Deck 6: The Terrestrial Planets

Question 1

Earth possesses few visible craters and the moon possesses many. This is because

A) Earth formed later than the moon and, therefore hasn t encountered as many meteoroids.
B) the moon doesn t have an atmosphere that could burn up many of the meteorites before impacting.
C) erosion and plate tectonics have slowly removed evidence of past cratering on Earth.
D) all of the above
E) only b and c

Answer 1

only b and c

Question 2

The ozone layer is

A) transparent to ultraviolet radiation.
B) opaque to ultraviolet radiation.
C) opaque to visible light.
D) opaque to infrared radiation.
E) responsible for producing most of the oxygen that animal life needs.

Answer 2

opaque to ultraviolet radiation.

Question 3

In the development of a terrestrial planet, the stage of ____ when dense material settled to the core and less dense to the outer parts.

A) differentiation
B) cratering
C) glaciation
D) accretion
E) flooding

Answer 3

differentiation

Question 4

Which of the following is not produced by plate tectonics?

A) midocean rifts
B) rift valleys
C) the ring of fire
D) the Appalachian Mountains
E) Earth s magnetic field

Question 5

In contrast to the outer solid mantle, parts of the central regions of Earth s interior are thought to be fluid because

A) P seismic waves cannot make it through those regions
B) S seismic waves cannot make it through those regions
C) both P and S seismic waves cannot make it through those regions
D) both P and S seismic waves easily make it through those regions

Question 6

Earth s magnetic field is generated by the dynamo effect in the

A) molten metallic core.
B) solid central core.
C) plastic mantle.
D) the crust.
E) aurora.

Question 7

That Earth ____ , evidence that Earth differentiated.

A) rotates slowly
B) has an average density that is higher than the density of the crust
C) has a no magnetic field
D) has a surface that is 75% water
E) all of these

Question 8

Slow surface evolution on the moon is limited to

A) low density masses of rock rising from the interior.
B) low level meteorite impacts.
C) moonquakes disturbing the surface features.
D) motion along a network of small faults.
E) all of the above

Question 9

In the development of a terrestrial planet, the stage of ____ occurred when molten rock flowed through fissures and filled deep basins.

A) differentiation
B) cratering
C) glaciation
D) accretion
E) flooding

Question 10

The greenhouse effect occurs on Earth because carbon dioxide is

A) transparent to visible light and opaque to infrared radiation.
B) opaque to visible light and transparent to infrared radiation
C) totally opaque to both visible light and infrared radiation

Question 11

The youngest parts of Earth s crust are

A) the bottom layer found in the walls of the Grand Canyon.
B) the continents.
C) the continental margins.
D) the Appalachian Mountains.
E) the midocean rifts.

Question 12

Which of these gases is most responsible for the greenhouse effect on Earth?

A) oxygen (O₂ )
B) nitrogen (N₂ )
C) carbon dioxide (CO₂ )
D) ozone (O₃ )
E) ammonia (NH₃)

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT one of the four stages in the development of a terrestrial planet?

A) flooding
B) cratering
C) slow surface evolution
D) fusion of hydrogen to helium
E) differentiation

Question 14

Slow surface evolution is caused by

A) wind erosion.
B) plate tectonics.
C) differentiation.
D) all of the above
E) a and b

Question 15

Motion of the plates of Earth s crust is thought to be due to

A) the solar wind.
B) convection from the hot interior.
C) tides in the oceans.
D) friction between wind and the land surface.
E) Earth s magnetic field.

Question 16

The central regions of Earth s core are solid because

A) the composition at the center of the core is lower in iron.
B) the pressure at the center raises the melting point.
C) the magnetic field cannot penetrate into the center of the core.
D) convection does not extend all the way to the center of the core.
E) Earth initially formed from solid particles in the solar nebula.

Question 17

Why would a decrease in the density of the ozone layer create a public health concern?

A) The greenhouse effect would not be as efficient and the temperature of Earth would decrease.
B) The greenhouse effect would be more efficient and the temperature of Earth would increase.
C) Plant life would no longer have the ozone it needs for photosynthesis to create chlorophyll.
D) Ultraviolet radiation from the sun would bombard Earth.
E) none of the above

Question 18

The Himalayan Mountains are rugged, jagged peaks and the Appalachians are smooth and rolling. Why is there a difference?

