TBI Terrestrial Planets
TBI Terrestrial Planets
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Planets like Earth grew from the
collisions of smaller planets, asteroids
and minute particles of rock and dust
in a process called accretion. The
smaller planets, often called
planetesimals, ranged in size from 10s
to 100s of kilometers in diameter.
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Initially, the Earth existed as a more-or-less homogeneous mixture of material.
However, the melting that accompanied
the Moon-forming collision resulted in
large-scale changes in its chemical
structure. This change, or
differentiation, occurred though
chemical segregation based on density.
When the early Earth heated, the heavy
element iron (Fe) sank through the
abundant lighter elements oxygen (O)
and silicon (Si). The metallic core of Earth formed first, and then gathered lighter
elements around it to form its crust and mantle. This whole-scale change in the
Earth’s chemical organization has had major effects on geologic processes ever
since. Earth, like the other terrestrial planets, probably collected the more
nebulous pieces that would form its atmosphere.
MERCURY
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rotates only three times every two Mercury years.
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Mercury was thought to be unable to
generate a magnetic field because of its
small size and lack of recent geologic
activity, suggesting a cold interior.
Astronomers now believe that Mercury has a
magnetosphere similar to the Earth's
magnetic field, but with a strength about 1%
that of the Earth's. The observed magnetic
field may mean that the core of Mercury is
at least partially molten. The hydrogen and helium atoms likely come from the sun,
streaming in on the solar wind and spreading out through the planet's atmosphere.
Water vapor and other elements were probably transported and left behind by
impacting comets and meteorites. Eventually, these gases are caught by the solar
wind and carried off of the planet. With virtually no atmosphere, Mercury
experiences very little in terms of traditional weather.
VENUS
Venus, the second planet from the Sun, and Earth are often
called twins because they are similar in size, mass,
density, composition and gravity. However, the similarities
end there. Venus is the hottest world in the solar system,
despite the fact that it is not the planet closest to the
Sun. Temperatures reach 870 degrees Fahrenheit (465 °C),
more than hot enough to melt lead. Probes that scientists
have landed there have survived only a few hours before
being destroyed.
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The surface of Venus is extremely dry. During
its evolution, ultraviolet rays from the Sun
evaporated water quickly, keeping it in
a “prolonged molten state” longer that Earth’s.
There is no liquid water on its surface today
because the scorching heat created by its
ozone-filled atmosphere would cause any to boil
away. About two-thirds of the Venusian surface
is covered by flat, smooth plains that are marred
by thousands of volcanoes, some of which
are still active today and six mountainous regions make up about one-third of the
Venusian surface.
Some planets, like Earth, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn, have magnetic fields
created by their iron core. The magnetic field that protects Earth extends from
the inner core out to where it meets charged particles coming from the Sun, also
known as solar wind. The magnetic field shields the atmosphere from the high-
energy particles coming from space. Because of its sluggish spin, Venus’ metal core
cannot generate a magnetic field similar to Earth's. As a result, Venus lacks a true
magnetosphere and what it does have is measured at -100,000 when Earth is 1.The
differences that have been observed may explain the fact that some gasses and
water were lost from the Venusian atmosphere.
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heavier than that of any other planet, creating a surface pressure 90 times that of
Earth. Someone standing on the ground on Venus would experience air about 90
times heavier than Earth's atmosphere; pressures are similar to diving 3,000 feet
beneath the ocean.
Venus’ distinction of being the hottest planet in the solar system is entirely the
fault of its atmosphere, which is made up almost completely of carbon dioxide.
Nitrogen exists in small doses, as do clouds of sulfuric acid. The air of Venus is so
dense that the small traces of nitrogen are four times the amount found on Earth,
although nitrogen makes up more than three-fourths of the terrestrial atmosphere.
Venus’ atmosphere acts like a thermal quilt, 93 times denser than Earth's and made
up mostly of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. These conditions make it awfully
hard to hold on to the oceans and seas that served as the incubators for all
terrestrial life. If you could collect all of the water on Earth and distribute it
evenly around the planet, it would make a global ocean 1.9 miles (3 km) deep. Do the
same with the trace amounts of water in the Venusian atmosphere, and the depth
of your ocean would be just 1.8 in. (3 cm).
