Space Systems
This idea explains that the solar system formed from a spinning cloud of gas and dust.
What is the nebular hypothesis?
This process breaks rock into smaller pieces at or near Earth’s surface.
What is weathering?
This resource can run out when people pump water from underground faster than nature replaces it.
What is groundwater?
Carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor are examples of these gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.
What are greenhouse gases?
This is the main reason North Carolina has warmer weather in summer than in winter.
What is Earth’s tilted axis?
This process moves sediment from one location to another by wind, water, ice, or gravity.
What is erosion?
This problem can happen near the coast when too much groundwater is pumped and ocean water moves into the aquifer.
What is saltwater intrusion?
Coal, oil, and natural gas are examples of these energy resources.
What are fossil fuels?
These two objects have the greatest effect on Earth’s ocean tides.
What are the Moon and the Sun?
This type of plate boundary forms where two plates move away from each other.
What is a divergent boundary?
This type of pollution comes from many small sources, such as fertilizer washing off lawns and farms.
What is non-point source pollution?
Cutting down forests can increase carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because fewer trees are available to do this process.
What is photosynthesis?
A planet moves faster in its orbit when it is closer to this object.
What is the Sun?
This happens when an oceanic plate sinks beneath a continental plate.
What is subduction?
Dams can help humans by producing this type of power from moving water.
What is hydroelectric power?
When ocean temperatures rise, these storms may become stronger because warm water provides more energy.
What are hurricanes?
If Earth rotated more slowly, this part of our daily cycle would become longer.
What is the length of a day?
Heat inside Earth causes mantle material to rise and sink, creating these currents that move tectonic plates.
What are convection currents?
Ocean currents help control climate by moving this from the equator toward the poles.
What is heat energy?
A graph showing carbon emissions rising over time would most likely support this larger environmental trend.
What is climate change or global warming?