Deck 19: Origin of the Solar System and Extrasolar Planets

Question 1

During Solar System formation, solid particles contracted from the gas of the nebula as it cooled.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The passing star hypothesis suggests that planets form in the rotating disks of gas and dust around young stars.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Georges-Louis de Buffon was the first to propose that the Sun and planets formed when a large vortex contracted and condensed.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Asteroids are the last of the icy planetesimals from the formation of the Solar System.

Question 5

The most important source for determining the age of the Solar System is by sampling a planet's core.

Question 6

Terrestrial planets grew slowly and the Jovian planets grew quickly.

Question 7

What are the small bits of rock and metal that collide with Earth's atmosphere?

A) meteors
B) comets
C) asteroids
D) meteorites
E) meteoroids

Question 8

Which term is described as small, icy bodies that orbit the Sun just beyond Neptune?

A) Kuiper belt objects
B) asteroid belt objects
C) Oort cloud objects
D) Jovian belt objects
E) Neptunian belt objects

Question 9

Astronomers consider the Solar System's Kuiper belt extending beyond the orbit of Neptune as an example of an old debris disk.

Question 10

The inner planets are composed of rock and metal, and the outer planets are rich in low-density gases such as hydrogen and helium.

Question 11

All the planets in the Solar System revolve in a clockwise motion.

Question 12

The dense disks of gas and dust such as those seen around the stars in Orion are sites where planets could be forming right now.

Question 13

Kuiper belt objects are small, rocky bodies orbiting beyond Mars.

Question 14

Asteroids are believed to be debris left over from the failure of a planet to form at a distance of about 3 AU from the Sun.

Question 15

Which best describes the appearance of an asteroid?

A) spherical in shape and covered with craters
B) spherical in shape with a volcanic surface
C) irregular in shape and covered with craters
D) irregular in shape with a volcanic surface
E) spherical in shape and smooth, dusty surface

Question 16

Jupiter and Saturn are so massive that they were able to grow by drawing in hot gas by gravitational contraction from the solar nebula.

Question 17

The first extrasolar planets discovered are small and have long orbital periods.

Question 18

The Kepler space telescope is searching for extrasolar planets by the transit method.

Question 19

Kuiper belt objects appear to be ancient planetesimals that formed in the outer Solar System but were never incorporated into a planet.

Question 20

Water vapor, methane, and ammonia were abundant in the solar nebula.

Question 21

Descartes' hypothesis of solar system formation was problematic because he did not understand the ____.

A) involvement of condensation
B) involvement of contraction
C) difference in the planets
D) involvement of gravity
E) gaseous properties of the Sun

Question 22

Planetesimals beyond the orbit of _____ failed to accumulate into a protoplanet because the gravitational field of _____ continuously disturbed their motion.

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

Question 23

Which physical property in Laplace's nebular hypothesis could not explain the Sun's slow rotation?

A) angular momentum
B) angular diameter
C) gravitational pull
D) radiation pressure
E) electromagnetic energy

Question 24

What combination of forces releases the gas and dust of a comet when it approaches the Sun?

A) radiation pressure and electromagnetic energy
B) electromagnetic energy and solar wind
C) solar flares and nuclear fission
D) gravitational energy and solar wind
E) solar wind and radiation pressure

Question 25

What was the key physical property in determining the two categories of planets during solar system formation?

A) pressure
B) gravity
C) density
D) momentum
E) temperature

Question 26

The radioactive age of a rock is actually the length of time since the material in that rock was last ____.

A) formed
B) erupted
C) concentrated
D) melted
E) condensed

Question 27

Laplace's nebular hypothesis was problematic in that he could not explain ____.

A) the different types of planets
B) the rotational direction of the planets
C) how the Sun had
D) how one star could come within a close encounter of another star
E) how gravity was the dominant force of planet formation

Question 28

Which element represented most of the atoms in the early Universe?

A) helium
B) hydrogen
C) oxygen
D) carbon
E) nitrogen

Question 29

Numerous meteorites found on Earth originated from which planet?

A) Mercury
B) Venus
C) Mars
D) Jupiter
E) Saturn

Question 30

Which is the correct order of planetary object class during their formation?

A) planetesimals, protoplanets, and planets
B) planets, planetesimals, and protoplanets
C) planetesimals, planets, and planetettes
D) protoplanets, planetesimals, and planets
E) planetesimals, planetettes, and planets

Question 31

From meteorite and lunar rock samples, astronomers have determined the age of the Solar System to be ____.

A) 4.6 million years
B) 10 million years
C) 2.4 billion years
D) 4.6 billion years
E) 8.4 billion years

Question 32

What is the process in planetary formation in which heavy metals settle to the core of the planet while lower density materials floated to the surface to form a crust?

A) separation
B) differentiation
C) gravitation
D) condensation
E) accretion

Question 33

Once a protoplanet reached a large mass, what is the next step for it to formally grow into a planet?

A) gravitational collapse
B) expanding
C) accretion
D) condensation
E) slowing momentum

Question 34

As a radioactive substance gradually decays, the abundance of daughter ____ gradually increases.

