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129 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Grass that is healthy looks green because? |
It reflects green light and absorbs other colors. |
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Everything looks red through a filter because |
The filter transmits red light and absorbs other colors |
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The frequency of a wave is... |
All of the above |
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The wavelength of a wave is... |
The distance between two adjacent peaks of the wave |
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How are the wavelength frequency and energy related for photons of light? |
Longer wavelength means lower frequency and lower energy |
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From lowest energy to highest energy, which of the following correctly orders the different categories of electromagnetic radiation? |
Radio, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X rays, gamma rays |
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Compared to the volume of its nucleus, the volume of an atom is about... |
A trillion times greater |
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How much electrical charge does an atom with 6 protons 6 neutrons and 5 electrons have? |
A positive charge of +1 |
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Consider an atom of gold in which the nucleus contains 79 protons and 118 neutrons. What is its atomic number and atomic weight? |
The atomic number is 79, and the atomic weight is 197. |
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An atom of the element iron has an atomic number of 26 and an atomic weight of 56. If it is neutral, how many protons, neutrons, and electrons does it have? |
26 protons, 30 neutrons, 26 electrons |
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At extremely high temperatures (e.g., millions of degrees), which of the following best describes the phase of matter? |
A plasma consisting of positively charged ions and free electrons |
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Sublimation is the process in which... |
Molecules go from the solid phase to the gas phase. |
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Dissociation is the process in which |
The bonds between atoms in a molecule are broken. |
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How can an electron in an atom lose energy to go from a higher energy level to a lower energy level? |
It releases a photon equal in energy to its own energy drop. |
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Spectra from neutral atoms compared with spectra from ionized atoms of the same element... |
Have different sets of spectral lines. |
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Which of the following objects is not a close approximation of a thermal emitter? |
Hot, thin gas |
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Which of the following statements about thermal radiation is always true? |
A hot object emits more total radiation per unit surface area than a cool object. |
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A gas heated to millions of degrees would emit... |
Mostly X-Rays |
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The spectra of most galaxies show redshifts. This means that their spectral lines |
Have wavelengths that are longer than normal. |
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if one object has a large redshift and another object has a small redshift, what can we conclude about these two objects? |
The one with the large redshift is moving away from us faster than the one with the small redshift. |
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Suppose the angular separation of two stars is smaller than the angular resolution of your eyes. How will the stars appear to your eyes? |
The two stars will look like a single point of light. |
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Which of the following statements best describes the two principal advantages of telescopes over eyes? |
Telescopes can collect far more light with far better angular resolution. |
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What do we mean by the diffraction limit of a telescope? |
It is the best angular resolution the telescope could achieve with perfect optical quality and in the absence of atmospheric distortion. |
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What do astronomers mean by light pollution? |
Light pollution refers to light used for human activities that brightens the sky and hinders astronomical observations. |
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What causes stars to twinkle? |
Bending of light rays by turbulent layers in the atmosphere |
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What is the purpose of adaptive optics? |
To eliminate the distorting effects of atmospheric turbulence for telescopes on the ground. |
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Why do astronomers need different telescope designs to observe across the electromagnetic spectrum? |
Photons of different energy behave differently and require different collection strategies. |
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Which of the following is not an advantage of the Hubble Space telescope over ground-based telescope? |
It is closer to the stars. |
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Which of the following wavelength regions cannot be studied with telescopes on the ground? |
Both Ultraviolet and X Rays |
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What does the technique of interferometry allow? |
It allows two or more telescopes to obtain the angular resolution of a single telescope much larger than any of the individual telescopes. |
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What percentage of the mass of the solar nebula consisted of elements other than hydrogen and helium? |
2% |
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Where did the elements heavier than hydrogen and helium come from? |
They were produced inside of stars |
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Why did the solar nebula heat up as it collapsed? |
As the cloud shrank, its gravitational potential energy was converted to kinetic energy and then into thermal energy. |
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Why did the solar nebula flatten into a disk? |
It flattened as a natural consequence of collisions between particles in the nebula, changing random motions into more orderly ones. |
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What happened during the accretion phase of the early solar system? |
Particles grew by colliding and sticking together. |
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According to our theory of solar system formation, why do all the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction and in nearly the same plane? |
The laws of conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum ensure that any rotating, collapsing cloud will end up as a spinning disk. |
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Which of the following lists the ingredients of the solar nebula from highest to lowest percentage of mass of the nebula? |
Light gases (H, He), hydrogen compounds (H2O, CH4, NH3), rocks, metals |
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What percentage of the solar nebula's mass consisted of hydrogen and helium gases? |
98% |
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What percentage of the solar nebula's mass consisted of rocky material? |
0.4%
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What kind of material in the solar nebula could remain solid at temperatures as high as 1,500 K, such as existed in the inner regions of the nebula? |
Metals |
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What was the frost line of the solar system? |
The distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for hydrogen compounds to condense into ices, between the present-day orbits of Mars and Jupiter |
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Why are the inner planets made of denser materials than the outer planets? |
In the inner part of the nebula only metals and rocks were able to condense because of the high temperatures, whereas hydrogen compounds, although more abundant, were only able to condense in the cooler outer regions. |
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Which of the following is the origin of almost all the large moons around the jovian planets? |
They were formed by condensation and accretion in a disk of gas around the planet. |
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What is the most likely reason that there are no giant planets beyond Neptune? |
By the time planetesimals grew to a large enough mass to hold onto an atmosphere, the solar nebula had been blown away. |
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Observations of young stars (as well as theory) tell us that when the Sun was young the solar wind... |
Was stronger than it is today. |
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According to our theory of solar system formation, why does the Sun rotate slowly today? |
The Sun once rotated much faster, but it transferred angular momentum to charged particles caught in its magnetic field and then blew the particles away with its strong solar wind. |
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According to the nebular theory, what are asteroids and comets? |
They are leftover planetesimals that never accreted into planets. |
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According to the nebular theory, how did the Kuiper belt form? |
It is made of planetesimals that formed beyond Neptune's orbit and never accreted to form a planet. |
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According to our theory of solar system formation, why do we find some exceptions to the general rules and patterns of the planets? |
Most of the exceptions are the result of giant impacts. |
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The heavy bombardment phase of the solar system lasted ....... |
Several hundreds of millions of years. |
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The aprox. age of our solar system is... |
4.6 billion years. |
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Rank the five terrestrial worlds in order of size from smallest to largest |
Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth. |
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What is differentiation in planetary geology? |
The process by which gravity separates materials according to density |
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Under what circumstances can differentiation occur in a planet? |
The planet must have a molten interior. |
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When we say that a liquid has a high viscosity we mean that it... |
Flows slowly like honey. |
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The core, mantle and crust of a planet are defined by differences |
Composition |
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The lithosphere of a planet is the layer that consists of |
The rigid rocky material of the crust and uppermost portion of the mantle. |
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What is the most important factor that determines the thickness, and therefore strength, of the lithosphere? |
Internal temperature |
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The terrestrial planet cores contain mostly metal because |
Metals sank to the center during a time when the interiors were molten throughout. |
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Which internal energy source produces heat by converting gravitational potential energy into thermal energy? |
Accretion and Differentiation |
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Which internal energy source is the most important in continuing to heat the terrestrial planets today? |
Radioactivity
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Which of the following best describes convection? |
It is the process in which warm material expands and rises while cool material contracts and falls |
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The three principal sources of the internal heat of terrestrial planets are |
Accretion, differentiation, and radioactivity |
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The main process by which heat flows upward through the lithosphere is |
Conduction
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Heat escapes from a planet's surface into space by thermal radiation. Planets radiate almost entirely in the wavelength range of the |
Infrared |
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Which of the following worlds have the thinnest lithospheres? |
Earth & Venus
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Which of the following best describes why the smaller terrestrial worlds have cooler interiors than the larger ones? |
They have relatively more surface area compared to their volumes |
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Why does earth have the strongest magnetic field among the terrestrial worlds? |
it is the only one that has both a partially molten metallic core and reasonably rapid rotation |
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What are the conditions necessary for a terrestrial planet to have a strong magnetic field? |
Both a molten metallic core and reasonably fast rotation |
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Which two properties are most important in determining the surface temperature of a planet? |
distance from the Sun and atmosphere |
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How large is an impact crater compared to the size of the impactor? |
10-20% Larger
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When we see a region of a planet that is not as heavily cratered as other regions, we conclude that |
the surface in the region is younger than the surface in more heavily cratered regions. |
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Volcanism is more likely on a planet that |
Has high internal temperatures. |
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What type of stresses broke Earth's lithosphere into plates? |
The circulation of convection cells in the mantle, which dragged against the lithosphere |
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Which of the following describes tectonics? |
The disruption of a planet's surface by internal stresses |
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A planet is most likely to have tectonic activity if it has... |
High internal temperatures
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Why are there fewer large impact craters on the Earth's seafloor than on the continents? |
Seafloor crust is younger than continental crust, so it has had less time in which to suffer impacts. |
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How does seafloor crust differ from continental crust? |
Seafloor crust is thinner, younger, and higher in density. |
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Which of the following is not evidence of plate tectonics on Earth? |
Tidal forces from the Moon and Sun are strong enough to cause continental drift. |
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How fast do plates on Earth move? |
A few CM a year
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How long approximately do geologists estimate it takes for the entire seafloor to be replaced |
200million years
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Ridges in the middle of the ocean are places where? |
Hot mantle material rises upward and spreads sideways, pushing the plates apart |
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What kind of surface features result from tectonics? |
