Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
4th Edition
ISBN: 9780134089089
Author: Jeffrey O. Bennett, Seth Shostak
Publisher: PEARSON
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Videos
Textbook Question
Chapter 4, Problem 53IF
Dating Lunar Rocks. You are analyzing Moon rocks that contain small amounts of uranium-238, which decays into lead with a half-life of about 4.5 billion years.
- a. In one rock from the lunar highlands, you determine that 55% of the original uranium-238 remains; the other 45% decayed into lead. How old is the rock?
- b. In a rock from the lunar maria, you find that 63% of the original uranium-238 remains; the other 37% decayed into lead. Is this rock older or younger than the highlands rock? By how much?
Expert Solution & Answer
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solution
Students have asked these similar questions
How many impacts would you expect to strike a 100m2 region in one hour during Earth’s formation, assuming that Earth grew to its present size in 10 million years from particles averaging 100 grams each? (Hint: Assume that Earth had its current radius of 6378km.) (Notes: The surface area of a sphere is 4pir2 ; 1yr=3.2x107 .)
a. About 1300.
b. About 13 .
c. About 13,000.
d. About 130
For which of the following reasons (select all that apply), is it useful/important to send rovers to other planetary bodies in our solar system?
a.
More direct probes of the planetary surface are possible to detect signs of the building blocks of life.
b.
Rovers/landers can be outfitted with various tools and equipment that can be used to inform of us of the geological histories of each of the planets they visit.
c.
Rock samples can be used to calibrate our estimations of the age of the solar system.
d.
The data collected can help improve our understanding of the evolution/development of our solar system.
e.
The engineering innovations developed to produce successful/viable rovers and landers on other planets can help lead to developments in the technology used here on Earth that may have taken far more time to develop without the limitations provided by space travel to foreign worlds.
Activity #1. Compare and Contrast. Similarities and differences of Venus, Earth and Mars.
Do this on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Compare and contrast the three (3) terrestrial planets using table 1.
2. Provide explanations for your observations using table 2.
3. Answer the following guide questions.
Guide questions:
1. Does planet size affect gravity?
2. Why do you think Venus has the highest mean temperature among the three planets?
3. Is presence of water a primary factor for a planet to sustain life? Why or why not?
4. Based on your observations using table 2, what are the notable features that makes the
earth the only habitable planet among the three terrestrial planets?
5. What conclusions can you make?
Chapter 4 Solutions
Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
Ch. 4 - Briefly describe three aspects of geology that are...Ch. 4 - What do we mean by the geological record? Why is...Ch. 4 - Describe the three basic types of rock and the...Ch. 4 - How are sedimentary strata made, and how do they...Ch. 4 - Describe the technique of radiometric dating, and...Ch. 4 - How do fossils form? Do most living organisms...Ch. 4 - Summarize the geological time scale. What are...Ch. 4 - Prob. 8RQCh. 4 - Briefly describe how outgassing led to the origin...Ch. 4 - What was the heavy bombardment, and what effect...
Ch. 4 - Briefly describe Earths core-mantle-crust...Ch. 4 - Briefly describe the conveyorlike action of plate...Ch. 4 - Describe how plate tectonics shapes important...Ch. 4 - What evidence do we have for the operation of...Ch. 4 - What are the three requirements for a planetary...Ch. 4 - Briefly describe the mechanism by which the...Ch. 4 - What has happened to most of the carbon dioxide...Ch. 4 - What are ice ages, and what may cause them? What...Ch. 4 - Briefly summarize the key ways in which geology is...Ch. 4 - How do we think the Moon formed, and what evidence...Ch. 4 - We can expect that if there are paleontologists a...Ch. 4 - Nearly all the rocks I found in the lava fields of...Ch. 4 - Prob. 23TYUCh. 4 - Although Earth contains its densest material in...Ch. 4 - If you had a time machine that dropped you off on...Ch. 4 - If there were no plate tectonics on Earth, our...Ch. 4 - Without the greenhouse effect, there probably...Ch. 4 - If nitrogen were a greenhouse gas, our planet...Ch. 4 - We can learn a lot about Earths early history by...Ch. 4 - Prob. 30TYUCh. 4 - A rocks type (igneous, metamorphic, or...Ch. 4 - To learn a rocks age, we must (a) determine its...Ch. 4 - Radiometric dating now allows us to determine...Ch. 4 - Earths oceans formed (a) during the late stages of...Ch. 4 - We learn about the heavy bombardment by studying...Ch. 4 - Earth has retained a lot of internal heat...Ch. 4 - Plate tectonics is best described as a process...Ch. 4 - Earth has far less atmospheric carbon dioxide than...Ch. 4 - If Earth had more greenhouse gases in its...Ch. 4 - Snowball Earth refers to (a) one of a series of...Ch. 4 - The Age of Earth. Some people still question...Ch. 4 - Dating Planetary Surfaces. We have discussed two...Ch. 4 - Earth Without Differentiation. Suppose Earth had...Ch. 4 - Earth Without Plate Tectonics. Suppose plate...Ch. 4 - Feedback Processes in the Atmosphere. As the Sun...Ch. 4 - Geological Time. Geological time scales are often...Ch. 4 - Dating Lunar Rocks. You are analyzing Moon rocks...Ch. 4 - Carbon-14 Dating. The half-life of carbon-14 is...Ch. 4 - Martian Meteorite. Some unusual meteorites thought...Ch. 4 - Internal vs. External Heating. In daylight, Earths...Ch. 4 - Plate Tectonics. Typical motions of one plate...Ch. 4 - More Plate Tectonics. Consider a seafloor...Ch. 4 - Plate Tectonics and Us. Based on what you learned...
