Exam 10: Worlds of Gas and Liquid the Giant Planets

Assume you want to deduce the radius of a planet in our Solar System as it occults a background star when the relative velocity between the planet and the Earth is 30 km/s. If the star crosses through the middle of the planet and disappears for a total of 26 minutes, what is the planet's radius?

Uranus and Neptune contain smaller percentages of hydrogen and helium than Jupiter and Saturn probably because Uranus and Neptune _________ than Jupiter and Saturn.

Why do we find methane clouds above water clouds in the atmosphere of Saturn?

Which of these planets has a composition that is most like the Sun?

Calculate Jupiter's mass (in Earth masses) based on its gravitational pull on its moon, Io, using Newton's version of Kepler's third law: P² = A³/M_J. In order to do so, you will need the following information: Io's period =1.769 days; Io's semimajor axis = 422,000 km; the mass of the Sun = 2* 10³⁰ kg; the mass of Earth = 6 * 10²⁴ kg (also, 1 AU = 1.5* 10⁸ km).

Which planet receives the least amount of energy from the Sun?

Which giant planet does NOT radiate more energy into space than it receives from the Sun?

The different cloud layers seen in Jupiter's bands represent clouds at different altitudes in Jupiter's atmosphere.

Suppose you attach a weight to one end of a spring and then hold the other end of the spring and spin it above your head. The faster you spin the spring, the farther away the weight will move from your hand. This example illustrates:

Compare the flux of sunlight at the Earth's orbit to that at Saturn's orbit. Note that Saturn's average distance from the Sun is 9.5 AU.

Uranus and Neptune do not have bands as distinct as those on Jupiter and Saturn, because Uranus and Neptune:

The giant planets are made primarily of water and carbon dioxide.

On the giant planets, the atmospheric vortices that occur almost always lie between oppositely directed zonal winds.

If Saturn's rotational period is 11 hours and its radius is 6 * 10⁷ m, what is the average speed of a cloud in its atmosphere that is rotating with Saturn? (Neglect differential speeds due to winds.)

The colors of the cloud bands on Jupiter and Saturn are due primarily to differences in their:

How is the atmosphere of Saturn similar to the atmosphere of Earth?

Assume that you discovered a new planet in the Solar System. To study it, you measured the orbital period and semimajor axis of one of its moons and deduced that the planet's mass was 4 * 10²⁵ kg (7 M_Earth), then you observed the planet occult a background star and deduced that its radius is 12,000 km (2 R_Earth). What is this planet's average density? Is this planet's chemical composition more similar to a rocky terrestrial planet or a giant planet? For comparison, the density of iron, rock, and water are approximately 9,000 kg/m³, 3,000 kg/m³, and 1,000 kg/m³, respectively.

Jupiter's strong aurorae result from particles ejected by Io's volcanoes.

Uranus and Neptune are bluish green in color because they contain large amounts of:

The figure below shows a drawing of some of the layers inside the atmosphere of Jupiter. The layer at the top of the figure is closest to the outer surface of Jupiter, while the bottom layer is closer to the core. Which of these is a possible list of what the layers contain, starting with layer 1 and moving to layer 3?