Download AST-2003 Review for Final Exam

AST-2003 Review for Final Exam
•Please do not forget to do the evaluations. Last day is Friday April 26th
•Bring Gator 1 ID card
•Bring pencil #2 with eraser
•No use of calculator or any electronic device during the exam
• We provide the scantrons
•If formulas are needed they will be projected on the screen
•You can use the exam sheets as scrap paper if you need to do calculations .
• The exam will have 40-45 questions. 5 possible answers, only one valid answer.
•Exam is on Thursday May 2nd at 7:30 AM. There are two hours allocated for the
exam
•Exam will be in this room, FLG 230
•Please arrive early
•If you are late and you arrive after the first person turn in the exam, you will not
be allowed to take the exam.
•There is no time for makeup exams. Grades must be entered during the weekend
right after we give the exam
•Material for Final Exam : Ch 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8, 9, 10 and 11
•Material for this review: Ch 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11
Chapter 7 – Our Planetary System
•Main characteristics of terrestrial planets
•Main characteristics of Jovian planets
•The Sun: Surface temperature (5,800 K), core temperature (15 million K)
•Basic process for the production of energy in the Sun: Fusion of H into He.
•Basic differences between terrestrial and Jovian planets
•Comparison of mass, diameter, density, number of satellites and distance from the Sun for
the terrestrial and Jovian planets
•What is unusual regarding the number of satellites of the terrestrial planets
•Satellites (or moons) that are unique in the solar system
•What makes Io a unique satellite?
•What makes Titan a special satellite?
•The orbits of terrestrial planets are close to each other. The orbits of the Jovian planets are
well separated
•Main gasses in the atmosphere of Earth, Venus and Mars
•Jupiter Great Red Spot: largest and longer duration storm in the solar system
Chapter 7 – Our Planetary System
Questions
•Which group of planets (terrestrial or Jovian) has more moons or satellites?
•How many moons or satellites have the terrestrial planets?
•Do the terrestrial planets have rings?
•Which of the Jovian planets have rings?
•Which planets has rings are easily visible in a small telescope?
•What is the density of the terrestrial planets compared with the density of Jovian planets?
•Which planet has the lowest density? Which has the highest densities?
•Which planet has more mass than all the masses of all the rest of the planets together?
•Which terrestrial planet doesn’t have an atmosphere
•The density (and pressure) of the atmosphere of Venus compared with the Earth?
•The density (and pressure) of the atmosphere of Mars compared with the Earth?
•Name the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter
•What has Io in particular that distinguish from the rest of the Galilean satellites?
•What has Europa under the ice crust
•If we look through a telescope, what does Saturn has that is different from the other Jovian
planets?
•What does Titan has in particular that make it a unique satellite in the solar system?
•Why Uranus and Neptune look greenish/bluish? What causes those colors?
•What is the tilt of the rotational axis of Uranus?
•How many moons Pluto has?
Chapter 8 – Formation of the Solar System
Topics
•Explain the nebular hypothesis for the formation of the solar system
•What is the composition of the material of the nebula from which the planetary system formed?
• Where is this material came from?
• How this material got enriched in heavier elements?
• Conservation of angular momentum in the collapse of the interstellar cloud
• Conservation of energy in the collapse of the interstellar cloud (gravitational energy)
•What are the main characteristics of the solar system that needs to be explained by the theory of
the formation of the solar system?
• What is the role of the stellar wind (or solar wind) regarding the material present in the
protoplanetray disk while the planets are still forming?
•Discovery of exoplanets
•Theory of the formation of the Moon. Collision with large object, about size of Mars
Questions
• Name a few characteristics that the model of formation of the solar system has to explain
•Name some exceptions found in the solar system
•After the cloud collapse, what is the object that forms at the center? what is formed around the
central body?
•What is the shape of the material that forms around the central body
•What is the minimum temperature necessary for the central body to start converting H into He?
•Why do we mean when we say that the material from which the solar system form is recycled
material?
•What causes the lost of material from the protoplanetary disk once the central star began
generating energy
•What material can condense inside the “frost line’? What material condense outside?
•What ends the planets accretion of matter during the formation of the planets?
•What effect had the solar magnetic field in the rotation of the Sun during the formation?
Chapter 9 – Planetary Geology
Topics
• Internal structure of the terrestrial planets: Core, mantle, crust
• What is differentiation? Where did the heat necessary to melt the interior of a planet came from/
• Sources of heat that rises the internal temperature of terrestrial planets
•Method to determine the internal structure of the Earth
•Propagation of P and S waves in the interior of the Earth.
•Shaping the surface of the planets: Impact cratering, volcanism, plate tectonics, erosion, deposition
• What roles all these mechanisms have in shaping the surface of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
•What features characterize the surface of Mercury?
•What features characterize the surface of the Moon?
