Geology of solar terrestrial planets

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/geology-of-solar-terrestrial-planets

1. What is the planetary classification?
2. What is the core composition?
3. What makes the rocky planets like Earth and Mars different from the gas giants?
4. How did the rocky planets form in the early solar system?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the planetary classification?Terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) and dwarf planet Ceres
2. What is the core composition?Primarily iron, indicating planetary differentiation
3. What makes the rocky planets like Earth and Mars different from the gas giants?The rocky planets have solid, compact surfaces made of silicates and metals, and they are much denser than the gas giants, which are made mostly of gases and ices.
4. How did the rocky planets form in the early solar system?In the hot inner part of the protoplanetary disk, only rocky materials like silicates and metals could condense. These clumped together, collided, and grew into the four inner planets and the dwarf planet Ceres.

Protoplanetary Disk: A rotating disk of dense gas and dust surrounding a newly formed star.
Accretion: The process by which celestial bodies grow by accumulating smaller particles and bodies.
Planetesimals: Small celestial bodies that are thought to have existed at an early stage of formation of planets.
Differentiation: The process by which a planet separates into layers based on density, with heavier elements sinking to the core.