Valleys, Cliffs, Volcanos, etc
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Deep trenches in the ocean mark places where |
one plate slides under another, returning older crust to the mantle. |
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Which of the following correctly describes the meaning of albedo? |
The higher the albedo, the more light the surface reflects, and the less it absorbs. |
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Which of the following worlds has the greatest difference in temperature between its "no atmosphere" temperature and its actual temperature? |
Venus
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Which planet experiences the greatest change between its actual day temperature and actual night? |
Mercury
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Earth's statosphere is heated primarily by which process |
Ozone is broken apart by ultraviolet radiation |
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Suppose that Earth's atmosphere had no greenhouse gases. Then Earth's average surface temperature would be |
250K, Well below freezing
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What are greenhouse gases? |
Gases that absorb infrared light |
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How does the greenhouse effect work? |
Greenhouse gases transmit visible light, allowing it to heat the surface, but then absorb infrared light from Earth, trapping the heat near the surface. |
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The proper order of the layers of a generic atmosphere from lowest altitude to highest is |
troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere, exosphere |
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What is the troposphere? |
the lowest layer in the atmosphere |
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The thermosphere is warm because it |
Absorbs X-Rays |
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How is the atmosphere of a planet affected by the rotation rate? |
faster rotation rates produce stronger winds |
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The strength of the Coriolis effect depends on |
Planet's size and rotation
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Which of the following factors could explain a gradual warming trend in a planet's climate |
A decreasing albedo
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Which of the following statements about the greenhouse effect is true |
All of the above |
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Earth's atmosphere contains only small amounts of carbon dioxide because |
carbon dioxide dissolves in water and most of it is now contained in the oceans and carbonate rocks |
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Geological evidence points to a history of extended ice ages in Earth's history. How did Earth recover from this snowball phase? |
Volcanoes continued to inject CO2 into Earth's atmosphere, increasing the greenhouse effect to the point where ice melted. |
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From where did the molecular oxygen in Earth's atmosphere originate? |
photosynthesis from single-celled organisms |
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Why do jovian planets bulge around the equator, that is, have a "squashed appearance"? |
their rapid rotation flings the mass near the equator outward |
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How much energy does Jupiter emit compared with how much it receives from the sun? |
Twice as much |
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How many more times is the atmospheric pressure in Jupiter's core greater than the atmospheric pressure at Earth's surface? |
100 million
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How do astronomers think Jupiter generates its internal heat? |
By contracting, changing gravitational potential energy into thermal energy |
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How does Jupiter's core compare to Earth's? |
It is about the same size but 10x more massive
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Why is Jupiter denser than Saturn? |
The extra mass of Jupiter compresses its interior to a greater extent than that of Saturn. |
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Why is Neptune denser than Saturn? |
It has a different composition than Saturn, including a higher proportion of hydrogen compounds and rocks. |
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How do astronomers think Saturn generates its internal heat? |
By raining dense helium droplets from higher to lower altitudes, resembling the process of differentiation |
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How do the jovian planet interiors differ? |
All have cores of about the same mass, but differ in the amount of surrounding hydrogen and helium. |
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Why do the jovian planet interiors differ? |
Accretion took longer further from the Sun, so the more distant planets formed their cores later and captured less gas from the solar nebula than the closer jovian planets. |
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Why does Jupiter have several distinct cloud layers? |
Different layers represent clouds made of gases that condense at different temperatures |
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The belts and zones of Jupiter are |
Alternating bands of rising and falling air at different latitudes. |
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What is Jupiter's Great Red Spot? |
A long-lived, high-pressure storm |
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Why do Uranus and Neptune have blue methane clouds but Jupiter and Saturn do not? |
Methane does not condense into ice in the warmer atmospheric temperatures of Jupiter and Saturn. |
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Which of the following statements about comets and asteroids is true? |
Comets are balls of ice and dust. |
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What do asteroids and comets have in common? |
Most are unchanged since their formation in the solar nebula. |
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A rocky leftover planetesimal orbiting the Sun is |
an Asteroid
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Why do asteroids and comets differ in composition? |
Asteroids formed inside the frost line, while comets formed outside. |
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How does the largest asteroid, Ceres, compare in size to other solar system worlds? |
it is about half the size of Pluto. |
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Which is closest to the average distance between asteroids in the asteroid belt? |
1 million km
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Why aren't small asteroids spherical in shape? |
The strength of gravity on small asteroids is less than the strength of the rock. |
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A typical shooting star in a meteor shower is caused by a ________ entering Earth's atmosphere. |
Pea-size particle from a comet |
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Meteorites can come from |
Moon, Mars, Comets, Asteroids |
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When do comets generally begin to form a tail? |
inside of Jupiter's orbit |
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What part of a comet points away from the sun? |
The plasma tail
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Where did comets that are now in the Oort cloud originally form? |
Near jovian planets |
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Where did comets that are now in the Kuiper belt originally form? |
near the radius at which they orbit today |
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What is the typical size of comets that enter the inner solar system? |
10 km
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