Test Bank The Giant Planets Chapter 8 - Understanding Our Universe 3e Complete Test Bank by Stacy Palen. DOCX document preview.
Chapter 8: The Giant Planets
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
8.1 Giant Planets Are Large, Cold, and Massive
8.1a Compare and contrast giant and terrestrial planets.
8.1b Explain the compositional differences between the four giant planets.
8.1c Explain why gas giants are oblate.
8.2 The Giant Planets Have Clouds and Weather
8.2a Describe why some giant planet clouds are colorful and others are bland.
8.2b Explain the relationship between rapid rotation, Coriolis force, zonal winds, and turbulence in the atmospheres of giant planets.
8.2c Explain the origin of weather (especially lightning) in giant planet atmospheres.
8.3 The Interiors of the Giant Planets Are Hot and Dense
8.3a Explain why the interiors of giant planets are dense and hot.
8.3b Explain why liquids such as water can exist in the hot interiors of giant planets.
8.4 The Giant Planets Are Magnetic Powerhouses
8.4a Describe how a planet’s magnetic fields are responsible for the appearance of auroras on a planet.
8.4b Compare and contrast magnetic fields of giant planets.
8.5 Rings Surround the Giant Planets
8.5a Discuss the two proposed origins for rings around giant planets.
8.5b Explain how moons provide orbital stability to ring material.
8.5c Relate a ring’s appearance to its composition and density.
Working It Out 8.1
Working It Out 8.1a Determine the diameter of a planet using orbital data and occultations.
Working It Out 8.2
Working It Out 8.2a Use the motion of clouds to determine the rotation rate of a planet.
Working It Out 8.3
Working It Out 8.3a Use the Stefan-Boltzmann law to relate the energy input and output of giant planets.
Chapter 8: The Giant Planets
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The gas giants are composed primarily of
a. hydrogen. c. water.
b. helium. d. ammonia.
2. The compositions of Uranus and Neptune differ primarily from those of Jupiter and Saturn in that the outer two planets contain more
a. hydrogen. c. ices.
b. helium. d. carbon dioxide.
3. How do the chemical abundances of heavy elements differ for the four giant planets?
a. They decrease farther from the Sun. c. They are missing all together.
b. They increase farther from the Sun. d. There are all the same.
4. Why are Jupiter and Saturn not perfectly spherical?
a. They formed from the collision of two large planetesimals.
b. They rotate rapidly.
c. They have storms that develop preferentially along their equators.
d. They have very active auroras that heat the atmospheres along the poles.
5. Which of the giant planets was predicted to exist mathematically before it was ever seen through a telescope?
a. Jupiter c. Uranus
b. Saturn d. Neptune
6. If you could find a large enough ocean, which one of these planets would float in it?
a. Uranus c. Neptune
b. Saturn d. Mars
7. As a group, the giant planets all rotate __________ terrestrial planets.
a. faster than c. the same as
b. slower than d. retrograde compared with
8. All the giant planets except __________ experience seasons.
a. Jupiter c. Uranus
b. Saturn d. Neptune
9. Neptune and Uranus probably took longer to form than Jupiter and Saturn because the solar nebula was __________ at the radius of Neptune and Uranus.
a. rotating faster c. not as dense
b. composed of rockier planetesimals d. hotter
10. __________ has the most extreme seasons of any planet in the Solar System.
a. Jupiter c. Uranus
b. Saturn d. Neptune
11. You could fit roughly __________ Jupiters across the diameter of the Sun and roughly __________ Earths across Jupiter’s diameter.
a. 10; 100 c. 10; 10
b. 100; 10 d. 100; 100
12. Each season is 42 years long on Uranus because
a. Uranus’ rotational axis is tipped by nearly 90°.
b. Uranus rotates so slowly.
c. Uranus’s rotational axis is tipped by 45° relative to its orbital axis.
d. Hadley circulation is ineffective in transferring heat in Uranus’s atmosphere.
13. You observe Neptune as it occults a background star when the relative velocity between Neptune and the Earth is 30 kilometers per second (km/s), and the star crosses through the middle of the planet and disappears for 1,656 seconds. What is Neptune’s diameter?
a. 5 
104 km c. 4,000 km
b. 800 km d. 9 103 km
14. The Great Red Spot, Jupiter’s most prominent storm system, has a diameter that is currently __________ times Earth’s diameter.
a. 2 c. 10
b. 5 d. 50
15. A planet will have bands in its atmosphere like Jupiter and Saturn if
a. Hadley circulation is the main effect governing the atmosphere.
b. the planet rotates slowly.
c. the wind speeds vary greatly with latitude.
d. the planet has a high temperature.
16. Uranus and Neptune are bluish green because they contain large amounts of
a. ammonia. c. water vapor.
b. methane. d. hydrocarbons.
