TUGAS

1.(9.1–9.3) How do Mercury, Venus, and Mars each compare with the Earth in mass and radius?

Answer :

The order of the planets based on their position to the Sun is Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

Mass

Merkurius : 0,055 earth mass

Venus : 0,82 earth mass

bumi : 5,98×102 ton

mars : 0,11 earth mass

Radius

Merkurius : 2.439,7

Venus : 6,051.8

bumi : 6.371,00

mars : 3.389,5

2. (9.1–9.3) How do the interior structures of Mercury, Venus, and Mars compare with Earth’s?

Answer :

All of the planets have similar interior structures. They have mantles, crusts, and most have iron-rich
cores.

3. (9.1) What is the surface of Mercury like?

Congealed lava flows are found in many of Mercury's old craters and pave much of its surface. Mercury’s
surface resembles that of earth’s moon, scarred by many impact craters resulting from collisions with
meteoroids and comets

4. (9.1) Does Mercury have an atmosphere? Why or why not?

Mercury essentially has no atmosphere. It is too small and has too little gravity to hold onto an
atmosphere. Because the gravitational force is so weak that mercury is unable to maintain its
atmosphere

5. (9.1) What is peculiar about Mercury’s rotation? What causes this oddity ?

Mercury has the shortest orbital distance, meaning it is closest to the sun. Mercury also orbit the sun at
the fastest speed of any other planet. The farther the planet is from the sun, the longer its rotation and
revolution period. This means that one day on the planet is getting longer the farther the planet is from
the sun.
6. (9.2) What is the dominant gas in Venus’s atmosphere? How do astronomers know this?

CO2. Astronomers know this because they used space probes to attain measurements.

7. (9.2) What are the clouds of Venus made of?

Sulfuric acid droplets with traces of water. The cloud is not mode entirely of concentrated sulfuric acid,
but the cloud droplets are partially neutralized. The compound that neutralizes it is ammonia

8. (9.2) Why is Venus so hot?

Venus is so hot because of its CO2 atmosphere and the runaway greenhouse effect

9. (9.2) Can we see the surface of Venus? Why or why not? How do astronomers know what the
surface of Venus is like?

Surface of venus can be seen from the media but cannot be seen with the naked eye, the way
astronomers find planets is by using the radial acceleration method. In This way, astronomers see the
disturbance caused by the planets gravity as it orbits the star. Although the influence of the disturbance
from the planet is very small, the star will appear to be wobbling and the speed of the star will change
slightly. The star will appear to be moving toward or away from the observer

10. (9.2) What sort of features are seen on Venus’s surface? Is the surface young or old? Some of the
youngest surfaces on Earth are from plate ridges—is the same true on Venus?

Few plates tectonic features: continental blocks, crustal rifts, trenches at plate boundaries. A few
distorted impact craters and crumbled mountains. Volcanic landforms dominate: peaks with immense
lava flows, "blisters of uplifted rock, grids of long narrow faults. Volcanoes and craters on seen on
Venus's surface. These features indicate a young and active surface.

11. (9.3) Describe some of the surface features seen on Mars.

Mars memiliki beberapa fitur permukaan paling dramatis dari planet terestrial lain. Disepanjang
khatulistiwa terbentang celah vales marineris yang membentang sepanjang 400 km, lebar 100 km dan
kedalaman 7 km. Ngarai dinamai untuk pelaut garis lintang tengah daratan tinggi besar disebut tonjolan
tharsis dihiasi puncak gunung berapi yang sangat besar.

Mars has some of the most dramatic surface features of any other terrestrial planet. Along the equator
lies the vales marineris fissure which stretches 400 km long, 100 km wide and 7 km deep. The canyon
named for the mid-latitude sailors of the great highlands is called the tharsis bulge dotted with
enormous volcanic peaks.

12. (9.3) What are the Martian polar caps composed of?

Frozen CO2

13. (9.3) What is the Martian atmosphere like?

The atmosphere of Mars consists mostly of carbon dioxide (95%). The elements are nitrogen (2.7%),
argon (1.6%), oxygen (0.13%), carbon monoxide (0.08%), and to a lesser extent water, nitrogen oxides,
neon, hydrogen- deuterium-oxygen, krypton, and sanon.
14. (9.3) What is the evidence that Mars once had running water on its surface?

Dry river beds indicate liquid water flowed in Mars's past. This implies that Mars had to have a denser
atmosphere (higher pressure) to prevent the fast vaporization of surface water into the atmosphere.
The channel helps us to know that there was once running water.

15. (9.3) What is the likely origin of Mars’s two moons? What evidence supports this?

Phobos and Deimos are the two moons of Mars. The origin of these moons is due to an asteroid
captured by the gravity of Mars and tends to orbit around Mars. With time the asteroid had been struck
by a large body which split it into two parts and orbit around Mars.

16. (9.3) What is the evidence that leads some scientists to believe life may have existed on Mars?

Astronomers conclude that water once flowed on Mars along winding channels, which looked like
tributaries. The fact is that small lakes and oceans once existed on Mars, the evidence is that the ancient
waters in the craters, and the water is the source of life

17. (9.4) What explanations have been offered for why the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets are
so different?

Differences in the atmospheres of terrestrial planets are caused by differences in mass, type, and
average distance from the sun. terrestrial planets are warmer and volcanically active when they are
young

18. (9.4) How do astronomers explain why the Earth’s atmosphere ended up with so little CO2,
compared with that of Mars and Vnus?

because the atmosphere of mars is too cold and has too low a pressure for liquid water, while on earth
there is life, plants, abundant water removes most of the CO2 on earth, and locks it into rocks and
oceans