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Apr 3, 2024

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Cratering and the Lunar Surface 10/3/2022 Activity: The Lunar Surface, Craters, and Relative Dating 1. Complete the following nine questions by removing the incorrect answers, leaving only the correct ones. (a) Which landing site better represents the lunar mare region? ( Apollo 16 ) (b) Which landing site better represents the lunar highlands region? ( Apollo 16 ) (c) Which of the following craters lacks a central peak? ( Eppinger ) (d) Which of the following names on the Apollo 12 site image denotes a mountain chain? ( Montes Riphaeus ) (e) Which of the following craters on the Apollo 16 site image no longer has an intact, well-defined circular rim? ( Zollner ) (f) Which lunar mission landed in an area crossed by a prominent lunar ray? ( Apollo 12 ) (g) Which landing site appears to have a greater density of craters? ( Apollo 16 ) (h) If Crater Eppinger has a diameter of six kilometers, what is the diameter of the smallest crater shown in this image? ( 0.1 kilometers ) (i) The largest crater identified by name on the Apollo 16 image has a diameter of: ( 50 kilometers ) 2. Next consider a region at the lunar highland-mare interface. Consider four events: (a) the lava flow associated with the impact that created the Mare Nectaris (b) the impact event that created crater Rosse, sitting in the Mare Nectaris

(c) lunar highland crater production (d) a lunar ray which is observed to pass over and rest on Rosse. Order these four events in time, from earliest to latest: [d-b-a-c] Explain why you ordered them as you did. I picked D first because the lunar ray must pass over the area, then I picked B because there needs to be an impact event that creates the crater, then A because there would be lava flow associated with the impact after the impact, and C last because the lunar highland production would now begin 3. Now build two plots, showing the density of new craters found superimposed atop large craters which formed at various times in the distant past. (a) In your first plot, track the large crater age versus the surface density of later, superimposed craters for the first four of the large craters listed in Table 3 .2.

(b) Use the best-fit line on the plot to estimate the age of the crater Giordano Bruno, in Myr. Derived age: 3.744 (c) Does your age estimate support or counter Hartung's hypothesis? ( Counter ) Explain your answer. According to the formula the crater (Bruno) was made 3.7 myr and not in 1178, so I don’t think the monks would have seen the crater being created (d) In your second plot, add in the two oldest craters (Aristarchus and Copernicus) listed in Table 3 .2 to the data to be plotted. Based on the distribution of all six data points, and the best-fit lines, has the lunar cratering rate changed significantly over the last 850 million years? ( yes ) Explain your answer. It looks like more craters are being created at a faster rate and more

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frequently which is why you see such a cluster during the 200 myr range. The younger craters are also less dense but that is to be expected. However, the craters are also very close to the slope and the slope has not changed much from the first graph. So I would say no the rate in which the craters are created has changed significantly since there is less time between cratering from previous craters. I also noticed that I must have done something when created my chart because it is upside down for some reason but I could not figure out how to flip it back to the other view Activity: Forging Craters 1. Start by listing the factors you that think might define a crater's size and appearance. There are a few things that define a craters size and appearance. Speed, size, and material are three factors that will effect the impact of a crater which will determine the size too. Most projectiles eplode on impact so the explosion will help create a symmetrical appearance. The depth and diameter of a crater will also determine if the crater has clear cut ridges and peaks within the crater as well Crater Diameter Measurements I (cm) 1 Hght. (cm) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Trial 6 Trial 7 Avg₅ ± σ 25.4 3.2 3.3 3.2 3.1 3.3 3.2 3.2 3.214 ± 0.1 50.8 3.8 3.1 3.9 4.1 3.9 3.8 3.9 3.914 ± 0.2 76.2 5.1 6.0 5.9 6.0 5.8 6.1 5.9 5.83± 0.7 101.6 8.1 7.8 7.8 8.2 7.7 7.7 8.1 7.943 ± 0.2 Velocities for given heights are 223, 316, 386, and 446 cm per second. 1Measure 7 craters at each drop height, and then enter the average value and standard deviation of the innermost 5 trails as “ Avg₅ ± σ”.

Notes: Replace this text with your notes, after filling in table data. Crater Diameter Measurements II (cm) Hght. (cm) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Trial 6 Trial 7 Avg₅ ± σ 152.4 8.0 7.8 8.2 7.9 8.1 8.1 8.2 8.057 ± 0.2 203.2 8.2 8.2 8.3 8.1 8.0 7.8 8.1 8.1 ±0.3 304.8 7.1 8.2 7.8 8.1 8.1 8.0 8.2 7.938 ±0.8 406.4 8.3 8.2 7.9 8.0 8.1 7.8 8.2 8.086 ±0.3 Velocities for given heights are 547, 631, 773, and 892 cm per second. If you use different drop heights, be sure to calculate different velocities. Notes: Replace this text with your notes, after filling in table data. 9. Discuss your findings in the space below. In particular, comment on observed ray patterns and lengths, any non-circular craters and central peaks seen, and anything else of interest. I did not think the diameters would grow this much from smaller numbers when I started this experiment. It did kind of level out, but some decent growth was shown here. I got mostly circular craters here as well but I do think that was because the object I used a sphere like projectile. If I did this again I would try an oval shaped one or something different. As the height got higher I noticed deeper craters and a little bit of ridges and a few small central peaks Activity: What Determines How Big an Impact Crater Is? 1. Plot the crater diameters, including associated errors, against velocity for

the data you entered into Tables 3 .3 and 3 .4. The best-fitting model is: ( Model 2 ). The relation between D and v is: ( D² ∝ v ) Is this the result you expected? Why, or why not? This is not what I initially expected, I thought we would see more model 3 but the best fitting model is 2. 2. Use the Earth Impacts Effect program to answer the following questions. (a) Consider two hypothetical impact events occurring in the uninhabited area between Deming and Columbus, in a sedimentary rock region some 50 miles from Las Cruces, NM. Impact A : A 100-meter icy comet traveling at 50 km s⁻¹ strikes at a 45 o angle. Impact B : A 40-meter iron-dominated rock traveling 20 km s⁻¹ strikes at a

