Minerals: how do they form in planets?By: Josh Gates and Michael Parris

The Rocky Inner Planets

The four inner planets are composed of rocks and minerals. Minerals in these planets form by elements that are deep inside the ground and the great pressure there. Erosion, weathering, and mining are the ways that minerals come to the surface.

That Gas Giant Outer Planets

The four outer planets are composed of gases. Minerals also form in these planets by pressure and elements. Different elements form here because of the different elements and pressure changes.

The way minerals form

The Rocky Inner Planets

Mercury is the first planet of the solar system. It is one of the

four small rocky inner planets with an iron core. It is composed of Iron and silicates—metal and rock—that were separated by weight in the original nebula that the planets formed in.As the planet formed, the outermost silicate crust was eroded by fierce heat and radiation, then blown away from the Sun.As the planet was forming, a giant impact blasted away most of the outer silicate crust (much like what happened to Earth to form the Moon).

Mercury

Venus is the second planet of the solar

system. It is one of the four small rocky inner

planets with an iron core. Venus is made

up of a central iron core and a rocky

mantle, similar to the composition of

Earth. Venus' atmosphere is made

up mostly of carbon dioxide(96%)

and nitrogen(3%).

Venus

Earth is the third planet of the solar system. It is one of the four small

rocky inner planets with an iron core. The composition of the

atmosphere of Earth is 21 percent molecular oxygen, 78

percent molecular nitrogen, and 1 percent argon. Trace

amounts of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases

are also present. The mass of the Earth is approximately

5.98×1024 kg. It is composed mostly of iron (32.1%),

oxygen (30.1%), silicon (15.1%), magnesium (13.9%), sulfur

(2.9%), nickel (1.8%), calcium (1.5%), and aluminium

(1.4%); with the remaining 1.2% consisting of trace

amounts of other elements. Due to mass segregation, the

core region is believed to be primarily composed of iron

(88.8%), with smaller amounts of nickel (5.8%), sulfur

(4.5%), and less than 1% trace elements.

Earth

Mars is the fourth planet of the solar system. It is one of the four small rocky inner planets

with an iron core. The dark areas of Mars are characterised by the mafic

rock-forming minerals olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase feldspar. These

minerals are the primary constituents of basalt, a dark volcanic rock that

also makes up the Earth's oceanic crust and the lunar maria.

The mineral olivine occurs all over the planet, but some of the largest

concentrations are in Nili Fossae, an area containing Noachian-aged

rocks. Another large olivine-rich outcrop is in Ganges Chasma, an

eastern side chasm of Valles Marineris (pictured). [16] Olivine weathers

rapidly into clay minerals in the presence of liquid water. Therefore,

areas with large outcroppings of olivine-bearing rock indicate that liquid

water has not been abundant since the rocks formed. [2]

Pyroxene minerals are also widespread across the surface. Both low-

calcium (ortho-) and high-calcium (clino-) pyroxenes are present, with

the high-calcium varieties associated with younger volcanic shields and

the low-calcium forms (enstatite) more common in the old highland

terrain.

Mars

The Gas Giant Outer planets

Jupiter is the fifth planet of the solar system. It is one of the four

Gas giant Outer planets. The interior contains denser

materials such that the distribution is roughly 71%

hydrogen, 24% helium and 5% other elements by

mass. The atmosphere contains trace amounts of

methane, water vapor, ammonia, and silicon-based

compounds. There are also traces of carbon, ethane,

hydrogen sulfide, neon, oxygen, phosphine, and sulfur.

The outermost layer of the atmosphere contains

crystals of frozen ammonia. Through infrared and

ultraviolet measurements, trace amounts of benzene

and other hydrocarbons have also been found.

Jupiter

Saturn is the sixth planet of the solar system. It is one of the four

Gas giant Outer planets. Saturn's atmospheric constituents

are, in order by mass, hydrogen (88 per cent) and

helium (11 per cent); and the remainder comprises

traces of methane, ammonia, ammonia crystals, and

such other gases as ethane, ethane (ethylene), and

phosphine. Voyager images showed whirls and eddies

of clouds occurring deep in a haze that is much thicker

than that of Jupiter because of Saturn's lower

temperature. The temperatures of Saturn's cloud tops

are close to -176° C (-285° F), about 27° C (49° F)

lower than those of such locations on Jupiter.

Saturn

Uranus is the seventh planet of the solar system. It is one of the four Gas giant

Outer planets. The composition of the Uranian atmosphere is different

from the rest of the planet, consisting as it does mainly of molecular

hydrogen and helium.[12] The helium molar fraction, i.e. the number

of helium atoms per molecule of gas, is 0.15 ± 0.03 in the upper

troposphere, which corresponds to a mass fraction 0.26 ± 0.05. This

value is very close to the protosolar helium mass fraction of 0.275 ±

0.01, indicating that helium has not settled in the center of the

planet as it has in the gas giants. The third most abundant

constituent of the Uranian atmosphere is methane (CH4). Methane

possesses prominent absorption bands in the visible and near-

infrared (IR) making Uranus aquamarine or cyan in color. Methane

molecules account for 2.3% of the atmosphere by molar fraction

below the methane cloud deck at the pressure level of 1.3 bar

(130 kPa); this represents about 20 to 30 times the carbon

abundance found in the Sun.

Uranus

Neptune is the eighth planet of the solar system. It is one of the four

Gas giant Outer planets. Neptune's atmosphere mainly consists of

molecular hydrogen (H2) 80%, helium (He) 19% and methane (CH4)

1.5%. It also contains small amounts of hydrogen deuteride (HD) and

ethane (C2H6). The average temperature of Neptune at cloud top is -

220oC. It has an extremely hot core at about 5150oC, hotter than the

surface of the sun.

It is most likely that Neptune has a small solid core of a rocky

material about the mass of the Earth surrounded by a layer of liquid

which is probably Water with molecules of methane and ammonia.

The temperature of this water is many times the 100oC that water

boils at on Earth, but the extremely high pressure or the Neptunian

atmosphere keeps the particles from escaping the water.

Neptune

THE END