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Venus
Earth
Mars
Solar System
Misc.
100

Venus's atmosphere is primarily composed of this gas

What is Carbon Dioxide

100

Atmospheric oxygen on Earth comes from this

Life (Cyanobacteria; blue green algae)

100

The polar ice caps on Mars are primarily composed of what during the martian summer months?

Water ice

100

This is the name for the region of the solar system where Pluto is found.

The Kuiper belt

100

Comets are primarily comprised of this material

Ice

200

Greenhouse gasses primarily absorb which wavelengths of light?

Infrared
200

This is the source of Earth's seasons

Earth's axial tilt

200

Given that Mars's atmosphere is very thin, heavy erosion on craters is one piece of evidence that is used to determine that mars once had this on its surface.

Liquid water

200

As an interstellar cloud of gas shrinks in size, what does the law of conservation of angular momentum predict it will do?

Spin faster

200

This is the term that describes the amount of time it takes for half of a sample of a radioactive element to decay

Half life

300

Due to Venus's slow rate of rotation the planet is unable to generate this, which means its atmosphere is eroded by the solar wind

What is a magnetosphere

300

This process describes why Earth's interior is comprised of various different layers of material

Differentiation

300
Without a protective magnetosphere, water on Mars is able to photodissociation and break apart into hydrogen and oxygen. What happens to the hydrogen that causes it to become lost forever?

Thermal escape

300

According to the nebular theory, most of the exceptions to the general pattern of our solar system can be explained by this process.

Impact cratering

300

Thick lavas are high in silicates and form these types of volcanoes

Stratovolcanoes

400

This process explains how Venus lost its water over time

The moist greenhouse effect

400

This cycle is responsible for maintaining climate stability over long periods of time

The carbon dioxide cycle

400

This is the main source of the large variations between seasons on mars

Mars's elliptical orbit

400

After the accretion phase of the early solar system, lots of small bodies interact with each other during this period leading to high amounts of impact cratering.

The heavy bombardment.

400

This is what eventually pushed away the gasses in our solar systems protoplanetary disk, leading to an end of the accretion phase of planetary formation

The solar wind

500
High levels of this isotope in Venus's atmosphere are evidence that in the past, Venus had just as much water as Earth has.

Deuterium

500

Earth's stratosphere is heated by this molecule absorbing ultraviolet light

Ozone (O3)

500
Any oxygen once present on Mars that was not eroded away by the solar wind is found bound in the martian soil. What compound was formed by this oxygen in the soil, which also gives mars its red color?

Iron oxide (rust)

500

According to the nebular theory, the frost line in our solar systems protoplanetary disk was located here

Between Mars and Jupiter (the asteroid belt)

500
This is the name for the large smooth areas on the Moon comprised of relatively new rock

Maria