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.

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

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

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

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.