A) atoms
B) isotopes
C) elements
D) cells
E) nuclei

Question 35

Comets are composed of ____.

A) rock and dust
B) rock and metals
C) ice and metals
D) ice and dust
E) rock and gas

Question 36

According to solar nebula theory, what is the first step in planetesimal formation?

A) heating
B) flattening
C) accretion
D) condensation
E) gravitational collapse

Question 37

The outer planets are composed of ____.

A) rock and ice
B) ice and gas
C) metal and ice
D) high density metals
E) low density gas

Question 38

What astronomical object is the most important source for determining the age of our Solar System?

A) lunar rocks
B) Earth core samples
C) meteorites
D) meteors
E) asteroids

Question 39

Who was the first to propose solar system formation with gravity as a key component of the hypothesis?

A) Isaac Newton
B) René Descartes
C) Pierre-Simon de Laplace
D) Georges-Louis de Buffon
E) Emanuel Swedenborg

Question 40

The inner planets are composed of ____.

A) rock and ice
B) ice and gas
C) rock and gas
D) metal and ice
E) rock and metal

Question 42

Which best describes the transit method?

A) observing changes in the brightness of the star when the orbiting planet crosses in front of the star
B) observing the magnification of a distant star's brightness by gravitational lensing when an extrasolar planet passes precisely between Earth and a background star
C) observing the back-and-forth motion that can be measured from Doppler shifts in a star's spectrum
D) observing the intensity of brightness from a newborn distant star
E) observing the magnification of a distant planet when it passes closely to our Solar System

Question 43

Explain the Jovian problem and some possible answers to why there are so many Jovian planets found around stars.

Question 44

Almost every solid surface in the Solar System is covered with _______________, most of which formed during a period of heavy bombardment.

Question 45

Which method does the Kepler space telescope use to detect extrasolar planets?

A) Doppler method
B) microlensing method
C) wobble method
D) transit method
E) astrometric method

Question 46

Which space observatory uses the transit method to detect extrasolar planets?

A) Hubble
B) Kepler
C) Spitzer
D) Chandra
E) Voyager

Question 47

Explain the steps involved in clearing a nebular of its interstellar material that stopped planetary formation.

Question 48

The Jovian planets formed beyond the _______________, where water vapor, methane, and ammonia could freeze to form ice particles.

Question 49

Why do Terrestrial planets not have rings?

A) Terrestrial planets rotate in the opposite direction of the Sun.
B) Terrestrial planets do not have large enough masses to retain particles in rings.
C) Terrestrial planets have a core too rich in heavy metals to retain rings.
D) Terrestrial planets are too close to the Sun to support a ring system.
E) Terrestrial planets are not gaseous bodies.

Question 50

Which hypothesis was out-ruled by the solar nebular theory?

A) planet accretion hypothesis
B) imploding cloud hypothesis
C) passing star hypothesis
D) condensation hypothesis
E) catastrophic hypothesis

Question 51

A collection of small, icy bodies are found in the _______________ orbiting in the outer fringes of our Solar System

Question 52

What do scientists believe created the asteroid belt during Solar System formation?

Question 53

The Kepler mission has found a lot more of ______________ than Earth-like extrasolar planets.

Question 54

A large _______________ makes it easier for a planet to hold onto orbiting ring particles.

Question 55

Which statement best describes an extrasolar planet?

A) A planet that orbits closely to the Sun in our Solar System.
B) A new planet not previously accounted for within our Solar System.
C) A planet smaller and icier than the other planets in our Solar System.
D) A planet discovered orbiting another star outside of our Solar System.
E) A planetary body that orbits just beyond Neptune.

Question 56

Outline the three steps to the solar nebular theory.

Question 57

All the planets revolve around the Sun in a(n) _______________ direction.

Question 58

Explain why the passing star hypothesis was problematic.

Question 59

Explain the two sources of heat that "melted" a planet during its formation.

Question 60

Which theory best describes today's current thinking about the birth of a solar system?

A) Big Bang theory
B) Solar Nebular theory
C) Condensation theory
D) Theory of Relativity
E) Passing star theory

Question 61

The process of _______________ depends partly on the presence of short-lived radioactive elements whose rapid decay would have released enough heat to melt the interior of planets.

Question 62

During the growth of planetesimals to protoplanets, could the planetesimals have collided into one another? Why or why not?

Question 63

Explain the four internal processes that gradually destroy a solar nebula.

Question 64

The _______________ supposes that planets form in the rotating disks of gas and dust around young stars.

Question 65

According to the solar nebula theory, Earth and the other planets of the Solar System formed billions of years ago as the Sun _______________ from a cloud of interstellar gas and dust.

Question 66

The _______________ of a radioactive substance is the time it takes for half of the parent isotope atoms to decay into daughter isotope atoms.

Question 67

Jupiter and Saturn are so massive they were able to grow by drawing in cool gas by _______________ from the solar nebula.

Question 68

Outline a simple model of planet building.

Question 69

In the inner solar nebula, only metals and silicates could form solids, so the _______________ planets grew slowly.