Investigating Astronomy 2nd Edition

Slater Solutions Manual

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 CH06 End of Chapter Answers

Review Questions

1. Through a small telescope, astronomers can see that the Moon has hills and
highland regions surrounding low-lying regions called maria. The most prominent
features on the Moon, though, are the craters that cover its surface.

2. Impact craters do not take the shape of the objects that caused the impacts. When
a meteoroid hits the Moon, the impact is accompanied by shock waves moving
through the Moon, and these waves cause the craters to assume a circular shape,
regardless of the shape of the meteoroid or the direction or inclination of impact.

3. The Earth is geologically active because it is still large enough that it has not yet
completely cooled. It has a molten layer that causes it to still be active. The Moon,
being roughly one-fourth the diameter of Earth, is smaller and has already solidified.

4. The reason why rocks found on Earth are not as old as rocks found on the Moon is
because the Earth is geologically active, and plate tectonic motion causes the Earth
to slowly renew its surface as old surface features are eroded away, or slowly sink
beneath the Earth in subduction zones, while new surfaces are created along mid-
ocean ridges where molten material rises up from the interior of the Earth and
forms a new surface.

5. On Mercury, we find similar features to those of the Moon—highland regions

surrounding low-lying maria. We also find lots of craters, just like on the Moon. The
surface features on Mercury are probably much older than those on Earth because
Mercury is smaller than Earth, and in general, the smaller the planet the sooner it
solidifies and becomes geologically inactive. Once a planet becomes geologically
inactive, it no longer renews its surface features.

6. While it is true that Mercury has a high average surface temperature, without any
atmosphere to hold in that heat, areas in darkness are very cold. The bottoms of
craters near the polar caps never receive sunlight, so it is highly possible that water
ice may exist in these regions.

7. Flake tectonics is a disturbance in the crust of a planet due to convection in a

molten layer beneath the surface. In this case, convection occurs more vigorously
than it does on Earth. Coupled with a thin crust, this causes the surface to fold and
distort, rather than glide along as it does on Earth. Venus exhibits flake tectonics due
to its higher temperature and thinner crust.

8. A number of missions to Mars have taken images of surface features that suggest
the presence of water in Mars’s past. Features such as gullies along crater walls
suggest that this water may exist as a subsurface layer and could have actually
flowed down crater walls in the recent past. The best evidence came from the
Phoenix mission that drilled down into the Martian soil, and even detected water
and falling snow.
9. Water was discovered on the Moon when scientists purposely crashed a space
probe into a crater located near the southern pole. Scientists then observed the
ejecta from this collision and detected water.

10. Ice rafts form as pieces of Europa’s surface break apart and move around. Ridges
and folds on the surface allow scientists to figure out how the pieces fit together and
moved over time. The fact that the ice rafts have moved suggests that beneath them
lies an ocean of liquid water upon which they float.

Web Chat Questions

1. Answers may vary and depend on the opinions of students.

2. To test this hypothesis, one would collect behavioral data from a large sample of
people throughout a number of months and see if there is any variation in behavior
that coincides with the phases of the Moon. The problem with such testing is that
human behavior is complex, and there could be a number of other factors affecting
someone’s behavior other than the phases of the Moon. It would be quite difficult to
pinpoint precisely that any difference in behavior is due to the changing phases of
the Moon and not something else.

3. Answers may vary, but if you were going to search for recent volcanic activity,
then you might want to land either near a volcano or near a region with few, if any,
craters since a lack of craters could indicate that the region was recently covered
with molten material.

4. Answers may vary depending on the interests of the students.

5. Answers may vary depending on the opinions of the students.

6. Answers may vary depending on what the students consider “worthwhile.”

Collaborative Exercises

1. Factors that should be taken into account when determining the relative ages of
craters might be: Does one crater overlap another? If so, the crater on top is younger
than the crater on bottom. Does one crater look more “weathered” than another? If
so, the weathered-looking crater would be older. While the Moon does not have
weather like we do on Earth, impacts over time can wear down the surfaces of
existing craters.

2. Answers may vary depending on the sketches drawn by the students.

Observing Projects

1. a) It is difficult to know whether you are looking at the top of an atmosphere or at

the surface of a planet, particularly with Jovian planets. Clouds are a clue, as in the
case of Venus. Other clues are evidence of craters on a planet’s surface, as in
Mercury and Mars.
b) Venus has a deep and complete cloud cover, and Earth shows some clouds
whereas Mars has a few wispy clouds. The Jovian planets have no solid surface and
one only sees the tops of deep atmospheres.
c) Mercury shows the most cratering of all the planets, but many asteroids are also
heavily cratered.
d) Mars shows a lot of evidence of water flow such as meandering stream beds and
wide valleys. No other planet shows such evidence.
e) Venus rotates in the opposite direction to Earth and the other planets in the solar
system.

2. a) With the diameter of Mercury being 4880 km, craters can be found with
diameters of up to about 1000 km.
b) Upon close examination, Mercury looks remarkably like our Moon, with craters,
some with central peaks, light-colored rays emanating from impact sites, and some
darker maria. However, Mercury has extensive low-lying plains with scarps or
wrinkles. Extensive study shows that Mercury is not simply a larger version of our
Moon.

3. a) Olympus Mons is the largest volcano on Mars and is inactive.

b) Craters appear to be relatively rare around the regions of the Mons volcanoes, but
are uniformly distributed elsewhere.
c) The lower density of craters caused by impacts from asteroids around volcanoes
is an indication of the relatively young age of these regions.