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Exam 2 Review
This “review sheet” has a list of questions that you can ask yourself to get a feel for
your own comfort level on the different topics that we’ve covered in class. The topics to
be covered by this exam include the Earth, the Moon, the Earth-Moon system (tides,
eclipses, precession), and the other Terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, & Mars).
Earth
Can you describe the basic structure of the Earth’s geology? Do you understand how
scientists know the properties of the Earth’s interior? Do you know what types of
geologic formations are located above the three different plate boundaries?
Can you describe the basic structure of the Earth’s atmosphere?
Do you understand how the ozone layer prevents UV photons from getting to the surface
of the Earth?
Can you describe how the Greenhouse Effect keeps the surface of the Earth at a
temperature of about 15 degrees Celsius?
Describe how the carbon dioxide cycle acts as a temperature regulation system for the
Earth.
Do you understand how the magnetic field of the Earth is generated and how that
magnetic field protects Earth from the Solar Wind and creates aurora?
How does the 23.5º tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis lead to a seasonal variation in
temperature? What effect(s) does the tilt lead to with respect to the length of the day, the
location of the tropic zone and the arctic/Antarctic zones?
Moon
Can you describe the general properties of the Moon in terms of its geologic structure,
surface features, and atmosphere? Do you understand the process of how craters are
formed? Do you know how the relative ages of the lunar highlands and mare can be
determined?
Do you understand how the Moon affects the tides of the Earth?
Do you know the different types of eclipses that occur and what conditions that need to
be met in order for an eclipse of each type to be viewed?
Exam 3 Review
This “review sheet” has a list of questions that you can ask yourself to get a feel for
your own comfort level on the different topics that we’ve covered in class. As with the
second exam, you should be comfortable with reading/writing numbers in scientific
notation & using your own scientific calculator to perform calculations.
The best advice I can give (without giving away all the questions on the exam) is that you
should be able to compare all the major properties of each planet that were covered in
class. To help you do this, I’ve posed a few questions that you can ask yourself when
studying each individual planet.

Are there any interesting surface features? If so, how were they formed? How
are the surface features of different planets observed? How do the surface
features of one planet compare to similar surface features on other planets (in
terms of size, formation, etc.)? Knowing the names of surface features will be
useful.

What are the surface conditions like on each planet (air pressure, surface
temperature, wind conditions)? What makes the surface conditions of each planet
the way they are?

Is there anything significant about the atmosphere of each planet? How does the
atmosphere of one planet compare/contrast to the atmosphere of other planets?
Be sure to learn important aspects such as composition, air pressure, temperature,
weather/storms.

Are there any interesting facts about a planet’s orbit/rotation?

What historical/social aspects were covered for each planet?
Key Terms to Know
The following is a list of terms that you should be comfortable with for the upcoming
exam. This list should be used as a guide and might not include every term that was
covered in class. For completeness, you should refer to the notes you took in class or the
notes that are posted on the web page.
Dust Devil
Orbital Precession
Orbital Resonance
Retrograde Rotation
Runaway Greenhouse Effect
Scarp
Sublimation
Transit