Structure of Earth
What is the outermost layer of the Earth called?
The crust
Give two examples of a natural resource
air, water, soil, minerals, and energy.
What is a meteorologist?
A person who studies short-term weather patterns and data of particular areas.
What planet has the most moons?
Saturn
What is a cosmologist?
A person who studies the origin, properties, and evolution of the universe.
What is the theory of plate tectonics?
This theory explains the phenomena of Earth's crust: seafloor spreading, the formation of major landforms, and the movement of continents. According to the theory, Earth's crust is made up of tectonic plates that fit together like a crude jigsaw puzzle. The plates move relative to one another at a rate of up to 6 inches per year!
What's the difference between renewable and nonrenewable resources?
Renewable resources are those whole supply will never run out, either because there's an unlimited supply or because the resource cycles through the environment.
Nonrenewable resources are those that take millions of years to form naturally.
What is the difference between weather and climate?
Weather is the day-to-day change in conditions in the atmosphere at a particular place on Earth.
Climate is the average weather conditions of a large region over a long period of time.
Which planet has the longest rotation period?
Venus
Put these in order from smallest to largest:
galaxy, planet, solar system, universe, Local Group,planet, solar system, galaxy, Local Group, universe
What is one similarity and one difference between the inner and the outer core of the Earth?
Both the inner and the outer core are made up of mostly iron. However, the outer core is mostly liquid iron, and the inner core is mostly solid iron. This is because extreme heat and pressure solidifies the center.
What is conservation?
Any action taken to preserve natural resources and protect the natural environment.
What is the difference between a "watch" and a "warning?"
What are the differences between the inner and the outer planets? Name at least 3.
The inner planets are smaller, rocky, and you can physically stand on them. They are also the closest planets to the sun.
The outer planets are gas giants. So they are larger, made of gas, and you can't physically stand on them. They are also the furthest planets from the sun.
What is a brown dwarf?
Brown dwarfs are known as "failed stars." They are celestial objects that are less massive than a star and more massive than a planet. They never gained enough mass to become a star, therefore gaining the name "failed star."
Provide one piece of evidence for the existence of Pangea and continental drift.
Identical fossils across oceans
The continents fit together like pieces of a puzzle
The theory of plate tectonics (seafloor spreading)
Give an example of conservation
Answers will vary. Here are a few examples:
Recycling
Habitat restoration
Utilizing renewable energies
Planting trees
Reducing overfishing
Switching to LED bulbs
What is the difference between a warm front, a cold front, and an occluded front?
warm front - warm air mass rises over a cold air mass
cold front - cold air mass overtakes and displaces a warm air mass
occluded front - a cold front catches up with a warm front and the two weather systems merge
What is the difference between rotation period and revolution period?
Rotation period is how long a planet takes to make one rotation on its axis/how long it takes to complete a "day."
Revolution period is how long a planet takes to make one full trip around the sun/how long it takes to complete a "year."
Give two pieces of evidence to support the existence of the Big Bang
Red-shift (how we tell that galaxies are moving away from one another in every direction)
Cosmic background radiation (left over from the Big Bang)
What's the difference between a constructive margin, a destructive margin, and a transform/conservative margin?
constructive - two plates are moving apart and new crust is forming. ex. seafloor spreading.
destructive - two plates are colliding and crust is being destroyed. If this happens in the ocean, you'll often end up with a deep trench as a result. If this happen on land, you'll often end up with mountain ranges as a result.
transform/conservative - two plates are sliding by one another, and no crust is created nor destroyed. This margin most commonly causes earthquakes.
Correctly sort the following into renewable and nonrenewable energies:
coal, flowing water, wind, solar energy, oil, geothermal energy, natural gas, nuclear energy
Renewable - flowing water, wind, solar energy, geothermal energy
Nonrenewable - (coal, oil, natural gas) <-- known as fossil fuels + nuclear energy
Why do we have weather and climate? And what two things does the Earth do to counteract this?
Weather and climate arise from the uneven heating of the planet. The sun's rays hit the equator more directly than the poles.
To combat this, Earth has a pattern of prevailing winds and a worldwide pattern of ocean currents. The winds bring warm air to the poles and cool air to the equator. The ocean currents bring heat to the poles.
Name two ways Earth is unique compared to the other planets in the solar system?
Its surface is 70% water
It's the only celestial body in the solar system where life is known to exist
What is the life cycle of a star?
They begin as protostars forming inside of nebulae from clouds of condensing gases and dust. After reaching a certain density and temperature, they become main sequence stars which is where they spend the majority of their lifespan. After billions of years the star may become a red giant. In time, the red giant becomes unstable and collapses, where at which point one of two things can happen:
1. It can explode as a supernova and leave behind a neutron star. A neutron star is extremely dense, and gravity sometimes causes it to collapse in on itself, producing a black hole.
2. It loses mass slowly, becoming a white dwarf.