Rock and Roll
The absolute age of a rock is ___.
the number of years since the rock formed
In a parking lot, someone observed the two cars. The person did not know when each car was built. But, based on their observations, the person figured out that Car 1 is older than Car 2. What did the person determine?
the relative age of the cars
What term refers to a fossil of an organism that was widely distributed around the earth and existed for only a geologically short period of time?
Index fossils
To test this theory, scientists collected samples of basalt, an igneous rock, near the mid-ocean ridge and far from the mid-ocean ridge. They then determined the age of each rock sample.
Radioactive dating
Double Jeopardy
In which state, other than Florida, has Mrs. Napier lived?
Which of the following can scientists NOT learn about by studying fossils?
how the pull of gravity has changed over time
What type of rock is radioactive dating used for?
Igneous
In Antarctica, scientists have discovered fossils of plants and land animals that lived in warm climates but went extinct over a million years ago.
Antarctica used to be located closer to the Equator where it was warmer but then moved.
Which method of determining the age of a rock will give a quantitative age?
Radioactive Dating
While digging a hole in his backyard, Surya found a rock containing several fossils. He wondered what type of rock it was. The rock is most likely a(n) ___.
sedimentary rock
What term refers to the amount of time it takes for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay?
half-life
A plant called Glossopteris lived about 250 million years ago. Glossopteris fossils have been found in Africa, South America, and Antarctica. What is the most likely explanation for this?
The continents have moved over the past 250 million years.
What type of rock does Law of Superposition apply to?
Sedimentary
What are the 3 main sources of evidence that allow scientists to infer what happened in the past on Earth?
Fossils; Earth's surface features; measuring the age of rocks
What are the three characteristics of an index fossil?
can be found in multiple rock layers; an organism which lived for only a short period of time; an abundance of fossils