ASTR103 - Solar system formation
About this set
Created by:
bbarocho Plus on September 16, 2011
Subjects:
Description:
Week 4 topics
Log in to favorite or report as inappropriate.
Order by
22 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Evolutionary hypothesis | Descartes proposed that the solar system formed from a contracting vortex of matter. |
| Catastrophic hypothesis | Buffon later suggested that a passing comet pulled matter out of the sun to form the planet |
| Passing star hypothesis | Astronomers replaced the comet with a star from catastrophic (comet) hypothesis |
| Nebular hypothesis | Laplace's hypothesis required a contracting nebula to leave behind rings that formed each planet |
| Angular momentum problem | Puzzle of the sun's low angular momentum |
| Solar nebula theory | Theory proposes that the planets formed in a disk of gas and dust around the protostar that became the sun |
| Terrestrial planets | Inner four planets, small, rocky, dense |
| 4 terrestrial planet | Mercury Venus Earth Mars |
| Jovian planets | Outer planets, large, low density |
| 4 jovian planets | Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune |
| Asteroids | Small, irregular, rocky bodies, are located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter |
| Kuiper belt | Small, icy bodies that orbit the sun beyond the orbit of neptune |
| Comets | Icy bodies that pass through the inner solar system along long elliptical orbits. As the ices vaporize and release dust, the comet develops a tail that points approximately away from the sun |
| Meteoroids | Rock in space in space before it plunges into the Earth's atmosphere |
| Meteors | Small bits of rock and metal colliding with Earth's atmosphere and bursting into incandescent vapor because of friction with the air about 80 km above the ground. Commonly called "shooting stars". |
| Meteorites | Specks of dust, grains of sand, or tiny pebbles that survive the passage to Earth's surface. |
| Half-life | the age of a rocky body found by radioactive dating based on decay |
| Condensation | During the solar nebula converted some of the gas into solid bits of matter |
| Accretion | Bits of matter from condensation grow by this process |
| Planetesimals | Accretion bits of matter form billions of these |
| Protoplanets | Planets begin growing by accretion of solid material into this |
| Gravitational collapse | Once a protoplanet approaches about 15 Earth masses, it can begin growing by this process by pulling gas from the solar nebula |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.