17. Why are all clouds on Jupiter not white, as on Earth?
a. They are made of methane.
b. They are made of carbon dioxide.
c. There are impurities in their ice crystals.
d. for the same reason that we see colors in rainbows on Earth
18. The giant planet atmospheric vortices are created by a combination of the Coriolis effect and
a. rapid rotation. c. their strong magnetic fields.
b. convection. d. Hadley circulation.
19. Band systems on Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are most prominent when viewed in which wavelength regime?
a. visible c. ultraviolet
b. infrared d. X-ray
20. Why do we find methane ice clouds above water ice clouds in the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune?
a. Methane ice clouds are lighter than water ice clouds.
b. Methane is far more plentiful than water on Uranus and Neptune.
c. Methane is in a liquid/gas state at lower temperatures than water.
d. All of the above are good reasons.
21. The colors of the cloud bands on Jupiter and Saturn primarily are due to differences in their
a. wind speeds. c. altitudes.
b. chemical compositions. d. temperatures.
22. Uranus and Neptune do not have bands as distinct as those on Jupiter and Saturn because Uranus and Neptune
a. have wind speeds that vary more smoothly from the equator to the poles.
b. are composed entirely of hydrogen and helium and lack more complex molecules.
c. are much closer to the Sun and much colder.
d. rotate 10 times slower.
23. The fastest zonal winds are found on
a. Jupiter and Saturn. c. Uranus and Neptune.
b. Saturn and Neptune. d. Jupiter and Uranus.
24. If you monitor Saturn’s atmosphere and you see a storm at a longitude of 0
west on one day and at a longitude of 90 west 3 days later, what is the average wind speed on Saturn at this storm’s latitude? Note that these positions are measured on a coordinate system that rotates with the planet’s interior. (The radius of Saturn is 6 107 meters.)
a. 720 meters per second (m/s) c. 360 m/s
b. 120 m/s d. 540 m/s
25. If you monitor Jupiter’s atmosphere and you see a storm move from a longitude of 60 west to a longitude of 80 west over 6 days, what is the wind speed at this storm’s latitude on Jupiter? Note that these positions are measured on a coordinate system that rotates with the planet’s interior. (The radius of Jupiter is 7.2 104 km.)
a. 700 m/s c. 100 m/s
b. 300 m/s d. 50 m/s
26. Why can water exist in the hot interiors of the giant planets?
a. The pressure is high enough to prevent the water from becoming vapor.
b. Some of the metallic hydrogen in the core mixes with oxygen.
c. Regions of the interior are cooler than the surrounding regions.
d. Water released from moons via cryovolcanism is absorbed.
27. Of the giant planets, only Jupiter and Saturn have thick inner layers of
a. liquid rock. c. molecular and metallic hydrogen.
b. solid rock. d. liquid methane.
28. We refer to some of the inner regions of Jupiter and Saturn as metallic hydrogen because they
a. are as dense as lead.
b. are solid.
c. provide support for the upper layers of hydrogen and helium.
d. efficiently conduct electricity.
29. The fact that Jupiter’s radius is contracting at a rate of 1 millimeter per year (mm/yr) results in
a. differential convection that powers Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
b. Jupiter’s rotation rate slowing down with time.
c. Jupiter’s shape being noticeably oblate.
d. Jupiter radiating more heat than it receives from the Sun.
30. Despite the high temperatures deep in the interiors of giant planets, their cores remain liquid because
a. they are under very high pressures.
b. gravitational potential energy is being converted into thermal energy in the cores.
c. they are composed of heavy materials like rock and water.
d. their rotations are rapid compared with those of the terrestrial planets.
31. Which giant planet radiates less energy into space than it receives from the Sun?
a. Jupiter c. Uranus
b. Saturn d. Neptune
32. If the flux of sunlight on a planet suggested its temperature should be 200 Kelvin (K), but its actual temperature was 300 Kelvin, then how much more energy does this planet emit relative to the energy it receives from its parent star?
a. 5.1 times more energy c. 1.1 times more energy
b. 2.2 times more energy d. 1.5 times more energy
33. The strongest magnetic fields in the Solar System are found on which planet?
a. Jupiter c. Uranus
b. Saturn d. Neptune
34. Where do Uranus’s and Neptune’s high magnetic fields originate?
a. molten rocky cores c. large magnetospheres
b. salty oceans d. metallic hydrogen layers
35. The magnetic fields of the giant planets interact with
a. their moons. c. the solar wind.
b. their rings. d. All choices are valid.
36. Examine the following figure. What gas giant has this orientation of its magnetic and rotational axes?
a. Jupiter c. Uranus
b. Saturn d. Neptune
37. Examine the following figure. What gas giant has this orientation of its magnetic and rotational axes?
a. Jupiter c. Uranus
b. Saturn d. Neptune
38. Which gas giant has almost perfect alignment of its magnetic and rotational axes?
a. Jupiter c. Uranus
b. Saturn d. Neptune
39. The different colors of auroras are due to
a. temperature differences in the giant planet atmosphere.
b. fluctuations in the magnetic field.
c. variations in atmospheric pressure.
d. the composition of the giant planet atmosphere.
