TOURING OUR SOLAR SYSTEM 24
INTRODUCTION
Touring Our Solar System
CHAPTER OUTLINE
1.
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2.
Apollo
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4.
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5.
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES/FOCUS ON CONCEPTS
24.1 Describe Compare and
24.3 Outline . Describe
TEACHING STRATEGIES
Clicker Questions:
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Muddiest Point:
TEACHER RESOURCES
Web Resources:
NASA
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Imagery, Animations, and Videos:
Images
Animations
Video
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ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS IN THE CHAPTER:
CONCEPT CHECKS
24.1 OUR SOLAR SYSTEM: AN OVERVIEW
1. The solar nebula was a large, rotating cloud of interstellar dust and gas. As the nebula
contracted, most of its matter collected in the center to form the protosun. The remaining
3. Variations in the chemical composition of planets are largely responsible for their density
4. Two factors explain these significant differencessolar heating (temperature) and gravity.
These variables determine what planetary gases, if any, were captured by planets during the
5. Impacts are more common on the Moon because our atmosphere is thick enough to break up
6. Planetary impacts were heaviest early in the history of the solar system.
24.2 EARTHS MOON: A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK
1. The Moon formed about 4.5 billion years ago when a Marsshaped object collided with the
2. Maria are the dark lowlands of the Moon composed of basaltic lava; maria cover about 16
3. The lack of volcanic cones on the Moon suggests that the basaltic lavas that make up maria
4. Crater density is the number of craters per unit area of the moon. The greater the crater
density, the older the feature is thought to be.
5. The moon developed in the following four stages: (1) formation of the original crust, (2)
6. Because the Moon is unprotected by an atmosphere, erosion is dominated by the impact of tiny
particles from space (micrometeorites) that continually bombard its surface and gradually
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24.3 TERRESTRIAL PLANETS
1. Earths Moon is most like Mercury; both have low reflectivity, no sustained atmosphere,
numerous volcanic features, and a heavily cratered terrain.
3. The composition of Venus is similar to that of Earth, but it has very different interior
dynamicsVenus has mantle convection but no plate tectonics.
4. Mars has volcanic features with similar shapes, albeit much larger, of those on Earth. Most of
5. On Earth, moving plates keep the crust in constant motion. Consequently, mantle plumes tend
6. Stream valleys, dendritic drainage, layered sedimentary rocks, playas, lake beds, and the
24.4 JOVIAN PLANETS
1. The Great Red Spot is an enormous anticyclonic storm that is twice the size of Earth and has
been known for about 300 years.
3. Io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system, with more than 80 active, sulfurous
volcanic centers.
5. The atmospheres, compositions, and internal structures of Jupiter and Saturn are very similar
6. The ring moons help to maintain the structure and orbit of the ring systems through their
7. Titan and Triton are the only satellites in the solar system known to have substantial
atmospheres.
25.5 SMALL SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES
2. Comets and asteroids are both composed of leftover material from the formation of the solar
system. However, comets contain water ice and frozen gases in addition to rocky materials.
3. Because the tail of a comet is composed of gases and dust, if Earth passed through the tail of a
4. Most comets are thought to reside in the Kuiper belt or the Oort cloud. The Kuiper belt hosts
5. Meteoroids are small, solid particles from space that enter Earths atmosphere. Meteor is the
6. Most meteoroids originate from one of the following three sources: (1) interplanetary debris
EYE ON EARTH
EOE #1 PHOBOS, SATELLITE OF MARS
2. Phobos has an irregular shape, and is much smaller than the moon.
EOE #2 AURORAS ABOVE URANUS
2. This indicates the Uranuss north and south magnetic poles are not oriented with its axis of
rotation.
GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
1. Planet 1 would be a terrestrial planet; Planet 2 would be a Jovian planet; Planet 3 does not
2.
a) 3.7 Moons would fit side-by-side across the diameter of the Earth.
3.
a) Water boils at 373 degrees Kelvin. Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury formed at locations
4. Crater C is oldest because it includes secondary craters from the formation of craters A and D.
5. A shepherd moon is moon that orbits near the edge of a ring, constraining the rings extent by
6.
a) At location 1 the comet would have both an ion tail and a dust tail; the ion tail points away
7. If Halleys Comet has a mass of 100 billion tons, and it loses 100 million tons in an orbit, then
8. I would disagree that these are planets, but possibly agree that they are dwarf planets or some
other celestial body, like an asteroid. Three irregularly shaped planet-like objects, each smaller
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