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speeds drop closer to the surface, where they only move a few miles per hour.
MARS
Mars is much colder than Earth, in large part due to its greater distance from the
sun. The average temperature is about minus 80 °Fahrenheit (- 60° C), although
they can vary from -195 °F ( -125 °C) near the poles during the winter to as much as
70 °F (20 °C) at midday near the equator. The carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere of
Mars is also roughly 100 times less dense than Earth's on average, but it is
nevertheless thick enough to support weather, clouds and winds. The density of the
atmosphere varies seasonally, as winter forces carbon dioxide to freeze out of the
Martian air.
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that Mars experiences are more extreme than Earth's because its elliptical, oval-
shaped orbit around the sun is more elongated than that of any of the other major
planets. When Mars is closest to the sun, its southern hemisphere is tilted toward
the sun, giving it a short, very hot summer, while the northern hemisphere
experiences a short, cold winter. When Mars is farthest from the sun, the northern
hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, giving it a long, mild summer, while the
southern hemisphere experiences a long, cold winter.
Mars has a thin atmosphere — too thin to easily support life as we know it. The
Martian atmosphere is around 100 times thinner than Earth’s, which means air
pressure is significantly less on Mars than on Earth, so there is basically no air to
breathe, and not enough pressure to keep bodily fluids in a normal liquid state. The
gases dissolved in a human’s bloodstream would start to escape— their blood would
probably literally boil.
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Temperatures on Mars are much lower than
Earth’s, not only because it's farther from the
sun, but because a thinner atmosphere does not
support a strong greenhouse effect. Some
scientists think that Mars may be the victim of a
runaway greenhouse effect in the opposite sense
of Venus. As water ice froze the planet became
more and more reflective and its atmosphere
thinner and thinner, freezing more and more
water and eventually carbon dioxide as well.
Despite the fact that the atmosphere is more
than 95 percent CO2 by volume, almost all of it is
locked up in the Martian rocks. Mars does have a greenhouse effect, but it's very
weak because the Martian atmosphere is so thin, and as a result, heat from the Sun
goes back into space.
Despite its thin atmosphere, Mars still has a weather system. Martian weather
phenomenons are the result of its extreme seasonal changes. Polar temperatures at
the winter pole drop so low (about –130°C) that carbon dioxide condenses into dry
ice at the polar cap; frozen carbon dioxide at the summer pole sublimates into
carbon dioxide gas. The atmospheric pressure therefore increases at the summer
pole and decreases at the winter pole, driving strong pole-to-pole winds. Storms on
Mars can engulf the entire planet.
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The bulk of Mars’s surface is made of basaltic
silicate rock, very similar to the rocks of Earth’s
oceanic crust. It’s thought that the crust of Mars is
just one piece, so no tectonic plates floating around
causing interesting things like subduction zones and
earthquakes as found here on Earth. There are some
rocks that show striped magnetic reversals, which
indicates that once upon a time Mars had plates that
spread apart like the mid-ocean ridges on Earth do
today, and a magnetic field that flipped directions
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atmosphere. Over time, as liquid water evaporated, more and more of it escaped
into space, allowing less to fall back to the surface of the planet. Vast deposits of
water appear to be trapped within the ice caps at the north and south poles of the
planet. Each summer, as temperatures increase, the caps shrink slightly as their
contents skip straight from solid to gas form, but in the winter, cooler
temperatures cause them to grow to latitudes as low as 45 degrees, or halfway to
the equator. The caps are an average of 2 miles (3 kilometers) thick and, if
completely melted, could cover the Martian surface with about 18 feet (5.6 meters)
of water.
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Water may seem like a very common element to those of us on Earth, but it has
great value. In addition to understanding how Mars may have changed and developed
over time, scientists hope that finding water will help them to find something even
more valuable — life, either past or present. Only Earth is known to host life, and
life on our planet requires water. Though life could conceivably evolve without
relying on this precious liquid, scientists can only work with what they know. Thus
they hope that locating water on celestial bodies such as Mars will lead to finding
evidence for life.
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