40. Saturn’s rings may have originated from
a. cometary material captured by Saturn’s gravity.
b. the destruction of a moon or planetoid from tidal stresses within the Roche limit.
c. material released from Saturn during a collision with a planet-sized object.
d. material released from volcanic activity on Saturn.
41. Which of the giant planets lacks rings?
a. Jupiter
b. Saturn
c. Uranus
d. Neptune
e. All of the giant planets have rings.
42. Why would a planet’s rings reflect 50 percent of the sunlight they receive? They are
a. made of ice. c. made of iron.
b. made of silicate rock. d. very old.
43. How do Saturn’s shepherd moons help maintain the stability of Saturn’s rings?
a. Their magnetic fields confine the rings’ orbits.
b. Their gravity periodically captures solar system debris and adds it to the ring system.
c. They periodically collide with larger ring objects, pulverizing them.
d. Their gravitational interactions with ring material maintains the orbital stability of the rings.
44. How does the thickness of Saturn’s bright ring system compare with the ring’s diameter? It’s about
a. 10 times thinner. c. 100,000 times thinner.
b. 1,000 times thinner. d. 10 million times thinner.
45. The Roche limit is reached when
a. the internal pressure of a gas giant planet is enough to compress its core.
b. ring particles closest to a planet fall into its atmosphere.
c. the tidal stress becomes greater than the surface gravity.
d. a ring particle reaches escape velocity.
46. How is Io contributing to Jupiter’s ring system?
a. Io collides with other moons. c. Io’s volcanic activity contributes material.
b. Io’s magnetic field collects solar wind. d. It doesn’t contribute.
47. Why doesn’t Earth have a ring system?
a. There are no shepherd moons to maintain rings.
b. It’s not big enough to produce rings.
c. It is not massive enough to produce rings.
d. Nothing has ever been close enough to produce rings.
48. Jupiter’s rings are made of material from
a. its largest, innermost moons. c. only Io.
b. its upper atmosphere. d. only its retrograde moons.
49. Particles that make up the rings of Uranus and Neptune are composed of
a. rocky material from tidally disrupted moons.
b. organic material that has darkened because of bombardment by high-energy particles.
c. icy material from tidally disrupted comets.
d. all of the above
50. Rings of giant planets are very thin compared to their diameters mainly because
a. of collisions between ring particles.
b. moons that tidally disrupt have small diameters.
c. energy is conserved when a moon tidally disrupts.
d. the planets have large tidal forces.
1. What is the ratio of Jupiter’s volume to that of Earth’s if both planets can be modeled as spheres and Jupiter’s radius is 11 times that of Earth’s?
2. How does the discovery of Neptune relate to the discovery of extrasolar planets?
3. If Saturn’s orbital period is 30 years and the obliquity is 26, how long is it from the first day of spring to the first day of autumn on Saturn?
4. Suppose Neptune moves with an orbital speed of 5.5 km/s relative to Earth. If it takes Neptune 2.5 hours to completely pass in front of a star from side to side, what is Neptune’s diameter? Give Neptune’s size in units of Earth diameters, where the diameter of Earth is 12,800 km.
5. What is cloud cannibalism, and where is it observed in the Solar System?
6. What causes the horizontal bands on Jupiter and Saturn to have different colors? How can they be used to probe different altitudes in their atmospheres?
7. Examine the following figure. Why are winds on the giant planets far faster than those on Earth?
8. If Saturn’s rotational period is 11 hours and its radius is 6 107 meters, what is the average speed of a cloud in its atmosphere that is rotating with Saturn? (Neglect differential speeds caused by winds.)
9. On which of the giant planets do we think we can find deep oceans of water? Why do we think this?
10. Label the interior sections (A, B, C, D) of Jupiter in this image.
11. Label the interior sections (A, B, C) of Uranus in this image. What region does it lack compared with Jupiter?
12. What clues do the differences in the masses of the giant planets give about conditions in the early Solar System?
13. How does Jupiter maintain heat generation since it formed?
14. How can water exist as liquid at temperatures higher than its boiling point?
15. Based on the flux of sunlight that it gets, Jupiter should have a temperature of 109 K. However, its temperature is observed to be 124 K. How much more energy is Jupiter radiating out into space compared with what it gets from the Sun?
16. What gives rise to the large magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune? How does this source help explain why the axes of their magnetic fields are misaligned and significantly offset from their rotational axes?
17. Why are auroras visible mostly at the north or south magnetic poles of the giant planets?
18. Explain why it was difficult for the Voyager space probe to detect Jupiter’s ring system as it was approaching the planet but easy for it to detect the rings once it had passed behind Jupiter.
19. What hypothesis has been advanced by astronomers to explain the prominent Saturn rings, and does the observed total mass in the ring system support this theory?
20. Explain how tidal stress can rip apart objects.
21. Why do we suspect that the inner planets do not have rings?