Solar System Formation and Dating Techniques

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts related to the formation of the Solar System and various dating techniques used in geology.

Solar System Clue

The planets all lie in close to the same plane.

Order of Solar System Objects

Venus, Mars, Asteroid belt, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Oort cloud.

Zircon Crystals

An important tool for determining the age of rocks because they incorporate uranium and exclude lead.

Half-life of Uranium-235

710 million years.

Age of Rock Calculation

The rock is 1420 million years old.

Atomic Number

Aluminium has an atomic number of 13, meaning it has 13 protons.

Aluminium-26 Half-life

720,000 years.

Difficulties in Dating Older Rocks

After more than 10 million years, little aluminium-26 remains, making accurate measurements difficult.

Iodine-131 Half-life

8 days.

Remaining Iodine-131 Calculation

1 g of iodine-131 remains after 40 days.

Frost Line

The important division in the Solar System that affects the size and composition of planets.

Exoplanet Detection

Best for young, high mass planets that orbit at large distances from their parent star.

Radial Velocity Method

Detects exoplanets by observing periodic Doppler shifts in a star's spectral lines.

Category of Exoplanet

Cold Neptune, Hot Jupiter, etc.

Transit Method

When a planet passes in front of its host star.

Common Type of Exoplanet

Hot Jupiters.

Brown Dwarf Definition

A body in between a star and a planet in mass.

Secondary Belts in Solar System

The asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt.

Headwind Effect on Boulder-sized Objects

Slows them down and causes them to spiral inward toward the Sun.

Giant Impacts

Significant in building the terrestrial planets, evidenced by Earth's Moon and Mercury's core.

Neptune's Migration Evidence

The presence of small objects in the asteroid belt.

Ice Phase Changes in Space

Water changes from solid to gas at lower temperatures due to decreased pressure.

Runaway Growth Phase

When objects larger than a few kilometres grow faster due to increased gravity and material.

Giant Planets Formation Evidence

Protoplanetary disks only last for a few million years.