•Evidence of liquid water in Mars: Present and past evidence
•Runoff and outflow channels in Mars
•Salty water running down the slopes of Martian craters, gullies. Why it has to be salty water?
•Discovery of ice under the surface, Phoenix trench and white material that melted or sublimated
•Lunar features. Highlands, lowlands and maria.
•Cratering in lunar hightlands and lowlands
•On Earth, convection drives the plate tectonics
•Where convection get the energy?
•Conditions to produce magnetic field in planets
•The protective role of Earth magnetic field
Chapter 9 – Planetary Geology
Questions
•Describe what happened during the differentiation process
•What are the three layer that form the interior of the terrestrial planets
•Describe how the waves generated in an earthquake are used to learn about the internal structure
of the Earth
•Name and explain the type of seismic waves used to learn about the interior of the Earth
•Where is now the water that once was running in the outflow and runoff channels?
•Any discovery of ice under a few cm of soil lately?
•What is the composition of the Venus’ clouds?
•What drives the plates tectonics on Earth?
• How it has been possible to map the surface of Venus? What method has been used?
•What type of feature characterize Venus surface?
•Evidence of plate tectonics in Venus?
•What is the origin of the energy that drives the convection in the mantle?
•What are the conditions needed to create a magnetic field in a planet?
•How are terrestrial auroras produced?
Chapter 10– Planetary atmospheres
Topics
• Composition of the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets
•Surface pressure of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets compared with Earth
•Effect of Greenhouse in the terrestrial planets
•Interaction of light and atmospheric gasses
•The planets magnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind
•Why Mars lost its magnetic field?
•Why Mars cooled off faster than the Earth?
•What protection provided the Earth magnetic field to life on Earth?
•Auroral emission
•Weather and Climate
•Major factors that cause long tern effects in climate
•The atmosphere of Mars, Venus and the Earth. Main gasses in each atmosphere.
•Surface gravity, escape velocity and thermal velocity of gas molecules
•Evidence of water in Mars. Liquid water in the past. Runoff and outflow channels. Recent indication
liquid water on the surface
•Origin of oxygen in the atmosphere of Earth. The carbon dioxide cycle
•Effect of Greenhouse in the temperature of the atmosphere of Earth.
•Global warming
•Correlation between carbon dioxide density and increase in overall temperature of Earth
Questions
Which are the greenhouse gasses in the terrestrial planets?
Why some planets and satellites are able to retain an atmosphere?
Why is the sky blue?
What caused the changes in the atmosphere of Mars? What is the connection between the lost of
carbon dioxide in Mars’ atmosphere and the lost of magnetic field.
How an atmosphere gain and loses gases?
Chapter 11 – Jovian Planets
•Main characteristics of Jovian planets. How do they compare with terrestrial planets
•Basic differences between terrestrial and Jovian planets
•Comparison of mass, diameter, density, number of satellites, distance from the Sun
•Satellites (or moons) that are unique in the solar system
•The orbits of terrestrial planets are close to each other. The orbits of the Jovian planets are
well separated
•Exploration of Jovian planets by spacecrafts. Which planets have been explored and studied
mainly by spacecraft?
•The mass-radius dependence of a planet with H and He composition. Mass and diameter of
Jupiter and Saturn
•Distortion of Jupiter and Saturn due to fast rotation
•Interior composition of Jupiter and Saturn. The presence of metallic H
•Zones and belts in Jupiter’s atmosphere
•Jupiter Great Red Spot: largest and longer duration storm in the solar system
•Presence of magnetic fields in all the Jovian planets
•Jupiter strong magnetic field. Responsible for the strong low frequency radio emission
•The four Galilean satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto
•Io volcanic activity and the generation of heat by tidal effect due to elliptical orbit
•Europa and the ocean of liquid water under the surface
•What causes the elliptical orbit of Io, Europa and Ganymide? Resonance
•Titan, lakes of methane/ethane. Presence of methane and hydrocarbons in Titan atmosphere
•Triton and its retrograde orbit. Possible origin of Triton
•Rings in Jovian planets. The Roche limit. Differential gravitational force
Chapter 11 – Jovian Planets
Questions
•What causes the internal heat in Io that trigger the volcanic activity
•What causes the internal heat in Europa that makes possible to have an ocean of salty water?
•Why Io, Europa and Ganymede have an elliptical orbit?
•Explain what is “resonance” in the orbits of these satellites.
•Resonance: 1 orbit of Ganymede (7.155 days) → 2 orbits of Europa (3.551 days) → 4 orbits
of Io (1.769 days)
•Jupiter has about three times more mass than Saturn. How can we explain their relative
radius (Size)?
•Why Saturn and Jupiter are not perfectly spherical?
• What causes the blue color in the atmosphere of Uranus and Neptune?
•What will happen to a body if it get closer to a planet and crosses the Roche limit?
•Do the particles of a ring follow Kepler’s law?