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45 o angle. Answer each of the six question below by removing the incorrect answers, leaving only the correct ones. Which impact would: i) be caused by the object carrying the most kinetic energy? ( A ) ii) produce the largest crater? ( B ) iii) be the most unusual (the rarest)? ( B ) iv) sound the loudest in Las Cruces? ( A ) v) produce the largest earthquake in Las Cruces? ( B ) vi) disturb the air most in Las Cruces? ( A ) (b) Click on “impact examples” (just below “Enter Impact Parameters”) and compare the size of the projectile that created Meteor Crater to the one that ended the reign of the dinosaurs and created Chicxulub Crater. The projectile that made the meteor crater and ended the reign of the dinosaurs is 430 times smaller than the one that created the Chicxulub crater. (c) Chicxulub Crater has a diameter of 113 miles. What size would it be under the following three circumstances? i) The projectile landed on sedimentary rock rather than in 100-meter deep water. Diameter = 117 miles. ii) The projectile was made of iron rather than rock. Diameter = 170 miles. iii) The projectile landed on sedimentary rock and was made of iron. Diameter = 176 miles. Final (post-lab) Questions 1. A careful examination of the lunar surface reveals that most lunar craters (c) are circular

2. Is it easier to obtain relative or absolute ages for lunar surface features? Why? I would say it is easier to obtain relative because the formula gives us an approximate age 3. Suppose current lunar cratering rates were found to be much higher than those averaged over the last 100 million years. Would this be a cause for concern? Why, or why not? This would be a cause for concern because that means places such as the moon could be taking more damage than it could recover from. I imagine the moon could be destroyed if it took too many craters at such a fast rate and if the craters were denser 4. How did the craters that you created differ from lunar craters? Were your initial guesses about which factors would determine the sizes and appearances of your craters confirmed, or denied? The craters that I created were pretty much uniform because I used a round object each time. My initial guesses about the factors determining size and appearance were pretty close to true. Mainly because of the shapes in real life. I imagine that in space the objects that create craters would not always be sphere like so that could cause different crater shapes and might even cause different sizes given the shape of the object. 5. Nearly all lunar craters are circular because the projectiles that create them (b) have high impact velocities, producing explosions on impact . 6. For a projectile of a given mass, what factors besides its impact velocity determine the resulting crater diameter? The density and material of the projectile making the crater are two factors that contribute to the diameter of the crater. 7. Suppose that the huge meteoroid that created the Chicxulub crater was ten million times more massive than the much smaller object that forged the Meteor Crater in Arizona, but they were both traveling at 20 km s⁻¹ on impact.

(a) Compute the kinetic energy, in units of megatons of TNT, associated with the Chicxulub progenitor object just before the moment of impact, by using the information derived in Example 3 .3. 1.07 x 10⁹ mega tons of TNT (b) Compare this amount of energy with the most powerful man-made explosive device ever detonated, a hydrogen bomb yielding 50 megatons of TNT. The Chicxulub impact event was 21400000 times more powerful. Summary (300 to 500 words) These experiment and labs made us learn the importance of impact craters on the lunar surface. How things like velocity and the diameter make a crater, as well as, how density and material of an impact object changes a craters size. The lab also showed how quickly the velocity can change the diameter size but that some heights and measurements can make the results stagnant. The lab also helped show again the importance of getting lots of data and even repeating things so that the person doing the experiment can see for themselves the slight changes that made big differences. I found the crater experiments were interesting but if I were to do them again I would use different shaped objects to drop and see how that changed the crater appearance. We also learned the effect that objects and projectiles could have when making impact with the earth. Through the readings we learned how speed/velocity, density, size, and landing surface effects the type of impact a projectile has on the surface. We used plots to show how the density and age of craters could change over time and how some have increased in frequency. When looking through the comparisons between ice and iron hitting the earth we saw there are massive differences on the impact. Interesting things like how the ice was double the size and moving about twice the speed but still created a smaller impact and effect onto the earth. This might be because the ice evaporates but either way the ice is much lighter than iron. Iron projectiles proved to be much heavier and much denser when comparing the two. We also got to understand the physical damage

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absorbed when projectiles of that size hit something. We compared the effects and impact of the Chicxulub lab and how it drastically changed if it were to hit rock or water. Water would actually soften and assume more of the damage than rock surfaces. All of this information can be useful in the future for scientist. We can use it to prepare or avoid catastrophic events. Data collected would let us know if craters are being created more often and we could figure out how to prepare since we know that projectiles usually hit at specific angles and do more damage on rock surfaces . Extra Credit If Apophis hit earth I believe it would create a crater of 5.29 miles and read 6.8 on the Ritcher scale causing some seismic shaking for almost 2 minutes. The seismic wave would also create a possible tsunami a few hours after the crashing along with damage to buildings and other things near by in a 50 square mile radius.

lab 3 report (4) filled out

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