Working towards TMA01

As I had no tutorials this week there's not that much to say, but it's always good to look ahead at the next assignment, (TMA01) which has a cut-off date of 27th November. S283 has four TMAs with an overall nominal pass mark of 40%, but unusually the actual continuous assessment mark does not contribute to the overall grade of the module. TMA01 assesses understanding of the first four chapters of the book An Introduction to the Solar System. I've covered the material for the first three questions of the assignment, so I'm well on the way to completing it.

Question 1 – (15/75 marks)

This question involves calculating the density of unknown planets, from data such as mass and radius, and then suggesting which would be the most likely abundant elements present in them.

Question 2 – (16/75 marks)

This two part question asks for a description of the processes associated with the formation of the embryonic Earth and also asks for observations on the magnetic field of the planet Mercury.

Question 3 – (25/75 marks)

This question asks for the construction and interpretation of geochemical ‘spidergrams’ given a table of elements using a spreadsheet.

Question 4 – (19/75 marks)

This question involves the analysis of impact craters on Mercury using photographs and use of the ‘creator calculator’ interactive tool.