A) The Himalayas are much older and the rocks have begun breaking off.
B) The Himalayas are volcanic mountains and the Appalachians are not.
C) The Appalachians are much older and have been smoothed by erosion.
D) The Appalachians are younger and just started to be thrust upward by plate tectonics.
E) a and d

Question 19

The oxygen in Earth s atmosphere

A) was manufactured inside stars.
B) was added to the atmosphere by plant life.
C) has grown more abundant since the origin of Earth.
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 20

The lunar maria are

A) the lava plains of the lunar lowlands.
B) the smooth plateaus of the lunar highlands.
C) less than one billion years old.
D) moving plates of lunar crust.
E) older than the lunar highlands.

Question 21

In the giant impact theory of the Moon s origin,

A) the Moon broke from a rapidly spinning Earth
B) the Earth and its Moon formed from the same cloud of matter
C) the Moon formed elsewhere in the solar nebula and was later captured by Earth.
D) the Moon formed when a very massive planetesimal smashed into the young Earth.

Question 22

The geology of Venus appears to be dominated by

A) volcanism.
B) plate tectonics.
C) erosion by flowing water.
D) impact cratering.
E) strip mining.

Question 23

In the fission theory of the Moon s origin

A) the Moon broke from a rapidly spinning Earth
B) the Earth and its Moon formed from the same cloud of matter
C) the Moon formed elsewhere in the solar nebula and was later captured by Earth.
D) the Moon formed when a very massive planetesimal smashed into the young Earth.

Question 24

The presence of breccias among the lunar rock samples shows that

A) volcanism did not occur on the moon.
B) molten lava once flowed over the lunar surface.
C) the crust must have been made of anorthosite.
D) water once existed on the moon in the form of small lakes and streams.
E) the lunar surface was fragmented by meteorite impacts.

Question 25

Which of the following are not found on Venus?

A) arachnoids
B) coronae
C) rolling plains
D) lobate scarps
E) high atmospheric pressure

Question 26

The flow patterns found on the surface of Mars and the number of craters on top of them suggest that

A) Mars is today a liquid water-rich world.
B) the climate on Mars was different billions of years ago.
C) volcanism is occurring on Mars.
D) the polar caps are made of liquid water.
E) all of the above

Question 27

Coronae on Venus are believed to be

A) impact craters.
B) caused by rising convection currents in the interior of Venus.
C) the result of plate tectonics.
D) located only in the polar regions of Venus.
E) much older than the highlands such as Ishtar Terra.

Question 28

Which hypothesis concerning the formation of the Moon makes predictions that best fit the observed lunar data?

A) The large impact hypothesis
B) The fission hypothesis
C) The capture hypothesis
D) The condensation hypothesis
E) The regolith hypothesis

Question 29

Measurements of the magnetic field of Venus reveal that the

A) planet has a large iron core.
B) interior of the planet is molten.
C) planet has no detectable magnetic field.
D) planet rotates backwards.
E) magnetic field is responsible for large auroral displays (northern lights) on Venus.

Question 30

Which of the solar system objects listed below is most similar to Earth in terms of mass and density?

A) Mercury
B) Moon
C) Venus
D) Mars
E) Deimos

Question 31

The theory that Mercury shrank slightly when it was young has been proposed to explain

A) extended lava plains.
B) large craters.
C) magnetic field.
D) lobate scarps.
E) regolith.

Question 32

Compared to the Earth, the moon is no longer geologically active because

A) it is rotating too slowly.
B) its radioactive elements were never abundant.
C) it is much smaller in mass.
D) its crust is too thin.
E) it does not have water on its surface.

Question 33

The greenhouse effect keeps Venus hot because

A) the atmosphere contains free oxygen.
B) the atmosphere is predominently carbon dioxide.
C) the surface converts infrared into visible radiation.
D) the surface is free of sulfur compounds.
E) the magnetic field traps a large number of particles from the solar wind.

Question 34

That Mercury has a large iron core is evidenced by

A) the large lobate scarps.
B) the large mean density of Mercury.
C) the lava flows near Caloris Basin.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 35

____ are believed to have formed on Mercury when the planet s interior cooled and shrank.

A) Jumbled terrain
B) The highlands
C) Maria
D) Lobate scarps
E) Sinuous rilles

Question 36

The presence of vesicular basalts among the lunar rock samples shows that

A) the lunar surface was fragmented by meteorite impacts.
B) volcanism did not occur on the moon.
C) the crust must have been made of anorthosite.
D) molten lava once flowed over the lunar surface.
E) the moon was once hit by a very large meteorite.