Additional Science Textbook Solutions
Find more solutions based on key concepts
The pV-diagram of the Carnot cycle.
Sears And Zemansky's University Physics With Modern Physics
Distinguish among amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and period.
Conceptual Integrated Science
50. How much blood In a heartbeat? A Typical human contains 5.0 L of blood, and it takes 10 min for all of it t...
College Physics (10th Edition)
The graph between speed and time of ball A.
Physics (5th Edition)
A skier starts from rest at the top of a 24 slope 1.3 km long. Neglecting friction, how long does it take to re...
Essential University Physics: Volume 1 (3rd Edition)
A diamagnetic material is brought dose to a permanent magnet. What happens to the material?
University Physics Volume 2
Knowledge Booster
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, physics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- You want to use radiometric dating to determine the age of a specimen. You use Isotope Z, which has a half-life of 645 years. You measure your sample and find that 1/16 of the original amount of Isotope Z is present. How old is the sample?arrow_forwardThe condensation hypothesis for the formation of the moon suggests that the moon and Earth formed as a double planet from the same cloud within the solar nebula. It predicts a. that the moon and Earth should have nearly the same mass and radius. b. that the surfaces of the moon and Earth should be very similar and show evidence of plate tectonics. c. that the moon and Earth should have identical compositions and densities. d. all of the above. e. a and c.arrow_forwardA rock sample which originally contained 400 grams of radioactive isotope X now contains 25 grams of the material. The half-life of isotope X is 10,000 years. How old is the rock sample? (Give your answer without any punctuation or lables. For example: 15000).arrow_forward
- A radioactive nucleus has a half-life of 5108 years. Assuming that a sample of rock (say, in an asteroid) solidified right after the solar system formed, approximately what fraction of the radioactive element should be left in the rock today?arrow_forwardIf you represent Earth’s history by a line 1 m long, how long a segment would represent the 400 million years since life moved onto the land? How long a segment would represent the 4-million-year history of human life?arrow_forwardHydrothermal vent areas have hydrothermal chimneys, from which hot, mineral-rich water comes out. (This hot water often looks like black smoke, but it's not really smoke, it just has a lot of dark, microscopic mineral grains in it.) Where does this hot water come from? a Ice underneat the seafloor gets melted by volcanic activity, and this extra water comes out of the vents. b It comes directly from the Earth's core, since our core is made of hot, high-pressure water. c It is seawater that went down through cracks, got heated by magma, and rises up to emerge from the seafloor. d Some of the minerals in the Earth's mantle break down and release large volumes of water.arrow_forward
- 1. Which of the following STILL significantly heats the Earth's interior? a. bombardment b. compression c. radioactivity d. differentiation 2. Both the Moon and Mercury have a. volcanic craters only b. impact craters only c. some volcanic and some impact cratersarrow_forwardWhy are the lunar mountains smooth and rounded rather than having sharp, pointed peaks? A. Because a sheet of ice once covered the moon’s surface billions of years ago. B. Because they rose up from beneath the Moon’s surface due to an increase in pressure from its hot core billions of years ago C. Because micro meteorites impacts have caused their gradual erosion D. Because the moon once had sulfuric acid clouds long agoarrow_forwardHow is a habitable zone likely to change over time? a. get narrower b. move further from the star c. they aren't likely to changearrow_forward
- Earth's surface area is 5.10x10^8 km^2 .Earth's crust has a thickness (or depth) of 35 km and density 2.8 g/cm^3 for earth's crust. a) Calculate the volume of earth's crust in km^3 b) Express your answer from part (a) in cm^3 c) Calculate the mass of the crust tons (t) : 1 ton=1000kg d) Silicon's concentration in earth's crust is 2.72x105grams/ton. Calculate the mass of silicon (in grams) present in earth's crust.arrow_forwardPluto’s density is 1.8 g/cm 3. This implies that Pluto a. has a large iron-nickel core. b. is about 50 percent water and 50 percent rocky material. c. should have a magnetic field about one-third as strong as Earth’s. d. is still geologically active. e. probably has a small ring system that hasn’t yet been detected.arrow_forward27) The figure below shows a cross section of a hypothetical planet. An earthquake occurred near the surface and seismometers recorded the arrival of P- and S-waves as shown in the figure. The waves shown are the first arrivals and have NOT been refracted or reflected. What can you conclude about the interior of the planet based on seismographs? A) The boundary between the lithosphere and asthenosphere is close to the surface B) The planet has a large, liquid core C) The planet has a large, solid core D) The planet has a solid inner corearrow_forward
arrow_back_ios
SEE MORE QUESTIONS
arrow_forward_ios
Recommended textbooks for you
AstronomyPhysicsISBN:9781938168284Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. WolffPublisher:OpenStax
Horizons: Exploring the Universe (MindTap Course ...PhysicsISBN:9781305960961Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana BackmanPublisher:Cengage Learning
Astronomy
Physics
ISBN:9781938168284
Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. Wolff
Publisher:OpenStax
Horizons: Exploring the Universe (MindTap Course ...
Physics
ISBN:9781305960961
Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Kepler's Three Laws Explained; Author: PhysicsHigh;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyR6EO_RMKE;License: Standard YouTube License, CC-BY