Inner\Terrestrial+Planets


 * __VACATION OF A LIFETIME Project: I want you to put together the ultimate vacation. You can create it on a separate new page or do it at the top right here. Essentially what I want you to do is to make a trip that goes to each of the inner planets and highlights activities that you could do on each planet. For example, "You want powder? WE'VE GOT IT! Come enjoy the think powder of Olympus Mons the tallest mountain in the solar system at nearly 3 times the height of Mt. Everest." Yes, you can include Earth's and Mars' moons. Does this make sense? Include a picture to__o.**

Please also include a picture of each of these planets.

1) __Guidance__ (distance, location, size, orbit, rotation, year, etc.)

How far is this from the sun?

Mercury: 46,001,210 - 69,816,927 km from the Sun. Average: .39 AU's **This is good info, but let's express these as the average distance and use astronomical units. So leave these distances, but also include the AU's from the sun. See my note next to Earth.**

Venus: 107,000,000 - 109,000,000 km from the Sun. Average: .72 AU's

Earth: 147,000,000 - 152,000,000 km from the Sun. 1 AU from the Sun. Average: 1 AU**For example the Earth is 1 astronomical unit from the sun. All measurements are based on something we can relate to and the AU is no different.**

Mars: 206,669,000 - 249,209,300 km from the Sun. Average: 1.52 AU's

Ceres: 380,995,855 - 446,669,320 km from the Sun. Average 2.8 AU's

Where is this object located in our solar system/galaxy?

Mercury is the first planet from the Sun.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun.

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and is our home planet.

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.

Ceres is a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, and contains 32% of the belts total mass; by far the largest body. **I was planning on dealing with dwarfs planets later since their formation is a bit different, but I'm glad you included this first one. :)**

What is the volume, mass, and density of the object?

Mercury: Volume - 6.083 × 10¹⁰ km³, 60,827,200,000,000,000,000m³ or 60,827,200,000 km3, Mass - 3.3022 × 1023 kg, 330,220,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg or 330,220,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 g, Density - 5.427 g/cm³ **Just like our distances, these big numbers can be cumbersome. Find out their masses and volumes in Earth Units (shouldn't be hard to find). Keep the desity as this number is easy to deal with.**

Venus: Volume - 9.38 × 1011 km³, 928,400,000,000 km3, or 928,400,000,000,000,000,000 m³ Mass - 4.868 5 × 1024 kg, 4,868,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg, or 4,868,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 g, Density - 5.204 g/cm³

Earth: Volume - 1.0832073 × 10¹² km³, 1,083,200,000,000 km3, or 1,083,200,000,000,000,000,000 m³ Mass - 5.9736 × 1024 kg, 5,973,700,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg, or 5,973,700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 g, Density - 5.5153 g/cm3 **Or you could just calculate the mass and volume from these numbers. One Earth Mass Unit (EMU), and one Earth Volume Unit (EVU).**

Mars: Volume - 1.6318 × 1011 km³, 163,140,000,000 km3, or 163,140,000,000,000,000,000 km³,Mass - 6.4185 × 1023 kg, 641,850,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg, or 641,850,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 g, Density - 3.934 g/cm³

Ceres: Volume - Volume: measurement not available, Mass - 9.43 ± 0.07 × 10²⁰ kg, Density - 2.077 ± 0.036 g/cm³

What is the “year” and “day” of the object?

Mercury: Day - 58.646 Earth days or 1407.5 Earth hours, Year - 0.241 Earth years or 87.97 Earth days

Venus: Day - 243 Earth days or 5832 Earth hours ***Venus spins the opposite way than all of the other planets in our Solar System, Year - 0.615 Earth years or 224.7 Earth days

Earth: Day - 0.99726968 Earth days or 23.934 Earth hours, Year - 1.0000174 Earth years or 365.24 Earth days** *We make up for this differential with leap years

Mars: Day - 1.026 Earth days or 24.62 Earth hours, Year - 1.8807 Earth years or 686.93 Earth days

Ceres: Day - 0.3781 Earth days, Year - 4.6 Earth years or 1679.819 Earth days

2) __Chemical composition as a system__ Describe the most dominant chemicals/elements found to compose this object. Example: something like 76% iron, 22% Carbon, 2% Oxygen.

Mercury: 70% metallic and 30% silicate material. (more specific information not available)

Venus: 96% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1% gases such as argon, water vapor, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide

Earth: 46.6% Oxygen (O) 27.7% Silicon (Si) 8.1% Aluminum (Al) 5.0% Iron (Fe) 3.6% Calcium (Ca) 2.8% Sodium (Na) 2.6% Potassium (K) 2.1% Magnesium (Mg). Mars: Mostly Iron, Oxygen, Silicon, Magnesium, Calcium, Sulfur, Aluminum, Sodium, Potassium, and Chloride.

Ceres: Mostly frozen water.

3) __Surface/Internal composition__

What is the core of the object like?

Mercury: core is made up of a high amount of iron, core estimated to make up 42% of total volume.

