1.Question 1Which of the following is the best explanation of why we have small bodies in the solar system?1 pointNearby planets caused the orbits of forming planetesimals to acquire high velocities and eccentricities, preventing run away growth and leading to shattering impacts.Planetesimal formation in the region of the asteroid and Kuiper belts was delayed until after the gas in the nebular disk had dissipated, preventing these objects from acquiring gassy envelopes.Insufficient mass existed in the region of the asteroid belt and Kuiper belt to allow full sized planets to form.The oligarchs that formed in the region of the terrestrial planets and the asteroid belt slowly merged over ~100 Myr and the oligarchs at the outer range of this region were excited by Jupiter enough to cause impacts to shatter the objects. A similar process took place in the Kuiper belt.Nearby planets caused excitation of the orbits of planets in the region of the asteroid belt and Kuiper belt and these planets collided and their fragments are now the small bodies.

3.Question 3Which of the following is NOT required for the formation of a large nearly isotropic Oort cloud full of many small bodies, assuming the scenario that we discussed is the dominant mechanism? 1 pointA planet like Jupiter which is massive enough to scatter bodies out of the solar systemPassing stars which perturb the orbits of low perihelion, high semimajor axis objectsA smaller planet like Neptune to scatter icy bodies inward so they can be ejected by a more massive planet like JupiterA population of small bodies which is close enough to a planet to get scattered outwardMultiple stellar encounters to randomize the cometary orbits into an isotropic cloudAll of these are required

Which of the following is true about Asteroids?Group of answer choicesAsteroids are rocky leftovers of planet formation.Small asteroids are more common than large asteroids.All the asteroids in the solar system wouldn'tadd up to even a small terrestrial planetAll of the aboveA and C

Newton’s law of gravitation applies toa. All bodies irrespective of their sizeb. Big bodies onlyc.For solar systemd.  Small bodies only

5.Question 5The "minimum mass solar nebula" shows how much initial mass was needed in the disk around the sun to form the planets that we know of today. Which statement about the minimum mass solar nebula below is FALSE?1 pointThe minimum mass solar nebula approximately accounts for all of the hydrogen and helium that were present in the initial disk but which were not incorporated into the terrestrial planets.All of these are trueMars appears to have less mass than would be predicted by a smooth minimum mass solar nebula The disk of material around the sun could have had more material than the minimum mass solar nebulaThe initial distribution of mass in the solar system could have been very different from that reconstructed in the "minimum mass solar nebula"

6.Question 6Which of the following is NOT part of the explanation for why we continue to have near earth asteroids hit the earth even though the dynamical lifetime of a typical NEA is very short compared to the age of the solar system? (by dynamical lifetime we mean the time before it is likely to hit a planet or get ejected from the solar system) 1 pointAll of these are trueThe existence of families of asteroids formed by asteroid impact and shatteringHeating of small asteroids on one side coupled with rotation causing orbital driftResonances with Jupiter and Saturn in the asteroid belt leading to removal of objects in the asteroid beltOur improved technology which allows us to find ever-smaller near earth asteroidsThe high current eccentricities and inclinations of asteroids population leading to shattering impactsThe Yarkovsky effect