Studying for the Second Exam
Here are some topics to review
1. What are the terrestrial and Jovian planets? Which of the two are denser, bigger, and closer to the Sun?
2. Why is Venus so hot? What is the greenhouse effect? Does it operate on the other terrestrial planets besides Venus? If so, which ones? What makes a good “greenhouse” gas?
3. What is an impact crater?
4. What is plate tectonics? Is it fully seen on any planet other than the Earth? Does the Earth have any impact craters? What is the evidence that the impact of an asteroid or comet may have killed the dinosaurs?
5. What are the lunar highlands and maria? Which of them is older and how do we know? How can one date rocks by the method of radioactive decay? What is the evidence that the moon was subjected to a heavy bombardment early in its history?
6. Does Mars have an atmosphere? Polar caps? Impact craters? Volcanoes? Dust storms? Seasons? Water? Moons?
7. What did Percival Lowell believe about Mars? Do the canals as he saw them exist?
8. What is the status of the search for life on Mars?
9. What is Jupiter made of? What is the Great Red Spot?
10. Which planets have rings? What are the rings of Saturn believed to be made of?
11. How were Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto discovered? Who were Herschel, Leverrier,
12. What is unusual about the moons Io, Europa, and Titan? Why might Europa be a possible location for life in the solar system?
13. Where is the asteroid belt located? The Kuiper belt? The Oort cloud?
14. What is a comet? Why does the tail of a comet generally point away from the Sun? Why are comets called dirty snowballs?
15. What happened in
16. What is a meteor shower? How are they related to comets?
17. What is the difference between a meteor and a meteorite?
18. What is the solar nebula model for the formation of the solar system?
19. What is meant by conservation of angular momentum? What effect might conservation of angular momentum have on a collapsing cloud of gas?
20. How have most of the planets known to exist around other stars been discovered?
21. Why were astronomers surprised when massive Jovian-type planets were found close to the stars they orbited?
The lectures have not always followed the order of the reading in the text, so here is a reminder of text chapters relevant to the second exam:
Chapter 8 Introduction to the solar system
Chapter 9 Formation of the solar system
Chapter 10 Planetary geology
Chapter 12 Jovian planet systems
Chapter 13 Remnants of rock and ice
Chapter 14 Planet Earth (just the parts also covered in lecture)
Although we did not do most of chapter 11, you might want to use pp. 298-302 to review the greenhouse effect.