Earth's Early History

What is the FIRST event in the formation of the solar system?

• About 4.5 billion years ago pieces of rock and ice accumulate more material until they grow into planets and moons.

• About 4.6 billion years ago, a cloud of stellar dust or nebula exists within the Milky Way.

• None of the above.

What force acted on the massive nebula to collapse it and eventually form our sun?

• electrostatic force
• strong force
•  weak force
• gravity

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-4

The energy enriched nebula begins to contract further due to gravity. Then what?

• The center of the nebula begins to get hot and dense.

• Shock waves hit the nebula causing it to collapse.

• The nebula begins to spin and flatten.

when dust and gas gravitate together and form ever larger bodies

• absolution

• attrition

• accretion

• erosion

The protoplanets kept:

• Colliding and breaking apart
• Colliding and sticking together
• Colliding and bouncing around
• Breaking down into smaller pieces

Why are meteorites important to evidence when estimating the age of Earth?

• Meteorites are most likely debris ejected from the sun and moon.

• Meteorites come from bodies in space that formed along with the planets and are thought to have similar compositions to Earth's layers.

• Meteorites formed far outside the solar system at the same time Earth formed.

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS1-6

Moon formed from a​ (a)   colliding with Earth during the ​ (b)   . This means the rocks on the ​ (c)   are ​ (d)   Earth, since they formed at ​ (e)   time.

• protoplanet
• Heavy Bombardment Period
• Moon
• the same age as
• asteroid
• Accretion Disk
• older than
• younger than
• the same
• a different

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS1-6

Why is Moon covered with craters, but Earth is not?

• Moon has no tectonic activity.

• More asteroids hit Moon than Earth

• Moon is older than Earth

• most asteroids land in Earth's oceans

Why is Moon covered with craters, but Earth is not?

• Earth's atmosphere protects Earth and weathers craters away

• Earth's moon blocks asteroids
• asteroids just missed Earth
• Moon's rocks are harder to wear away than Earth's

True or False: Earth, Moon, and all the other objects in the solar system (meteorites, asteroids, other planets) are all the same age since they all formed at about the same time.

• True

• False

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS1-5