Formation of the Planets Reading Answers

Apr 23, 2025

Formation of the Planets Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. Formation of the Planets Reading Answers has a total of 13 IELTS questions in total. In the question set you have to choose which paragraph contains the given statement. In the next question set you have to state whether the statement is true, false or not given. In the last question set given you have to fill the blanks with the correct option in no more than two words.

The IELTS Reading section is an essential part of the test that evaluates a candidate's comprehension and analysis of various passage types. You will work through a number of IELTS reading practice problems in this section that resemble actual test situations. These questions are designed to help you improve your ability to recognize essential concepts, extract particular facts, and make inferences. Practicing the Formation of the Planets IELTS reading problem can help you get comfortable with the structure and increase your confidence for the exam, regardless of whether you are studying for the Academic or General Training module.

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Section 1 FORMATION OF THE PLANETS

A. Our Solar System consists of the Sun, four rocky planets, four gas giant planets, and five dwarf planets, many moons, asteroids. comets and much more. Humans have sent spacecrafts to orbit or land on many of these planets and moons, and have even set foot on Earth's moon. Studying our Solar System not only helps scientists to learn about our surroundings, but also about how other planetary systems may form. Although planets surround the galaxy "how do they form?' still remains a subject of debate. Despite the wealth of worlds in our own solar system, scientists still aren’t certain how planets are built. Currently, two theories are duking it out for the role of champion. The first and most widely accepted theory, core accretion. works well with the formation of the terrestrial planets like Earth but has problems with giant planets. The second, the disk instability method, may account for the creation of these giant planets. Scientists are continuing to study planets in and out of the solar system in an effort to better understand which of these methods is most accurate.

The core accretion model

B. Approximately 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system was a cloud of dust and gas known as a solar nebula. Gravity collapsed the material in on itself as it began to spin, forming the sun in the center of the nebula. With the rise of the sun, the remaining material began to clump up. Small particles drew together, bound by the force of gravity, into larger particles. The solar wind swept away lighter elements. such as hydrogen and helium, from the closer regions, leaving only heavy rocky materials to create smaller terrestrial worlds like Earth. But farther away, the solar winds had less impact on lighter elements, allowing them to coalesce into gas giants. In this way, asteroids, comets, planets, and moons were created. Earth's rocky core formed first. with heavy elements colliding and binding together. Dense material sank to the center. while the lighter material created the crust. The planet's magnetic field probably formed around this time. Gravity captured some of the gases that made up the planet's early atmosphere. Early in its evolution. Earth suffered an impact by a large body that catapulted pieces of the young planet's mantle into space. Gravity caused many of these pieces to draw together and form the moon, which took up orbit around its creator.

C. The flow of the mantle beneath the crust causes plate tectonics, the movement of the large plates of rock on the surface of the Earth. Collisions and friction gave rise to mountains and volcanoes, which began to spew gases into the atmosphere. Although the population of comets and asteroids passing through the inner solar system is sparse today, they were more abundant when the planets and sun were young. Collisions from these icy bodies likely have deposited much of the Earth's water on its surface. Because the planet is in the Goldilocks zone, the region where liquid water neither freezes nor evaporates but can remain as a liquid, the water remained at the surface, which many scientists think plays a key role in the development of life. Exoplanet observations seem to confirm core accretion as the dominant formation process. Stars with more “metals" a term astronomers use for elements other than hydrogen and helium in their cores have more giant planets than their metal-poor cousins. According to NASA, core accretion suggests that small, rocky worlds should be more common than the more massive gas giants, The 2005 discovery of a giant planet with a massive core orbiting the sun-like star HD 149026 is an example of an exoplanet that helped strengthen the case for core accretion.

D. "This is a confirmation of the core accretion theory for planet formation and evidence that planets of this kind should exist in abundance,' said Greg Henry in a press release. Henry, an astronomer at Tennessee State University, Nashville, detected the dimming of the star. In 2017, the European Space Agency plans to launch the Characterising ExoPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS). which will study exoplanets ranging in sizes from super-Earths to Neptune. Studying these distant worlds may help determine how planets in the solar system formed. "In the core accretion scenario. the core of a planet must reach a critical mass before it is able to accrete gas in a runaway fashion. said the CHEOPS team. This critical mass depends upon many physical variables, among the most important of which is the rate of planetesimals accretion, 'By studying how growing planets accrete material, CHEOPS will provide insight into how worlds grow.

