Inner Planets

Which of the following is NOT a way that the planet Mercury is similar to the Moon?

• Its surface is heavily cratered.

• It has no significant atmosphere.

• The highest temperature on its surface is the same.

• Its origin probably involved a giant impact.

• Mercury and the Moon are reasonably similar in all ways.

What is unique about Mercury's rotation?

• It has a retrograde rotation

• It has a 3:2 resonant phase lock with the Sun

• Mercury does not rotate

• Its rotation is chaotic and unpredictable

Which of the following statements about temperature changes on Mercury is correct?

• It is always hot anywhere on Mercury, because the planet is so close to the Sun.

• It is always cold all over Mercury, because the planet has no significant atmosphere.

• One side of Mercury is always extremely hot, while the other side is about the same temperature as the surface of the Earth.

• The difference in temperature between Mercury’s daylight side and its night side is the greatest difference of any planet in the solar system.

• We suspect Mercury must be warm, but we have not been able to measure any temperatures on the planet with our instruments.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-4

NGSS.MS-PS3-4

What formation or formations are evidence that the planet Mercury may have shrunk (gotten a bit smaller) as it cooled?

• the Caloris basin

• the large basins

• the long scarps or cliffs

• the thin atmosphere emerging from inside the planet

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

Why is Mercury’s magnetosphere hard to explain?

• It’s too close to the Sun to have a magnetosphere

• Mercury doesn’t have any metal in its core

• It has no atmosphere

• It’s too small and should have cooled to a solid

What happened as a result of the Caloris Basin Impact?

• Shock waves caused weird twisted terrain on the opposite side

• All life on Mercury was destroyed

• Mercury’s rotation was altered

• Mercury gained its large iron core

Why are the largest craters we find on the Moon and Mercury so much larger than the largest craters we find on the Earth?

• The Moon and Mercury have larger gravity, which can attract larger pieces.

• The Moon and Mercury do not have atmospheres to protect them from the largest pieces that can hit.

• The Earth’s magnetic field protects us from larger impacts.

• The Moon and Mercury have much larger volcanic eruptions

• The largest craters were made early in each world’s history, and geologic activity has erased all traces of this early period on the Earth’s surface.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

The common gas that makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus is

• water vapor.

• nitrogen.

• ozone.

• ammonia gas.

• carbon dioxide.

The planet that most resembles the Earth in size and composition is

• Mars.

• Venus.

• Mercury.

• Jupiter.

• the Moon.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

Which of the following is NOT a way that Venus resembles the Earth?

• its size (diameter)

• its overall density

• the surface gravity (how much we would weigh there)

• the thickness and pressure of its atmosphere

• Venus resembles Earth in all of these ways.