Exam 23: The Earths Companions

The Apollo astronauts brought _____ rocks back to the Earth.

Heat left over from this planetary formation process along with radioactive decay, drives the Earth's internal heat engine.

____ is the largest planet in both radius and mass.

The Earth's atmosphere is rich in _____, a product of plant photosynthesis.

____ are small, planetlike bodies.

The multitude of craters that formed on the Earth has been obliterated by erosion and plate tectonics.

The atmosphere of Venus is dominated by _________.

The inner and outer planets have similar atmospheres.

From the small number of impact craters on ____, planetary geologists suspect that virtually all its original surface has been covered over by younger volcanic activity.

Small _____ are rocky or iron bodies in our solar system that remain irregular in shape because of their weak gravity.

_____ is the closest moon to Jupiter of the Galilean satellites.

A giant meteor impact crater is found in the United States near ______.

The four outer (giant) planets are composed largely of _______.

The moon has active volcanoes and plate tectonic processes.

Biological processes have removed most of the _______ from the Earth's atmosphere.

This star provides the energy that drives Earth's external heat engine.

The Moon's low average density tells us that the interior contains relatively little _______.

Asteroids are generally rocky, solid bodies orbiting the Sun and ranging in diameter from a few meters to hundreds of kilometers.

The Moon's _____ explains why it is different from Earth.

A planet's mass and radius have no effect on its interior temperature and thus the level of its tectonic activity.