Download Study Notes for Chapters 27: Planets of the Solar System Directions

Study Notes for Chapters 27: Planets of the Solar System
Directions: Use the following notes to complete your study notes and then to prepare for the test.
Please do not take this copy from the classroom. Thank you.
Chapter 27 Section 1: Formation of the Solar System
1. A rotating cloud of gas and dust from which Earth’s solar system formed is called a solar
nebula.
2. About 99% of all matter contained in the solar nebula now exists in the sun.
3. Small bodies from which planets originated during the early formation of the solar system
are called planetesimals.
4. When the solar system formed, smaller bodies joined together through collision and the
force of gravity to form larger bodies called protoplanets.
5. Small bodies that orbit planets are called moons.
6. Young Earth formed a core, mantle, and crust in a process called differentiation.
7. Around the core of Earth is an iron- and magnesium-rich rock layer called the mantle.
8. When early Earth’s atmosphere formed, helium and hydrogen gases were lost because
Earth’s gravity was too weak.
9. The early atmosphere developed when many volcanic eruptions released large amounts of
gases in a process called outgassing.
10. The early oceans became salty when dissolved solids were carried from land into the oceans.
Chapter 27 Section 2: Models of the Solar System
11. Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the universe, in which the planets revolve at
different speeds around the sun.
12. Kepler’s first law states that planets orbit the sun in paths called ellipses.
Chapter 27 Section 3: The Inner Planets
13. Impact craters are caused by collisions with objects in space.
14. The factors that contribute to Mercury’s daily temperature fluctuation of about 600°C are the
planet’s slow rotation and it is the closest planet to the sun.
15. Venus is a planet with a runaway greenhouse effect.
16. The right combination of temperature, water, and oxygen supports life on Earth.
17. Mars is the planet that has seasons like Earth’s because its axis tilts at an almost identical
angle.
18. Mars’s volcanoes are larger than those of Earth because Mars has no moving tectonic plates.
19. Mars is a planet which has volcanic regions that may still be active.
Chapter 27 Section 4: The Outer Planets
20. The asteroid belt can be found between the planets Mars and Jupiter
21. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and Neptune’s Great Dark Spot are both raging storms.
22. The least dense planet in the solar system is Saturn.
23. Neptune’s Great Dark Spot is a giant storm.
24. A region of the solar system just beyond Neptune’s orbit, which contains small bodies made
mostly of ice, is called the Kuiper belt.
25. Planets that circle stars other than Earth’s sun are called exoplanets.