MIT OpenCourseWare

Browse materialsMIT 12.002 · Fall 2008

Physics and Chemistry of the Terrestrial Planets

Subjects: Chemistry · Physics · Science

Art: US Army, US Weather map from 1872, 1872 · Public domain

Instructors: Prof. Benjamin Weiss, Prof. Leigh Royden
Term: Fall 2008
Level: Undergraduate
What's inside: 9 problem sets · 9 solutions · 1 lecture note · 25 other files · 3 web pages
Materials open: MIT OCW

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About this course

Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 12.002 Physics and Chemistry of the Terrestrial Planets, Fall 2008, Prof. Benjamin Weiss, Prof. Leigh Royden — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

Materials are grouped the way MIT organized them. A verified, course-wide order has not been established here.

Has MIT solutions 9 files in this course are named by MIT as solutions.

Before you start

Prerequisites are not listed here. Check MIT's own syllabus for this course.

This course’s cited books, in our reading lists: Planetary Sciences

How this course was organized

What's here, and what isn't

MIT's own materials here did not support a verified, course-wide order, so they are grouped by section instead.

Not included here

1 item from the source could not be safely included:

Referenced in a table, but without MIT's own verified order, so it isn't used to claim a sequence.

Materials by section

Grouped by section, as MIT organized them. Not sequenced or ordered.

Lecture Notes

25 files

Assignments

9 problem sets

Other materials from this course

9 problem sets

MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Benjamin Weiss, Prof. Leigh Royden, 12.002 Physics and Chemistry of the Terrestrial Planets, Fall 2008.

License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Fall 2008 · Open the original course on OCW ↗

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Physics and Chemistry of the Terrestrial Planets

Before you start

What's here, and what isn't

Not included here

Materials by section

Lecture Notes

Assignments

Other materials from this course

Lecture 1: Introduction and overview

Lecture 2: Solar system formation

Lecture 3: Origin of elements

Lecture 4: Origin of elements (cont.)

Lecture 5: Geochronology

Lecture 6: Geochronology (cont.)

Lecture 7: Age of the solar system

Lecture 8: Mass and moment of inertia

Lecture 9: Rheology and seismology

Lecture 10: Elastic stress strain relations

Lecture 11: Seismic waves and wave equation

Lecture 12: Structure of the planets from seismology

Lecture 13: Heat and conduction

Lecture 14: Heat convection

Lecture 15: The error function

Lecture 16: Oceanic subsidence and heat flow

Lecture 17: Convective heat flow

Lecture 18: Cooling planets

Lecture 19: Geomagnetism I

Lecture 20: Geomagnetism II

Lecture 21: Polar wander and continental drift

Lecture 22: Plate tectonics

Lecture 23: Plate tectonics (cont.)

Lecture 24: Plate tectonics (cont.)

Lecture 25: Plate tectonics (cont.)

Lecture 26: Isostasy

Lecture 27: Gravity anomalies

Lecture 28: Gravity anomalies (cont.)

Lecture 29: Topography and gravity data

Lecture 30: Planetary histories

Lecture 31: Planets

Lecture 32: Mercury

Lecture 33: Moon

Lecture 34: Venus

Lecture 35: Presentations

Lecture 36: Presentations (cont.)