Question 37

That the moon has no magnetic field implies that

A) the moon is spinning too slowly to produce a magnetic field.
B) the interior of the moon is too hot to produce a magnetic field.
C) the crust of the moon is so thick that the magnetic field can not get out of the interior.
D) the moon s core contains little if any molten iron.
E) the moon is moving further from Earth.

Question 38

Which of the following supports the idea that the Martian crust is not divided into moving plates like those on Earth?
I. the size of Olympus Mons
II. the lack of folded mountain chains
III. the lack of rift valleys outlining entire plates
IV. the presence of dry river beds and sea floors

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

Question 39

In the condensation theory of the Moon s origin

A) the Moon broke from a rapidly spinning Earth
B) the Earth and its Moon formed from the same cloud of matter
C) the Moon formed elsewhere in the solar nebula and was later captured by Earth.
D) the Moon formed when a very massive planetesimal smashed into the young Earth.

Question 40

The surface of Venus has been studied

A) using radar maps made from Earth.
B) using radar maps made from satellites orbiting Venus.
C) using spacecraft that have landed on the surface of Venus.
D) all of the above
E) only b and c

Question 41

Mercury s major atmospheric gas is

A) oxygen.
B) hydrogen.
C) carbon dioxide.
D) Misleading; the atmosphere is virtually nonexistent.

Question 42

What physical property of Venus is vastly dissimilar compared to Earth?

A) Radius
B) Mass
C) Density
D) Surface temperature

Question 43

The graph below plots the escape velocity of each planet along the vertical axis and its surface temperature along the horizontal. The lines plotted in the figure are the speeds of the fastest gas particles as a function of temperature for various gases. Which of the gases plotted in the diagram could be retained in the atmosphere of Mars?

A) only CO₂
B) only NH₃
C) CO₂ , NH₃, and O₂
D) only H₂
E) H₂ and He

Question 44

The extreme size of volcanoes on Mars indicates that

A) Mars has a much thicker crust than Earth.
B) water once flowed in streams on Mars.
C) large moving plates have not formed on Mars.
D) a and c
E) a, b, and c

Question 45

The moons of Mars are believed to be

A) composed primarily of iron and nickel.
B) composed primarily of frozen gases of water and carbon dioxide.
C) orbiting Mars in a direction opposite to the direction that Mars rotates.
D) formed from material ejected from Olympus Mons and other large volcanoes on Mars.
E) captured asteroids.

Question 46

Why does Mars have seasons similar to the Earth?

A) Mars is roughly the same distance from the sun as Earth.
B) Mars has the same size as the Earth.
C) The shape of Mars orbit is the same as the Earth s.
D) Mars rotational axis is tilted relative to its orbit like the Earth s.

Question 47

Mars has a sufficient mass and a low enough temperature that water molecules could exist in its atmosphere as vapor. One reason Mars atmosphere does not contain a significant amount of water vapor is that

A) Mars formed in a part of the solar nebula that lacked oxygen.
B) Mars formed in a part of the solar nebula that lacked hydrogen.
C) All of the water vapor was released in the impact that formed Deimos.
D) Ultraviolet radiation breaks the water molecule into less massive particles that can escape.
E) The water molecule combines readily with chlorine to form hydrochloric acid.

Question 48

The graph below plots the escape velocity of each planet along the vertical axis and its surface temperature along the horizontal. The lines plotted in the figure are the average speeds of gas particles as a function of temperature for various gases. Which of the planets plotted in this diagram has the greatest escape velocity?

A) Mars
B) Moon
C) Mercury
D) Venus
E) Earth

Question 49

Which of the terrestrial planets has the most difficult time retaining an atmosphere?

A) Mercury
B) Venus
C) Earth
D) Mars

Question 50

The moon s distance from Earth is measured very accurately by bouncing a laser beam off of a small mirror left on the surface of the moon. If a laser is fired at the moon and the signal returns in 2.6seconds, what is the distance to the moon?

