted into thermal energy in the cores
C) they are composed of heavy materials like rock and water
D) their rotations are rapid compared to those of the terrestrial planets
E) the giant planets have strong magnetic fields

Question 60

Which of these things happens because of rain droplets falling through the atmosphere of gas giant planets?

A) banding
B) aurora
C) magnetic fields
D) cyclonic motion
E) lightning

Question 61

The figure below shows a picture of Saturn taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. What is causing the circle of light seen near the Saturn's pole?

A) Solar wind particles are being trapped by Saturn's magnetic field, causing an aurora.
B) Strong storms on Saturn are causing lightning strikes.
C) Saturn's tilt is causing that area of the planet to be warmer, so it gives off bluer light.
D) Metallic hydrogen is being released from the surface of Saturn.
E) Saturn is giving off energy because it is shrinking.

Question 62

If Saturn's orbital period is 30 years and the obliquity is 26 degrees, how long is it from the first day of spring to the first day of autumn on Saturn?

Question 63

Calculate Jupiter's mass (in Earth masses) based on its gravitational pull on its moon, Io, using Newton's version of Kepler's third law: P² = A³/M_J. In order to do so, you will need the following information: Io's period =1.769 days; Io's semimajor axis = 422,000 km; the mass of the Sun = 2* 10³⁰ kg; the mass of Earth = 6 * 10²⁴ kg (also, 1 AU = 1.5* 10⁸ km).

Question 64

What would you observe in order to accurately measure the rotational period of a giant planet?

A) clouds in the atmosphere
B) bands of storms on the equator
C) stellar occultations
D) synchrotron emission
E) the orbit of its moons

Question 65

Jupiter emits a large amount of radio emission because:

A) charged particles blasted off of Io's surface move through Jupiter's magnetic field
B) violent storms in its atmosphere produce a lot of lightening
C) Jupiter is so cold that its blackbody radiation peaks at radio wavelengths
D) Jupiter's thick inner shell of metallic hydrogen is electrically conductive
E) Jupiter's core has a very high temperature and pressure

Question 66

Uranus and Neptune contain smaller percentages of hydrogen and helium than Jupiter and Saturn probably because Uranus and Neptune _________ than Jupiter and Saturn.

A) are much smaller in radius
B) are much warmer
C) are much colder
D) formed later
E) formed earlier

Question 67

How does the discovery of Neptune relate to the discovery of extrasolar planets?

Question 68

Why would a satellite orbiting close to Jupiter have a very hard time detecting solar wind particles?

A) Jupiter's strong gravity pulls them into the planet.
B) Jupiter is too far away from the Sun to get any solar wind.
C) The satellite would be moving too fast in its orbit to catch any of them.
D) The Great Red Spot pushes them away from Jupiter.
E) Jupiter's magnetosphere deflects them.

Question 69

The radiation belts around Jupiter are much stronger than those found around the Earth because:

A) Jupiter has larger storms than the Earth.
B) Jupiter is colder than the Earth.
C) Jupiter rotates faster than the Earth.
D) Jupiter is farther from the Sun than the Earth.
E) Jupiter has a stronger magnetic field than the Earth.

Question 70

Compare the flux of sunlight at the Earth's orbit to that at Saturn's orbit. Note that Saturn's average distance from the Sun is 9.5 AU.

Question 71

What is the ratio of Jupiter's volume to that of Earth's if both planets can be modeled as spheres and Jupiter's radius is 11 times that of the Earth's?

Question 72

What measurement tells us that the interiors of Uranus and Neptune are made of mostly water?

A) their mass
B) their distance from the sun
C) their average densities
D) their temperatures
E) their colors

Question 73

Neptune and Uranus probably took longer to form than Jupiter and Saturn, because the solar nebula was _________ at the radius of Neptune and Uranus.

A) rotating faster
B) composed of rockier planetesimals
C) not as dense
D) hotter
E) colder

Question 74

The strongest magnetic fields in the Solar System are found on which planet?

A) Jupiter
B) Saturn
C) Uranus
D) Neptune
E) Earth

Question 75

If you were to fly to Jupiter from the Earth, which of these parts of Jupiter would you hit first?

A) magnetosphere
B) metallic hydrogen
C) molecular hydrogen
D) rocky materials
E) stratosphere

Question 76

Where do Uranus's and Neptune's strong magnetic fields originate?

A) molten rocky cores
B) salty oceans
C) large magnetospheres
D) metallic hydrogen layers
E) methane clouds

Question 77

What could have caused the planets to migrate through the Solar System?

A) gravitational pull from the Sun
B) interaction with the solar wind
C) accreting gas from the solar nebula
D) gravitational pull from other planets
E) differentiation of their interiors

Question 78

Suppose Neptune moves with an average orbital speed of 3.5 km/s. If it takes Neptune four hours to pass directly in front of a star, what is Neptune's diameter? Give Neptune's radius in units of Earth diameters, where the diameter of Earth is 12,800 km.

Question 79

Uranus has an orbital period of 84 Earth years, a rotation period of 17.2 hours, and an obliquity of 98°. Explain what solar days are like near the north pole of Uranus, and how long they last.

Question 80

If Saturn's rotational period is 11 hours and its radius is 6 * 10⁷ m, what is the average speed of a cloud in its atmosphere that is rotating with Saturn? (Neglect differential speeds due to winds.)