Please Note this is Part 1…Part 2 will be posted on Friday evening.
Earth Environmental Science MSL Study Guide
Astronomy
Largest to Smallest – Hierarchy of our universe
The Universe is made of galaxies which are made of many stars, which can have solar systems. Earth is a satellite planet of one particular star - our sun.
Kepler’s laws of Planetary Motion
The first law - shape of a planet's orbit is an ellipse with the sun at one focus. The second law - the speed of a planet increases as its distance decreases. The third law – there’s a proportional relationship between distance of a planet to the sun and the time to complete a revolution around the sun.
Everything is in Motion!!! Our solar system is moving at 43,000 mph toward the star Vega. Our Galaxy spins like a pinwheel. Our Sun takes 225 million years to revolve around our Galaxy and travels at 483,000 mph. The universe is expanding/stretching and the galaxies are also moving further apart.
Types of Motions
•Revolution - Earth moves around the Sun (1 time per year/365 days)
•Rotation – turning on our axis, creates day/night (24 hours)
• Precession—change in direction of the axis, without changing the tilt, it alters the stars our poles face, but does not affect the seasons.
• Nutation—wobbling along the precessional axisover an 18 year period (change the angle of our tilt ½ degree up or down). It occurs because of gravitational pull of the Moon on us, it causes slightseasonal effects
Random MSL “Space” Facts
- Our seasons are caused by the tilt (23.5 degrees) of the Earth on its axis.
- The gravitational interaction between the Earth and moon causes the tides.
- Barycenter— point between two objects where their masses are balanced. When a planet orbits a star, both objects are orbiting around a point that lies outside the center of the larger body.
- What is the shape of the Earth and why? Basic shape = sphere, with a slight bulging at the equator as a result of the spinning of the earth.
Energy Production by Our Big Star - the Sun
- Radiation is the transfer of energy (heat) through space by electromagnetic waves that travel out in all directions.
- The sun emits light, heat, and ultraviolet (UV) rays which are part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Fusion - thehigh speed collision of two or more atomic nuclei, joining them together to form a new type of atomic nucleus, this process powers stars. The energy our Sun emits into space is produced by these nuclear reactions in its core where four hydrogen nuclei are smashed into a helium releasing energy.
- Fission - the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts, producing gamma rays and releasing energy.
- Fusion and Fission produce much more heat energy than chemical reactionslike Combustion, which isa rapid chemical process that produces heat and usually light.
What is Sunlight?
It is a mixture of electromagnetic (EM) waves ranging from infrared (IR) to ultraviolet rays (UV). It includes visible light, which is in between IR and UV in the electromagnetic spectrum. Energy leaves the sun as gamma rays (or super-energized photons) produced in fusion and it makes itsway toward Earth. They are absorbed and re-emitted at lower frequencies as they travel. When electromagnetic radiation strikes the Earth’s atmosphere, part of it passes through,and some is absorbed. Greenhouse gases make the atmosphere absorb more heat, reducing the amount of outbound EM waves that pass through. Known as the greenhouse effect, this is the reason why heat can build up even more. UV rays are absorbed by the ozone layer and re-emitted as heat, eventually heating up the stratosphere. Some of this heat is re-radiated to outer space,and some is sent to the Earth’s surface where it heats it up.
The Electromagnetic Spectrum (arranged from shortest to longest wavelength)
Electromagnetic Spectrum- the arrangement of electromagnetic radiation according to wavelength.
Gamma rays- Shortest wave.Highest frequency.Given off during atomic bomb explosions.
X-rays- High radiation wavelengths, used to see atomic structure, can reveals objects’ temperature.
Ultraviolet light (UV) - sunburn, damage to DNA, most is absorbed by ozone layer.
Visible light- between UV and IR, the sun and stars similar to it emit most of their radiation in this range
Infrared (IR)-just after the visible spectrum, Night vision goggles - senses temperature
Microwave- mid-size between IR and radio waves, Wifi, microwave ovens
Radio wave- Longest waves.Lowest frequency.Antennaes
MSL EM Spectrum Terms to Know
Wavelength- The horizontal distance separating successive crests or troughs of a wave.
Frequency- How many waves go by per unit time (second)
photons – packets of light energy
How does solar energy make life possible on Earth?
Plants and other autotrophs use photosynthesis to capture the energy of the sun and make chemical energy. The word photosynthesis means to make, using light. Autotrophs use water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to produce oxygen and high energy sugars (this is your chemical energy). The process takes place in a special organ inside the plant called a chloroplast. In the chloroplast a series of reactions happen that convert the materials into high energy sugars.
What causes the seasons?