The disk instability model

E. Although the core accretion model works fine for terrestrial planets. gas giants would have needed to evolve rapidly to grab hold of the significant mass of lighter gases they contain. But simulations have not been able to account for this rapid formation. According to models, the process takes several million years, longer than the light gases were available in the early solar system. At the same time, the core accretion model faces a migration issue, as the baby planets are likely to spiral into the sun in a short amount of time. According to a relatively new theory, disk instability, clumps of dust and gas are bound together early in the life of the solar system. Over time, these clumps slowly compact into a giant planet. These planets can form faster than their core accretion rivals. sometimes in as little as a thousand years, allowing them to trap the rapidly -vanishing lighter gases. They also quickly reach an orbit-stabilizing mass that keeps them from death-marching into the sun.

F. According to explanatory astronomer Paul Wilson, if disk instability dominates the formation of planets, it should produce a wide number of worlds at large orders. The four giant planets orbiting at significant distances around the star HD 9799 provides observational evidence for disk instability. Fomalhaut b. an exoplanet with a 2,000-year orbit around its star, could also be an example of a world formed through disk instability, though the planet could also have been ejected due to interactions with its neighbors.

Pebble accretion

G. The biggest challenge to core accretion is time-building massive gas giants fast enough to grab the lighter components of their atmosphere. Recent research on how smaller. pebble-sized Objects fused together to build giant planets up to 1000 times faster than earlier studies. "This is the first model that we know about that you start out with a pretty simple structure for the solar nebula from which planets form. and end up with the giant-planet system that we see." study lead author Harold Levison, an astronomer at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRl) in Colorado, told space.com in 2015. In 2012, researchers Michiel Lambrechts and Anders Johansen from Lund University in Sweden proposed that tiny pebbles, once written off, held the key to rapidly building giant planets. "They showed that the leftover pebbles from this formation

process, which previously were thought to be unimportant. could actually be a huge solution to the planet-forming problem,” Levison said.

H. Levison and his team built on that research to model more precisely how the tiny pebbles could form planets seen in the galaxy today. While previous simulations, both large and medium-sized objects consumed their pebble-sized cousins at a relatively constant rate. Levison's simulations suggest that the larger objects acted more like bullies, snatching away pebbles from the mid-sized masses to grow at a far faster rate."The larger objects now tend to scatter the smaller ones more than the smaller ones scatter them back, so the smaller ones end up getting scattered out of the pebble disk," Study co-author Katherine Kretke, also from SWRI. told space.com. "The bigger guy basically bullies the smaller one so they can eat all the pebbles themselves, and they can continue to grow up to form the cores of the giant planets." As scientists continue to study planets inside of the solar system, as well as around other stars, they Will better understand how Earth and its siblings formed.

Questions 28-30

Which paragraph mentions the following?

Write the correct letter A-H.

28. The research that will study the sizes of exoplanets.

Answer: D

Supporting statement: launch the Characterising ExoPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS). which will study exoplanets

Keywords: ExoPlanet, study

Keyword Location: Para D, Lines 4-5

Explanation: The text states that in 2017, the launch of the Characterising ExoPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) by the European Space Agency will research exoplanets of all sizes, from Neptune to super-Earths.

29. A dilemma for the scientists about the formation of planets.

Answer: A

Supporting statement: Despite the wealth of worlds in our own solar system, scientists still aren’t certain how planets are built.

Keywords: solar system, planets

Keyword Location: Para A, Lines 6-7

Explanation: According to the text scientists still have no clear answer regarding the formation of the planet in the solar system despite having all the wealth present in the world in the solar system.

30. Passage explains the different densities of layers of crust.

Answer: B

Supporting statement: Dense material sank to the center. while the lighter material created the crust.

Keywords: center, crust

Keyword Location: Para B, Lines 9-10

Explanation: According to the text, the crust was made as the lighter material in space settled while the dense material settled at the centre, forming the different layers of Earth.

