One of the useful things about craters on planets and moons is that they can be
ID: 801837 • Letter: O
Question
One of the useful things about craters on planets and moons is that they can be used as a type of "clock" to help determine the relative age of a surface. On can tell from looking at the photo of Earth's moon that some areas have many crater while others have fewer craters. HYPOTHESIS: We assume that the region with fewer craters has been exposed at the surface for a shorter amount of time than the surface with more craters. We would say-using principles of relative age-that the highly-cratered surface is older than the surface with fewer craters. Using radiometric dating techniques-where the abundances of radioactive atoms and their decayed daughter atoms are counted- scientists have been able to put geologic time on the cratered surface of the Moon. This process, as with most science, is still ongoing! Please watch the following video from S.J. Robbins (11.5 min video)- https://youtu.be/m4WHx8MMXBw The "Lunar Chronology Function" shown to the right is the graph that represents the number of impacts that occurred on the Moon at different times in the past. According to the best available data, the number of impacts on the Moon has not remained constant through time (otherwise the line on the graph would be horizontal all the way across!). Write an excellent sentence to describe how the number of impacts changed throughout the history of the Moon. [Note that the vertical axis represents the number of impacts at any given time, while the horizontal axis represents the time, in billions of year ago. Also note that the right-hand side of the horizontal axis ("0" Time) represents the present day.]Explanation / Answer
It may be because the solar system has been cooled off. The rocks particles of the solar system get accumulated over the planets, leaving less number of rocks to strike the surface.
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