THE TILT of the Earth on its axis causes the seasons!!!! The amount of solar energy striking the surface of the Earth at a certain location changes as the Earth revolves around the sun. During the summer months we receive more direct rays because the Northern hemisphere is pointing toward the sun (even though we are further away during summer). In the winter we receive more slanted rays because the Northern hemisphere is pointing away from the sun. More direct rays = warmer temperatures, More slanted rays = cooler temperatures
Differential (Different) Heating of the Earth
Land heats FASTER than water & Cools Faster than Water. Land does a good job of ABSORBING radiation and good absorbers (taking in) make goodemitters (giving off).
Protection from harmful radiation
Dangerous particles are forced to move around Earth by our magnetic field. Particles can enter over the poles causing auroras (Northern and Southern Lights). Other high energy particle radiation drifts around two large donut-shaped regions calledthe radiation belts.Invisible magnetic fields are the reason that particle radiation moves in this way.
Geology
MSL Terms to Know
•Crust - Thin, rocky outer layer
•Mantle - Below crust, divided into upper (Soft, weak layer that is easily deformed) and lower (more rigid, but very hot and capable of gradual flow due to physical differences
•Core - center part, below the mantle, composed of inner (behaves like a solid) and outer (liquid layer, has convective flow, generates our magnetic field) composed of iron-nickel alloy
•Lithosphere - The crust and upper mantle of the earth. It is cool, rigid, and solid.
What is the Rock Cycle?
Rockcycle is the name given to the process in which one type of rock is transformed into another by processes occurring on Earth. The relationship between the three rock types Cycle (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic)
Rock Types and Terms
- Igneous rock - formed by crystallization of magma. They are formed using heat from Earth’s interior.
- Sedimentary rock formed from weathered, transported, deposited, compacted, and cemented rock. Sedimentary rocks generally occur in layers or beds that range in thickness from inches to thousands of feet. They are formed through external processes that are powered ultimately by the sun.
•Bedding - the sedimentary process where layers of sediment are layed down in well-defined planes horizontally to the land surface. The sediments that are the lowest were the earliest to be deposited, and are therefore the oldest.
•Weathering - rocks are broken down by water, air,and living things.
- Metamorphic rockrock transformed by heat, pressure, and/or chemically active fluids.
•Foliated - Foliated metamorphic rocks can be easily identified by their rock cleavage, or flakes. When these rocks break, they form uniform thin, flat fragments. Foliated metamorphic rocks are are transformed from their parent rocks through heat and pressure. Example: Slate
Plate Tectonics
Plate tectonics- the theory that states that the uppermost mantle and overlying crust, behave as a strong, rigid layer known as the lithosphere.
plate - rigid section of the lithosphere that moves as a unit over the material of the asthenosphere.
What causes (the mechanism) plate movement?
1. Convection (Convective Flow) in the mantle drives plate movement. Unequal distribution of heat (changes in temperature) causes convection in the mantle driving plate motion.
2. Slab-pull or gravity-pull - plate motion in which cool, dense oceanic crust sinks and pulls lithosphere with it. It aids in convective.
3. Ridge-push – gravity aids the oceanic lithosphere in sliding down the ridge, contributing to plate motion.
4. Mantle plumes - masses of super-hot mantle material that moves toward the surface.
Plate motions provide the mechanism by which mantle rocks melt to form magma. Most volcanic material is produced at divergent plate boundaries (along the oceanic ridge system) where lithosphere pulls apart and there is less pressure on underlying rocks. At Convergent plate boundaries the descending plate partially melts and the Magma slowly rises up forming Volcanic island arcs (in the ocean) or Continental volcanic arcs (some mountains). Volcanoes can also form within a rigid plate when plumes of hot mantle material rises forming a hot spot (intraplate igneous activity).
Types of Plate Boundaries
- Divergent boundaries (spreading centers) where two plates move apart. When plates move apart it creates new lithosphere. The relative age of the lithosphere can be determined at these boundaries (younger rock is closer to where the plates are pushing apart). Two oceanic, two continental, or one of each can diverge at a divergent boundary.
•Oceanic ridges - elevated zones on the oceanfloor. The rifts at the crest of ridges represent divergent plate boundaries. Seafloor spreading produces new oceanic lithosphere.
•Rift valleys are deep faulted structures found along divergent plate boundaries. They can develop on the seafloor or on land.
- Convergent boundaries where two plates move together. It can be two oceanic, two continental, or one of each.
•subduction is when one lithospheric plate is pushed into the mantle beneath a second plate. When two continents collide it forms mountains.
- Transform fault boundaries where two plates grind past each other without production/destruction of the lithosphere. It can be two oceanic, two continental, or one of each.
Volcano Vocabulary
Magma is the hot, molten or semi-molten material located under ground.
Lava is the molten or semi-molten material located at the surface of the Earth.
