Show:
Interiors
Cooling /Heating
Magnetic Fields
Surface Process definitions
Which planet am I?
100
Part of the interior with the highest density, composed of nickel and iron.
What is the core?
100
This process was important for delivering heat to planets when they were young.
What is accretion?
100
A molten interior, convection, and moderately rapid rotation.
What are the three requirements for a magnetic field?
100
The result of asteroid and comet collisions with the planet's surface.
What is impact cratering?
100
This terrestrial planet has the most active plate tectonics in the Solar System, with almost no craters on the surface.
What is Earth?
200
Layer of moderate density; silicon, oxygen, etc.
What is the mantle?
200
Heating process that is most important in heating the interior today.
What is radioactive decay?
200
Because of Earth's magnetic field, this stream of charged particles does not usually interact with Earth.
What is the Solar Wind?
200
The eruption of molten rock onto the surface of a planet.
What is volcanism?
200
This terrestrial planet has a heavily cratered surface and a rather small core.
What is the Moon?
300
Lowest density; granite, basalt, etc.
What is the crust?
300
Transports heat through the mantle.
What is convection?
300
This planet has no magnetic field because it has no convection.
What is Mercury?
300
Surface changes made by wind, water or ice.
What is erosion?
300
The surface of this planet shows evidence of erosion, but all its volcanoes are extinct.
What is Mars?
400
Process by which the denser materials sink to the center of a planet, while the lighter materials rise upward.
What is differentiation?
400
Transports heat from the surface to outer space.
What is radiation?
400
This planet has no magnetic field because it has very slow rotation.
What is Venus?
400
Disruption of a planets surface by internal stresses.
What is plate tectonics?
400
This terrestrial planet has many volcanoes, some of which may still be active.
What is Venus?
500
A planet's outer layer of cool, rigid rock.
What is the lithosphere?
500
These two worlds are now geologically "dead."
What is Mercury and the Moon?
500
Without a magnetic field, this part of a planet can be slowly eaten away by the Solar Wind.
What is the atmosphere?
500
These three processes are less likely to be at work on smaller worlds.
What are tectonics, volcanism, and erosion?
500
This planet likely experienced a period of rapid cooling, which led to shrinkage of the crust. This produced long lines of steep cliffs.
What is Mercury.