computer model: A program that runs on a computer that creates a model, or simulation, of a real-world feature, phenomenon or event.
core: Something — usually round-shaped — in the center of an object. (in geology) Earth’s innermost layer. Or, a long, tube-like sample drilled down into ice, soil or rock. Cores allow scientists to examine layers of sediment, dissolved chemicals, rock and fossils to see how the environment at one location changed through hundreds to thousands of years or more.
crust: (in geology) Earth’s outermost surface, usually made from dense, solid rock (in planetary science) the outermost surface of rocky planets, dwarf planets and natural satellites.
density: The measure of how condensed some object is, found by dividing its mass by its volume.
disk: A round, flat and usually fairly thin object.
force: Some outside influence that can change the motion of an object, hold objects close to one another, or produce motion or stress in a stationary object.
gravity: The force that attracts anything with mass, or bulk, toward any other thing with mass. The more mass that something has, the greater its gravity.
intrigue: (adj. intriguing) To make curious or arouse interest in. Or to plan or do something secretly.
mantle: (in geology) The thick layer of the Earth beneath its outer crust. The mantle is semi-solid and generally divided into an upper and lower mantle.
model: A simulation of a real-world event (usually using a computer) that has been developed to predict one or more likely outcomes. Or an individual that is meant to display how something would work in or look on others.
plume: (in geology) Fluids (air, water or magma typically) that move, largely intact, in a feather-like shape over long distances.
subduct: or subduction The process by which tectonic plates sink or slide back from Earth’s outer layer into its middle layer, called the mantle.
subduction zone: A large fault where one tectonic plate sinks beneath another as they collide. Subduction zones usually have a deep trench along the top.
tectonic: Surface activity on a large rocky body (such as a planet or moon) as liquid rock flows up to the surface where it solidifies, then slowly drifts atop molten rock, carrying surface features with it.
tectonic plates: The gigantic slabs — some spanning thousands of kilometers (or miles) across — that make up Earth’s outer layer.
Venus: The second planet out from the sun, it has a rocky core, just as Earth does. Venus lost most of its water long ago. The sun’s ultraviolet radiation broke apart those water molecules, allowing their hydrogen atoms to escape into space. Volcanoes on the planet’s surface spewed high levels of carbon dioxide, which built up in the planet’s atmosphere. Today the air pressure at the planet’s surface is 100 times greater than on Earth, and the atmosphere now keeps the surface of Venus a brutal 460° Celsius (860° Fahrenheit).