Venus: partially liquid; lower pressure than Earth's core.

Earth: liquid outer core and solid inner core.

Mars: 1,480 kilometres in radius, consisting primarily of iron with about 14–17% sulfur; this iron sulfide core is partially fluid

Ceres: rocky core overlain with an icy mantle

Describe the dominant geographical features on the surface and what they might suggest about the object.

Mercury: has mere-like planes and extensive craters; suggest that Mercury has been geologically inactive for billions of years.

Venus: has many huge craters, some larger than 100 km across; suggests that Venus has had a volcanic past

Earth: unlike Venusian craters, most of which are in pristine condition (85%), Earth's craters are worn down because of weather, erosion, etc. The planet also undergoes reshaping over geological time periods; suggesting that techtonics and erosion have been taking place.

Mars: northern plains are flattened by lava flows, while southern highlands are pitted with small and large crater mpact sights; this suggested and provoked the theory that four billion years ago, a huge mass hit the northern hemisphere of Mars

Ceres: ubiquitous features suggest that there are large bodies of water on thte interior of Ceres

4) __Weather/atmosphere dynamics__

Does it have an atmosphere? What chemicals is it made of? Is there weather? Describe what kinds of weather and seasons this object has.

Mercury: no atmosphere, but it dous have a "tenuous surface-bounded exosphere" made up of hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, calcium, and potassium. Mercury has neither weather, nor seasons.

Venus: atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide and a small amount of nitrogen. There are clouds of sulfur dioxide and sulfur acid droplets above the CO2. No seasons there but might have detected terrestrial snow on highest mountain peaks.

Earth: The Atmosphere is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, with trace amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide and other gaseous molecules. Most weather is in the form of rain; the water cycle is essential. Have four seasons Winter Spring Summer and Fall; reversed in southern hemisphere.

Mars: Very thin atmosphere that is made up of 95% Carbon Dioxide, 3% Nitrogen, 1.6% Argon, and contains traces of oxygen and water.

Ceres: There are hints that Ceres might have a tenuous atmosphere, but otherwise there is no weather or seasons of any time.

5) __Satellites__ (Moons, rings, man-made) Provide detailed information on the natural and man-made satellites around the object. What are the general characteristics such as size and shape? What is its chemical components? Were these satellites formed with the object? Mercury: has no natural satellites orbiting around it,

Venes: has no natural satellites orbiting around it,

Earth: has one natural satellite orbiting around it (the Moon), the Moon is about 1/8th the size of the Earth, it is round, it has recently been discovered that it contains water. Scientists believe that the Moon was once a giant, planet-sized mass that once impacted the Earth. There are almost 25,000 man-made objects: 8681 currently in orbit, and over 16,000 objects in a state of decay. Not every single satellite is included, since some are too small or too far away from home to be detected.

Mars: has two natural satellites: Phobos and Deimos, they are both odd-shaped and are 17 km and 9 km in diameter at there widest points. Scientists don't know how they came into existence, they only have hypothesises.

Ceres: has no known satellites

6) __History__ (explorers, original ideas) When did we become aware of this object? In what ways have we studied this object (name all of the ways)? Which scientists have studied this object? Who currently studies this object?

Mercury: an Assyrian astronomer recorded Mercury in the 14th Century B.C., we have studied this object both with ground based telescopes and probes in space. We have never landed a space craft on Mercury. Ancient Chinese, Greeks, and Assyrians have all studied Mercury. N.A.S.A. has been currently observing Mercury, along with many global scientists.

Venus: has been known since prehistoric times and was recorded in an ancient Babylonian tablets that date back to 1600 B.C. We, as humans, have observed Venus by means of ground based telescopes, space probes, and probes that have landed on its surface. Venus has been observed by the Mayans, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Australians. More currently it have been and is being observed by most of the countries of the world.

Earth: we have became aware of Earth the moment we took a step onto it. We have studied Earth by microscopes, satellite imaging, and, if you really think about it, every time we take a picture we are observing the Earth. Most scientists have studied the Earth and everyone studies the Earth in one way or another. Even looking at the ground to see where you need to step is a small observation of the Earth.

Mars: we don't know exactly who discovered Mars, but we imagine it had to be pretty close to the beginning of man because it is so bright. We have studied the Mars in many ways: telescopes, probes, landers, rovers, etc. N.A.S.A., Russia and Canada are the most prominent countries that have studied, and still are studying, Mars.

Ceres: Johann Elert Bode suggested where Ceres might be in 1772. Ground based telescopes and telescopes orbiting around or passing Ceres have observed Ceres. People from Sicily have observed Ceres. Today N.A.S.A. studys Ceres.


 * When you have this infomation worked out I need you to make an accurate image of the proximity and layout of the terrestrial planets in relation to the sun. I'm glad you put them all in. It looks like your sizes are somewhat accurate. Thinking about the layout, what trends can you see in the layout and the composition of these planets? Is there evidence of reactions on each of these planets? If so, please list all of the indicators on the PERIODIC TABLE/CHEMISTRY page.**