Astronomy Basics
Earth History
Rivers and Water Systems
Fossils and Evolution
Astronomical Objects
100
What is the age of the Universe? (+/- 300 MY)
13.8 billion years.
100
When was the Great Dying (within 10 MY)?
252 MYA
100
What is a stream called that flows into a larger stream?
What is a tributary?
100
Name two conditions necessary for an organism to be fossilized.
-hard body parts (shell or bones)
-dies underwater
-buried quickly in sediment
100
This icy body orbits the Sun in an elliptical path. Its tail always points away from the Sun due to solar wind. What is it?
Comet.
200
What is the primary source of energy for stars like our Sun?
Nuclear fusion (hydrogen fusing into helium).
200
What does the Miller-Urey experiment demonstrate?
That organic molecules, the building blocks of life, can form under conditions simulating early Earth.
200
What is the process where sediment is laid down in a new location?
What is deposition?
200
What group of early arthropods was highly successful and fossilized often?
Trilobites.
200
A collection of planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and other celestial objects orbiting a central star is called what?
Solar system.
300
Which galaxy do we live in?
The Milky Way Galaxy.
300
What event caused the first significant rise in Earth's atmospheric oxygen three billion years ago?
The evolution of photosynthesis by cyanobacteria.
300
What process involves the breaking down of rocks into smaller pieces through physical, chemical, or biological means, without moving the material?
Weathering?
300
What are two adaptations that reptiles evolved which allowed them to live fully on land?
-Hard shelled eggs
-scales (impermeable skin)
-internal fertilization
300
A celestial body that orbits a star, is massive enough for its gravity to make it spherical, and has cleared its orbit of other debris is called what?
What is a planet?
400
What evidence supports the Universe is expanding?
Redshift in the spectra of distant galaxies.
400
the process by which life arose from non-living matter. It marks the origin of life on Earth, forming the basis for all subsequent evolution.
What is abiogenesis?
400
What process involves the movement of rock, soil, or sediment from one location to another by forces like water, wind, or ice?
What is erosion?
400
List two adaptations that helped mammals survive the dinosaur extinction.
-small size
-lived underground
-fur for warmth
-warm blooded
400
A self-luminous sphere of plasma, bound by its own gravity, where nuclear fusion in the core generates energy, producing electromagnetic radiation detectable across vast distances in space.
What is a star?
500
What is the name for the faint radiation left over from the Big Bang?
Cosmic microwave background radiation.
500
Which evolutionary adaptation 1.2 billion years ago caused life to start evolving more quickly?
What is sexual reproduction?
500
What kind of landform is created at the mouth of a river by sediment deposition?
What is a delta?
500
What was the significance of the Cambrian Explosion?
It marked the rapid evolution of diverse life forms with hard body parts.
500
A gravitationally bound system composed of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas and dust, and dark matter, exhibiting rotational dynamics and often containing a supermassive black hole at its core, spanning tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of light-years across.
What is a galaxy?