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Earth Science Ch. 23Touring our Solar
System
23.1 The Solar System• The planets of our solar
system fit into 2 main categories:
• Terrestrial Planets -
• small and rocky (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars)
• Jovian Planets-
• huge gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune)
23.1 The Solar System• Size is the most obvious difference between Terrestrial and
Jovian
• Other major differences include: Density, chemical makeup, rate of rotation
23.1 The Solar System
• The planets are made of 3 main type of materials:
• Gases - mainly hydrogen and helium
• Rocks - mainly silicate minerals and metallic iron
• Ices - including ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O)
23.1 The Solar System
• Atmospheres of the Planets:
• The Jovian planets have very thick atmospheres
• The Terrestrial planets have very thin atmosphere in comparison
• A planet’s mass and temperature will determine if it can hold on to an atmosphere