Questions 31-36

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text.

In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE -if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE - if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN - if there is no information on this

31. More the metal more size the planet will have.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: Stars with more “metals" a term astronomers use for elements other than hydrogen and helium in their cores have more giant planets than their metal-poor cousins.

Keywords: metals, planets

Keyword Location: Para C, Line 10

Explanation: The text states that the more metal a planet has, the bigger it much bigger in size compared to the ones that have less metal.

32. The tiny pebbles are responsible to form the planets.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation:The text contains no information about tiny pebbles being the reason for the formation of the planets.

33. Asteroids and comets have been increasing in number continuously.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: Although the population of comets and asteroids passing through the inner solar system is sparse today,

Keywords: comets and asteroids, sparse

Keyword Location: Para C, Lines 3-4

Explanation: The text mentions that the number of asteroids and comets present in the inner solar system have been decreasing as compared to the past. They were more prevalent in the primordial days of the sun and planets.

34. The temperature of the goldilocks zones is never stagnant.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: Goldilocks zone, the region where liquid water neither freezes nor evaporates but can remain as a liquid,

Keywords: Goldilocks zone, water

Keyword Location: Para C, Lines 6-7

Explanation: In the text, it is stated that the Goldilocks zone temperature is constant; it never freezes, does not evaporate, and stays as a liquid.

35. Larger objects scatter the smaller ones very much rather than vice versa.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement:The larger objects now tend to scatter the smaller ones more than the smaller ones scatter them back,

Keywords: larger, smaller

Keyword Location: Para H, Lines 5-6

Explanation: According to the text Levison and his colleagues expanded on their research in order to more accurately predict how the little pebbles might have become the planets that are presently seen in the galaxy. According to Levison's simulations, the larger objects behaved more like bullies, stealing pebbles from the mid-sized masses in order to grow much more quickly. "The smaller ones end up getting scattered out of the pebble disk because the larger objects now usually scatter the smaller ones more while the smaller ones scatter them back."

36. Hydrogen and helium is considered to be in the giant planets.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement:the solar winds had less impact on lighter elements, allowing them to coalesce into gas giants.

Keywords: solar winds, giants

Keyword Location: Para B, Line 7

Explanation: The text states that smaller terrestrial worlds like Earth were formed by the solar wind removing lighter components like hydrogen and helium from the nearby areas, leaving only heavy rocky minerals. However, lighter elements were less affected by the solar winds at a greater distance, which allowed them to combine to form gas giants.

Questions 37-40

Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD.

Smashing of asteroids and comets leads to deposition of 37……… on the earth surface.

Answer: WATER

Supporting statement:Collisions from these icy bodies likely have deposited much of the Earth's water on its surface.

Keywords: Collisions, deposited

Keyword Location: Para C, Line 5

Explanation: The text states that the deposition of water on the Earth surface might be due to the collisions from the ice bodies such as asteroids and comets.

Mountains are formed because of plate38…….. in the crust part of earth.

Answer: TECTONICS

Supporting statement:The flow of the mantle beneath the crust causes plate tectonics,

Keywords: beneath, plate tectonics

Keyword Location: Para C, Line 1

Explanation: According to the passage, Large rock plates on the Earth's surface shift due to plate tectonics, which is caused by the flow of the mantle beneath the crust. As a result of collisions and friction, mountains and volcanoes formed, and gases started to pour into the atmosphere.

Small rocky 39......... are believed to more in common than the big ones.

Answer: WORLDS

Supporting statement: According to NASA, core accretion suggests that small, rocky worlds should be more common than

Keywords: NASA, worlds

Keyword Location: Para C, Lines 11-12

Explanation: The text states that, according to NASA, the 2005 finding of a huge planet with a big core orbiting the sun-like star HD 149026 is a prime example of an exoplanet that strengthened the evidence for core accretion. Core accretion implies that small, rocky worlds should be more common than the more huge gas giants.

40………….plays major role in originating life forms.

Answer: WATER

Supporting statement:which many scientists think plays a key role in the development of life.

Keywords: scientists, development

Keyword Location: Para C, Line 8

Explanation: According to the text scientists believe that water may be the reason for the development of life on planet Earth.

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