Phys 1304 Exam 1

Front 1

Solar System

Back 1

The Sun and all the bodies that orbit it- Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, their moons, the asteroids, the comets, and trans-Neptunian objects.

Front 2

Terrestrial Planets

Back 2

One of the four innermost planets of the solar system, resembling Earth in general physical and chemical properties.

Front 3

Solar Nebula

Back 3

The swirling gas surrounding the early Sun during the epoch of solar system formation, also referred to as the primitive solar system.

Front 4

Accretion

Back 4

Gradual growth of bodies, such as planets, by the accumulation of other smaller bodies.

Front 5

Comet

Back 5

A small body, composed mainly of ice and dust, in an elliptical orbit around the Sun. As it comes close to the Sun, some of its material is vaporized to form a gaseous head and extended tail.

Front 6

Core

Back 6

The central region of the Earth, surrounded by the mantle.

The central region of any star.

Front 7

Hydrosphere

Back 7

Layer of Earth that contains the liquid oceans and accounts for roughly 70 percent of the Earth's total surface area.

Front 8

Convection

Back 8

Churning motion resulting from the constant upwelling of warm fluid and the concurrent downward flow of cooler material to take its place.

Front 9

Inner Core

Back 9

The central part of Earth's core, thought to be solid, and composed mainly of nickel and iron.

Front 10

Radioactive

Back 10

The release of energy by rare, heavy elements when their nuclei decay into lighter nuclei.

Front 11

Rock Cycle

Back 11

Process by which surface rock on Earth is continuously redistributed and transformed from one type into another.

Front 12

Dynamo Theory

Back 12

Theory that explains planetary and stellar magnetic fields in terms of rotating, conducting material flowing in an object's interior.

Front 13

Comparative Planetology

Back 13

The systematic study of the similarities and differences among the planets, with the goal of obtaining deeper insight into how the solar system formed and has evolved in time.

Front 14

Jovian Planets

Back 14

One of the four giant outer planets of the solar system, resembling Jupiter in physical and chemical composition.

Front 15

Condensation Theory

Back 15

Currently favored model of the solar system formation which combines features of the old nebular theory with new information about interstellar dust grains, which acted as condensation nuclei.

Front 16

Planet

Back 16

One of the eight major bodies that orbit the Sun, visible to us by reflected sunlight.

Front 17

Small Solar System Body (SSSB)

Back 17

An object in the solar system that is neither a planet, a dwarf planet, nor a satellite.

Front 18

Mantle

Back 18

Layer of earth just interior to the crust.

Front 19

Atmosphere

Back 19

Layer of gas confined close to the planet's surface by the force of gravity.

Front 20

Greenhouse Effect

Back 20

The partial trapping of solar radiation by a planetary atmosphere, similar to the trapping of heat in a greenhouse.

Front 21

Outer Core

Back 21

The outermost part of Earth's core, thought to be liquid and composed mainly of nickel and iron.

Front 22

Plate Tectonics

Back 22

The motions of regions of Earth's lithosphere, which drift in respect to one another. Also known as continental drift.

Front 23

Van Allen Belt

Back 23

One of at least two doughnut-shaped regions of magnetically trapped, charged particles high above Earth's atmosphere.

Front 24

Tides

Back 24

Rising and falling motion of terrestrial bodies of water, exhibiting daily, monthly and yearly cycles.Ocean tides on Earth are caused by the competing gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun on different parts of Earth.

Front 25

Density

Back 25

A measure of the compactness of matter in an object, compute by dividing the mass of the object by its volume. Units are kilograms per cubic meter or grams per cubic centimeter.

Front 26

Nebular Theory

Back 26

One of the earliest models of the solar system formation, dating back to Descartes, in which a cloud of gas began to collapse under its own gravity to form the Sun and the planets.

Front 27

Planetesimals

Back 27

Term given to objects in the early solar system that had reached the size of small moons, at which point their gravitational fields were strong enough to begin influencing their neighbors.

Front 28

Dwarf Planet

Back 28

A body that orbits the Sun and is massive enough that its own gravity has caused its shape to be approximately spherical,but which is insufficiently massive to have cleared other bodies from "the neighborhood" of its orbit.

Front 29

Meteoroids

Back 29

Chunk of interplanetary debris prior to encountering Earth's atmosphere.

Front 30

Crust

Back 30

Layer of Earth which contains the solid continents and the seafloor.

Front 31

Magnetosphere

Back 31

A zone of charged particles trapped by a planet's magnetic field, lying above the atmosphere.

Front 32

Seismic Waves

Back 32

A wave that travels outward from the site of an earthquake through Earth.

Front 33

Differentiation

Back 33

Variation in the density and composition of a body, such as Earth, with low-density material on the surface and a higher density material in the core.

Front 34

Lithosphere

Back 34

Earth's crust and a small portion of the upper mantle that make up the Earth's plates. This layer of Earth undergoes tectonic activity.

Front 35

Aurora

Back 35

Events that occurs when atmospheric molecules are excited by incoming charged particles from the solar wind, then emit energy as they fall back to their ground states. Aurorae generally, occur at high latitudes, near the North and South magnetic poles.

Front 36

Tidal Force

Back 36

The variation in one body's gravitational force from place to place across another body- for example, the variation of the Moon's gravity across Earth.