EASC 108 Lecture Notes - Mantle Convection, Retrograde And Prograde Motion, Meteoroid
4 Sep 2013
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Strentght order: sun, gas giants, earth, mercury, mars (remnant) Internal structure of the terrestrials internal structure of the terrestrial planets are similar. All have a: core high density metal, mantle medium density rocky materials (ex. Silica [sio2]) what makes glass, hot, semi-solid: crust lowest density rocks (ex. Lithosphere: coolest and most rigid layer of rock near planet"s surface, upper part of mantle all of crust. Layers due to differentiation heavy materials sink to the bottom while lighter material rise to the top (iron = heavy = core) Magnetic fields of gas giants indicate large amounts of circulating, electrically-conducting materials. Jupiter & saturn: far more dense than earth"s layers: uranus & neptune: less differentiation (than jupiter, saturn, terrestrials. Planets gain their initial internal heat energy by 3 main methods: 1. Radio isotopes to date age of solar system. Reasons why we have volcanoes (thermal breakdown) Conduction only, convection, radiation less important on earth: (picture)!!!
