Intro to the Solar System

Accretion is

• the separation of materials in a protoplanet by density.

• growth of an object by the accumulation of matter

• the breakup of large objects by violent collisions

• the period of time during which the Sun swept away all excess material in the solar nebular

When a solar nebula contracts

• it flattens out

• it spins faster

• it heats up

• all of the above

An alternative to the core-accretion theory that explains the formation of the jovian planets is

• differentiation theory

• collision theory

• gravitational instability theory

• nebular contraction theory

What might have made the original solar nebula begin to contract?

• formation of our arm of the Milky Way

• shock wave from a nearby exploding star

• interstellar magnetism generated by pulsars

• the large amount of angular momentum in the nebula

All of these are characteristics of the solar nebula theory except

• the ecliptic is the equator for the Sun

• all the planets should follow the ecliptic plane

• larger planets should form closer to their star, where there is more debris

• all the planets should orbit the Sun counterclockwise

As the solar nebula contracts due to gravitation, the cloud

• expands

• spins faster

• becomes more spherical in shape

• changes direction of motion

A gravitational "sling-shot"

• causes comets to crash into planets

• allowed the Apollo astronauts to reach the Moon in 1969

• is the accepted theory for the formation of the asteroid belt

• changes the speed and direction of a spacecraft nearing a massive planet

Objects in the Kuiper belt

• are in random orbits at all inclinations to the ecliptic

• lie beyond the orbit of Neptune, and close to the ecliptic

• are dense, like the iron meteorites

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-2

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

Asteroids and meteoroids have a(n) _____ composition. Comets have a(n) ____ composition.

• icy, rocky

• heated, cooled

• rocky, icy

• gaseous, dry

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-1

The condensation theory, which currently is used to explain the formation of the solar system is actually just a refined version of the older ____ theory

• big bang

• stellar

• evolution

• nebular