Homework

Part 1

Write a definition of each type of solar system object: planet, Moon, asteroid, comet, and meteor.

2. Name the two types of planets found in our solar system. 3. List the planets that are members of each group. 4. List the properties that define each group of planets.

5. What one word describes how the properties of the planets in one group compare to the properties of the planets in the other group?

6. Give an example of a solar system object that does not fit in either planet group. Explain why it does not fit

PART 2 REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What type of planets formed inside (closer to the Sun than) the rock-metal condensation line?

2. What type of planets formed beyond the rock-metal condensation line, but inside the frost line? 3. What type of planets formed beyond the frost line?

4. What is the single most important factor in determining which type of planet will form at a given loca-tion? What controls this factor?

5. Many smaller objects that condensed from the solar nebula are leftovers or debris that did not become part of a planet. Of what would small objects that formed closer to the Sun be made? What do we call them? Of what would small objects that formed farther from the Sun largely be made? What do we call them?

6. What do we call an object that is captured into the orbit of a larger object like a planet?

117-118

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. How are asteroids discovered?

2. What is the theory about why there is a belt of asteroids between 2AU and 5AU instead of a planet? What evidence is there for this theory?

3. How large are the largest asteroids?

4. Do spacecraft have trouble traveling through the asteroid belt due to how crowded it is?

5. What is the Kuiper Belt? Where is it located? Describe the objects found there. What object is its best-known member?

6. Why is Pluto no longer considered a planet? How is Pluto classified now? Explain how this change is an example of the process of science at work.

7. What is the diff erence between a comet and a meteor? What is a “shooting star”?

8. What are the two main causes of a comet’s interesting behavior?

oma (head) and tail of a comet formed? 10. Explain how and why a comet eventually “dies.”

11. Distinguish between meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites.

12. Where do most meteorites come from?

13. What are the two basic types of meteorites? What is the reason for the diff erence between them?

14. Explain how meteor showers occur.

15. Why does the Moon have so many more impact craters than Earth?

16. What is the name of the current theory on how Earth’s Moon was formed? Can you think of reasons that this theory is considered a more viable theory than older theories that say that Earth and the moon formed at the same time, that Earth captured the moon into orbit, or that the moon was simply once a piece of Earth that somehow broke off ?