Giant impact theory - Assignment Example

Answer to question one Giant impact theory is one of the current and widely accepted theories. It says that moon formed out of the debris created after earth collided with an object of the size of mars. This theory is supported by evidence as follows: Both the earth and the moon spin in similar orientation, evidence suggest that the surface of the moon was once molten, the moon has a small iron core with lower density, Stable isotopes of moon rocks are similar to those found on earth. Answer to question two Seasons are determined by the degree of tilt.

At zero degree tilt, there are no seasons. Venus and Jupiter do not have seasons. Their tilts are close to zero. Answer to question three The solar system is believed to have formed from cosmic dust (Seeds, Michael and Backman 29). Grains of dust collided and formed bigger objects known as planetesimals. During collisions, many planetesimals break up during collision but the larger ones survive and become protoplanets and later planets. If these planetesimals had remained stationary, the solar system would be made of thousands of small objects such as planetesimals without any planets.

Life would have been possible in small objects. Alternatively, planets would have been small. The third scenario is solar system would have formed. Answer to question four Larger planets have more internal heat to lose compared to smaller planets. In addition, there is proportionally smaller surface area to lose the heat from. The larger the planet, the bigger the less the surface are per unit volume. Larger objects are therefore able to retain more heat. Small planets in contrast have larger surface per unit volume and this makes them lose heat faster.

Answer to question five Small worlds or planets cool faster than the big world. When the planets completely cool off, they become geologically dead (Seeds, Michael and Backman 15). Planet earth is yet to cool of completely and this means it is geologically active. Activities taking place at the core of the earth are responsible for volcanism, movement of tectonic plates, cratering and others. Bigger plants are more geologically active. If rotation is faster, geologic activities increase. Works Cited Seeds, Michael A.

, and Dana E. Backman. Astronomy: the solar system and beyond. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.