Interiors of the Planets

In this book Alan Cook explains how the mechanical properties of the planets are determined.

A. H. Cook (Author)

9780521106016, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 June 2009

364 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.54 kg

Planets have excited the minds of man since prehistory. In our own time planetary science has become a rapidly developing area of astronomical research, as the instruments carried by spacecraft have vastly increased our knowledge of planetary surfaces and interiors. the rocky planets of the inner solar system bear countless craters, scars of their encounters with innumerable meteorites, although the active surface of the earth has contrived to erase these features from our own planet. The outer giants, particularly Jupiter, have vigorous atmospheres, while Io, a satellite of Jupiter, has sulphur volcanoes. In this book Alan Cook explains how the mechanical properties of the planets are determined, how planetary materials behave at high pressure, and how celestial mechanics and the quantum physics of highly condensed matter may be combined to determine the general constitution of the planets.

1. Introduction
2. The internal structure of the Earth
3. Methods for the determination of the dynamical properties of planets
4. Equations of state of terrestrial materials
5. The Moon
6. Mars, Venus and Mercury
7. High pressure metals
8. Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
9. Departures from the hydrostatic state
10. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Astronomy, space & time [PG]