A) 390,000 km
B) 390,000 m
C) 780,000 km
D) 780,000 m

Question 51

____ is a very long and deep canyon on Mars.

A) Valles Marineris
B) Ishtar Terra
C) Tharsis Bulge
D) Lobate Scarp
E) Phobos

Question 52

The crust of Mars is believed to ____ than Earth s.

A) be much thinner
B) be younger
C) contain more water
D) be more geologically active
E) be much stronger

Question 53

____________________ is responsible for absorbing ultraviolet radiation in Earth s upper atmosphere.

Question 54

How rapidly a planet loses its atmosphere depends on the planet s
I. escape velocity (determined by mass and radius)
II. atmospheric composition
III. temperature
IV. rotation period

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

Question 55

The graph below plots the escape velocity of each planet along the vertical axis and its surface temperature along the horizontal. The lines plotted in the figure are the average speeds of gas particles as a function of temperature for various gases. Which of the planets or satellite plotted in this diagram is least able to hold an atmosphere?

A) Mars
B) Moon
C) Mercury
D) Venus
E) Earth

Question 56

One hypothesis suggested to explain the uniform age of the surface of Venus is that

A) Venus surface is 4 billion years old and has not been affected by flooding or slow evolution.
B) Venus surface is made of rocks that are much harder than Earth s and thus last longer.
C) Venus periodically goes through a catastrophic melting of the entire surface.
D) Venus clouds protect it from meteorites so that very few impacts occur to change its surface.
E) dust storms deposit large amount of dust on the surface making it appear of uniform age.

Question 57

Most terrestrial planets have portions of their surface that appear to be significantly older than other portions of their surface. What evidence suggests that the surface of Venus is all of the same age?

A) Photos taken by probes that landed on Venus showed that all of the rocks were of the same age.
B) The craters on Venus are randomly distributed in size and number across the surface.
C) The volcanoes on Venus are not found in isolated groups, but are scattered around the planet.
D) a and b
E) all of the above

Question 58

What do astronomers generally believe about the origin of Mars moons?

A) They formed with the planet out of the protoplanetary material.
B) They formed elsewhere and were captured at a later time.
C) They were ejected from Mars during its formation.
D) They were once a single moon and a later catastrophic event broke them in two.

Question 59

Besides Earth, which of the terrestrial planets and/or satellites of terrestrial planets show(s) evidence for the possible existence of liquid water flowing on its surface in the past?

A) Venus
B) The Moon
C) Phobos
D) Mars
E) None of the terrestrial planets or satellites show such evidence.

Question 60

The greenhouse effect produces excess heat in a planet s atmosphere by

A) trapping infrared radiation from escaping into space.
B) clouds blocking the surface from receiving any infrared radiation.
C) trapping light gases from escaping into space.
D) trapping ultraviolet light in the upper atmosphere of the planet.

Question 61

The Earth never passed through the cratering stage in planetary development.

Question 62

____________________ are great lava flows covering 17% of the lunar surface.

Question 63

The terrestrial planet with the most effective greenhouse effect is ____________________.

Question 64

The separation between Africa and Arabia is a(n) ____________________ valley.

Question 65

The largest satellite orbiting a terrestrial planet is ____________________.

Question 66

Earth s magnetic field has reversed itself.

Question 67

Earth s magnetic field is generated in the iron rich mantle.

Question 68

The size of the volcanoes on Mars indicate that Mars has a(n) ____________________ crust than Earth.

Question 69

The terrestrial planet with the most moons is ____________________.

Question 70

The oldest parts of Earth s crust are located along the midocean rifts.

Question 71

The atmosphere of ____________________ contains acid compounds including sulfuric and hydrochloric acid.

Question 72

The largest volcano found on one of the terrestrial planets is ____________________.

Question 73

____________________ waves are seismic waves that do not travel through Earth s liquid core.

Question 74

The central part of Earth s core is solid.

Question 75

____________________ is the molecule most responsible for the greenhouse effect on Venus and Earth.

Question 76

The ____________________ hypothesis for the formation of the moon suggests that the moon and Earth formed from the same cloud of material and coalesced as two separate objects.

Question 77

The terrestrial planet with the oldest surface is ____________________.

Question 78

____________________ formed as Mercury cooled and shrank.

Question 79

Volcanism can occur in a midocean rift, above a hot spot in the mantle, or where one tectonic plate slides below another.

Question 80

In the diagram below label each of the major divisions of Earth s interior.