Viscosity is the resistance of something to flow (high viscosity = does not easily – thick gel-like, low viscosity = flows easily – runny like syrup)
Pyroclastic material are fragments of preexisting rock that are blown out by the force of the eruption and range in size from ash (small) to blocks (large).
What determines Lava Characteristics?
- Composition -If its silica content is high the lava is highly viscous (or slow moving) and the amount of dissolved gases will be high because it is a thick goopy lava that holds gases in. Viscous magma produces a more violent eruption.
- Gases -The main gasses that are released during a volcanic eruption are water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur, and lesser amounts of chlorine, hydrogen, and argon, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur compounds like sulfur oxide or sulfur dioxide.
- Temperature – The higher the temperature, means runnier (low viscosity) lava.
How can Volcanoes affect climate?
Volcanoes affect the climate through the gases and dust particles thrown into the atmosphere during eruptions. The effect of the volcanic gases and dust may warm or cool the earth's surface, depending on how sunlight interacts with the volcanic material. Dust tossed into the dry upper atmosphere, the stratosphere, can remain for weeks to months before they finally settle. These particles block sunlight and cause some cooling over large areas of the earth. Reflective hazes of sulfur droplets can cause significant cooling of the earth for as long as two years after a major sulfur-bearing eruption. Over long periods of time (thousands or millions of years) multiple eruptions of giant volcanoes, that release large amounts of water and carbon dioxide, could raise carbon dioxide levels enough to cause significant global warming.
How could you predict where volcanoes and earthquakes might occur on a map?
You could predict where volcanoes might occur, because they are usually found at plate boundaries (where two plates meet). Go to this site to see where plate boundaries, volcanoes, and earthquakes are likely to occur:
What are the hazards of volcanoes?
One of the greatest volcanic hazards are lahars. Lahars are similar to pyroclastic flows but contain more water. Lahars form 1) from debris avalanches that contain water from snow and ice which, when released, mixes with loose debris to form a lahar, 2) from pyroclastic flows and surges which release water that mixes with debris, 3) from pyroclastic flows which dilute themselves with river water as they travel downslope, 4) from natural dam failure (i.e. a lava flow dam or crater lake), and 5) from rainfall on loose material such as ash. Lahars that contain 20 to 60 percent sediment are usually very turbulent. Lahars that contain greater than 80 percent sediment usually flow more smoothly (laminar flow). These smooth flowing lahars usually travel much faster than their turbulent counterparts and can float boulders, cars, buildings, and bridges.
Earthquake Vocabulary
•Focus: The point within the earth where the earthquake start – The released energy radiates in all directions from the focus in the form of waves (seismic waves).
•Epicenter – The location on the surface directly above the focus.
•P waves, also called compressional waves or primary waves, move through material by squeezing and stretching the material in the same direction as the wave is moving.
•S waves, also called shear waves or secondary waves, move materials at right angles to the wave direction.
•Aftershock - The movement that follow a major earthquake (smaller earthquakes)
•Foreshock - Small earthquakes before a major earthquake
•Magnitude is a measure of the size of an earthquake based on the amount of ground motion measured instrumentally with a seismograph.
How is magnitude measured?
An increase in magnitude of one whole number represents a factor of 30 increase in energy release. An increase in magnitude of one whole number, such as from 5.6 to 6.6,represents a factor of 10 increase in ground motion. Great = > 8 (few yearly), Major = 7 - 7.9, Strong = 6 - 6.9, Moderate = 5 - 5.9, Light = 4 - 4.9, Minor = 3 - 3.9 (many yearly)
What causes Earthquakes?
At plate boundaries, as plates slide past each other their rough edges get stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. These forces cause the rocks to bend and store elastic energy. Resistance caused by internal friction (between plates) that holds the rocks together is overcome. Rocks slip past each other at the focus location (the weakest point). The movement releases energy. The rocks/plates snap back into place this is called ELASTIC REBOUND.
What is the Geologic history of North Carolina and the Southeast and when did these events occur?
Go to the following link to find out
The Biosphere and Human Impact
Biosphere is the area on Earth from the bottom of the ocean up into the atmosphere where life can exist. It can be divided into smaller subunits:
•Biome–areas with certain abiotic conditions that influence the types of biotic factors that can live there (example Desert Biome - dry, hot, cactus, scorpion, snake, very little precipitation, etc. )
•Ecosystem – Biotic/Living and Abiotic/Non-living
•Community - Different Populations Interacting
•Population - All Organisms of One Type
What things determine the type of biome you have in an area?
abiotic - nonliving factors in an area, they can influence organisms, like temperature, humidity, precipitation, altitude, latitude, etc.
biotic- living factors in an area, they also influence organisms (other plants and animals)