Universe Formation
Earth Formation
Radiometric Dating
Plate Boundaries
Misc.
100
The only two elements made in significant amounts during Big Bang nucleosynthesis.
What is Hydrogen and Helium?
100
The Moon formed at this time via the Theia (giant impact) hypothesis. Give a date estimate.
What is ~4.5 BYA?
100
Define “half-life.”
What is the amount of time for half of a parent isotope to decay into daughter product?
100
A type of plate boundary
What is a divergent plate boundary?
100
Name the basic building block of silicate minerals and an example of one.
What is a Silicate tetrahedron (SiO₄)?
ex. Quartz is SiO₂ (because oxygens are shared).
200
We know a supernova happened before our solar system formed because our solar system contains these - more than just H and He.
What is the element table? What are the elements (iron+)?
200
The tectonic plates are associated with what type of 'sphere'?
What is the lithosphere?
200
If a rock has 75% daughter (25% parent), how many half-lives have passed?
What are two half-lives?
200
Plate boundary type + plate-to-plate type
What is an ocean-continent convergent plate boundary?
200
Define “mineral” vs. “rock,” and give one exception-ish edge case.
What is a mineral and a rock? What is obsidian?
Mineral: naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline solid with consistent composition
Rock: naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals
Edge case: obsidian is a rock but not a crystalline mineral
300
Explain why inner planets are rocky while outer planets are gas giants, using the role of solar wind.
What is solar wind? Intense early solar wind stripped light gases near the Sun, leaving rocky planets inside and allowing gas accumulation farther out for gas giants.
300
Name two likely sources of Earth’s water besides outgassing.
What are carbonaceous chondrites (hydrated asteroids) and comets?
300
A sample has 12.5% parent remaining. If the half-life is 10 Myr, what’s the age?
(Hint: A = H * L)
A = Age of a rock
H = Number of half-lives
L = Length of a half-life
What is 30 million years?
300
Options: Trench, Accretionary Prism, Volcanic Arc, Continental crust, Oceanic crust
List the plate boundary and plate-to-plate type
What is a ocean-ocean convergent plate boundary?
1. Trench
2. Accretionary Prism
3. Volcanic Arc
300
What generates Earth’s magnetic field, and what does it protect us from?
What is a Dynamo?
Made from a convecting liquid outer core + rotation; it generates a magnetic field to deflect solar wind/charged particles, helping to retain our atmosphere
400
Why is Pluto not a planet? What is it? List the 4 different criteria separating asteroids from planets and describe their differences.
What is a dwarf planet? Pluto is not a planet because it is a dwarf planet that has not cleared it's neighbors.
1 - Asteroid - Rocky, metallic, icy bodies orbiting a star
2 - Protoplanet - Partially melted/formed some layers
3 - Dwarf Planet - A spherical protoplanet
4 - Planet - A dwarf planet that cleared its surrounding neighbors; any neighbors are satellites that orbit around it
400
Give me each layer of the Earth using the diagram and corresponding letters. (Hint: A, B, C are the main three; E&F are the same)
A - Crust
B - Mantle
C - Core
D - Lithosphere
E&F - Asthenosphere
G - Outer Core
H - Inner Core
400
Explain isotopes, atomic number, and atomic weight.
What are isotopes, atomic number, and atomic weight?
Isotopes - Same element that contain equal numbers of protons but different numbers of neutrons
Atomic number - Fixed number of protons in an atom's nucleus, defines the element
Atomic weight - Average mass of all isotopes, defines the isotope of an element
400
An example of a continent-continent divergent plate boundary
What is the Afar Triple Junction or the Great Rift Valley?
400
Daily Double Question
How do Earth and Mars differ internally, and how did that change their magnetic fields and atmospheres?
What is the core cooling faster?
Mars is smaller → cooled faster → weak/solidifying core and less mantle convection → dynamo waned → atmosphere lost to solar wind
Earth’s sustained liquid outer core maintains a strong field and thicker atmosphere
500
Name the seven-step story culminating in our Sun and planets ~4.6 BYA - start with the Big Bang and end with our proplyd forming the solar system.
(1) Big Bang (13.77 BYA)
(2) H+He nebulae
(3) Star forms (fusion ignites)
(4) Stellar nucleosynthesis to Fe
(5) Supernova & supernova nucleosynthesis
(6) Enriched nebula forms
(7) ~4.6 BYA Sun + protoplanetary disk/solar system.
500
Briefly describe “differentiation” and one piece of evidence it provides for the Moon’s origin.
What is Differentiation? = dense Fe/Ni sank to core, lighter silicates rose; Moon has a similar composition to Earth's in elements
What is Theia? Evidence that a Theia impact splashed out some of earth's mantle/crust material to form the Moon.
500
An ancient rock has an age of 1.05 billion years.
The isotope’s half-life is 350 million years.
How many half-lives have passed, and what percentage of the daughter isotope is present?
(Hint: Pay attention to units given)
What are 3 half-lives and 87.5% of the daughter isotope present?
500
Give me the plate boundary, plate-to-plate type, and specific real-world example described below.
"When India slammed into Eurasia, the crust stacked up into the tallest mountains on Earth."
What is a convergent, continent-continent plate boundary of the Himalayas/Mount Everest?
500
Name three lines of evidence that Alfred Wegener used to support the hypothesis of Continental Drift (Pangaea), and explain briefly why each was important pieces of evidence.
What are fits of the continents, fossil evidence, and glacial striations?
1 - Continents fitting - Some pieces fit like puzzle pieces( South America + Africa)
2 - Fossil evidence - Same species on different continents
3 - Glacial striations - Same scratches from ancient glaciers on different continents