Sun, Earth, and Moon
Third Rock From the Sun
Name ______
Earth travels around the Sun once every 365¼ days, this journey is called Earth’s orbit. The time it takes a planet to orbit the Sun once is called a year. Planets are always spinning. A day is the time it takes a planet to rotate one time; one day on Earth is 24 hours long. Earth is the only planet that has a crust split into moving plates, oxygen in its atmosphere, and liquid water and life on its surface.
Earth’s surface, where you live, is made of a very thin layer of rock. Earth’s rocky surface is called the lithosphere. Above Earth’s surface is a mixture of gases that make up the air you breathe. The air surrounding Earth is called the atmosphere. Earth’s water makes up the hydrosphere. The hydrosphere includes all the liquid water and ice on Earth’s surface, liquid water in the ground, and water vapor in the atmosphere.
The lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere interact with each other. For example, water evaporates from a lake and enters the atmosphere. Some of this water falls back to Earth as rain. The rain fills streams and rivers. Moving water wears away, weathers Earth’s rock surface – the lithosphere.
About 2/3 of the Earth’s crust is covered by water. The planet Earth consists of four major layers. The inner core is about 750 miles thick and it is made of solid metals, nickel and iron. The outer core is made of molten metals – nickel and iron – about 1,400 miles deep. The mantle is made of molten and solid rock and is about 1,800 miles thick. The thinnest layer of the Earth is the crust or lithosphere, which is made of solid rock. There are three kinds of rock that make up the thin outer layer of the Earth called the lithosphere.
Sedimentary rocks are rocks made from layers of sediments – like sand, mud, clay, and seashells. Fossils are found in between the layers of sedimentary rock. They are the remains of ancient animals and plants, the traces or impressions of living things from long ago. The fossil of a bone doesn't have any bone in it! A fossilized object has the same shape as the original object, but is chemically more like a rock.
Igneous rocks are rocks formed from cooled magma or lava (melted rock material).
Metamorphic rocks are rocks that have changed from extreme heat and pressure deep inside the Earth’s crust.
Earth’s Four Layers
Label the four layers of the Earth by writing each of the words below on of the corresponding lines.
Name of layerMaterials in each layer
Lithosphere (crust)Solid Metals (nickel & iron)
Inner coreMolten Metals (nickel & iron)
Mantle Solid Rock
Outer coreMolten Rock (magma) and Solid Rock
Earth’s crust is not one solid piece of rock!
Earth’s crust is broken into huge pieces of rock called plates. These plates are
constantly moving very slowly on the layer of the Earth called the mantle.
Scientists study the movements, known as plate tectonics, to learn how the surface
of the Earth changes.
A geologist named Alfred Wegener hypothesized that 200 million years ago
all the continents were joined into one super continent. He called this
great landmass Pangaea which means “all Earth.”
Click on Chapter 8 “Plate Motion Over Time”
Looking at a globe reveals coincidences that are difficult to ignore
1. The Eastern coast of South America seams to fit perfectly, almost like a puzzle, into the Western coast of Africa.
2. At the same time, North America can be rotated slightly, and made to fit comfortably next to Europe, and Asia.
3. Identical plant and animal fossils of the same age have been found in rocks in Africa and South America. This strongly suggests that the two were once joined. We can say that fossils help tell about the history of the Earth.
Video
1. A large body of solid rock, liquid or gases that revolve around the Sun. ______
2. Billions of stars, planets, gas, and dust held together in space by gravity. ______
3. All of the planets, stars, & celestial bodies in our Solar System belong to this galaxy: ______
4. The third planet from the Sun has breathable atmosphere & water: ______
5. The layer of gases that surround a planet: ______
6. The gas in the Earth’s atmosphere that all animals breathe: ______
7. The first layer of the atmosphere where we live and weather occurs: ______
8. A protective layer of the Earth’s atmosphere that absorbs the harmful ultraviolet rays of the Sun: ______
9. A heavy, colorless gas created in part from the burning of fossil fuels. It is also the gas that animals exhale when they breathe. ______
10. The continuing process of evaporation (liquid to a gas), condensation (clouds form) and precipitation (water returns to Earth’s surface) that recycles the Earth’s water supply: ______
11. The moving pieces of rock that form the crust of the Earth: ______
12. The process of wearing away rock and soil by water, wind, and glaciers: ______
13. A hot ball of solid metals at the center of the Earth: ______
14. The very hot liquid metals that surround the inner core: ______
15. The layer of the Earth made of thick molten rock and solid rock material: ______
16. Earth’s thin surface layer, covered with solidrock, which isbroken into huge pieces called plates:______
17. The force that pulls objects toward each other. With inertia, it keeps all the planets revolving around the Sun in a
straight line: ______
Earth Science – Plate TectonicsName ______
Earth’s crust is constantly changing. Forces within the Earth cause the crust, lithosphere, to move. The Earth's rocky outer crust solidified, hardened, billions of years ago, soon after the Earth formed. This crust is not a solid shell; it is broken up into huge, thick plates that drift atop the soft, underlying mantle.
The plates are made of rock and drift all over the globe; they move both horizontally (sideways) and vertically (up and down). Over long periods of time, the plates also change in size as their margins are added to, crushed together, or pushed back into the Earth's mantle. These plates are from 50 to 250 miles thick.
The plates are moving at a speed that has been estimated at 1 to 10 cm per year. Most of the Earth's seismic activity, volcanoes and earthquakes, occurs at the plate boundaries as they interact. Volcanoes rise up as one plate is forced under another plate. The magma and lava creates new crust. Where continental plates meet, mountains form as the plates’ edges are pushed up. Earthquakes result wherever plates grind past each other.
Around 1912, Alfred Wegener, a geologist, hypothesized that 200 million years ago all the continents were once joined into one super continent. He called this great landmass Pangaea, which means “all Earth.” The fossil record supports and gives evidence to the theory of plate tectonics. A fossil called Mesosaurus has been found in both South America and Africa.
1. What do plates float on?
Inner Core Upper mantle
2. What is the name of the super continent that formed from about 200 million years ago?
Pangaea Laurasia
3. New crust is created by _____?
Magma from the mantle Metal from the core
4. Who first proposed the theory of continental drift?
Galileo Wegener
All About the EarthVideoName ______
1. Earth’s satellite, which orbits the Earth and is our closest neighbor in space. ______
2. The Moon “shines” because it is ______the Sun’s light.
3. One star is the center of this system; all the planets, moons, and other celestial bodies orbit the Sun. This system is called a ______
4. The Earth’s ______makes the Sun look like it is moving across the sky each day.
5. The amount of time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun: 1______OR ______days.
6. The distance around the middle part of a sphere, the perimeter of a circle: ______
(the equator of planet Earth)
7. Fossils tell about the Earth’s history; fossils can be found in ______rock.
8. How is the tilt of the Earth’s axis related to the four seasons? When the Northern hemisphere is tilted
toward the Sun, we have ______. When the Northern hemisphere is tilted away the Sun,
we have ______.
9. It takes the Earth 24 hours to turn once; one day on Earth is equal to one ______
10. The layers of gases that surround a planet. ______
11. All the water on planet Earth is called the ______
12. Another name for the crust of the Earth. ______
13. The gas that water becomes during the process of evaporation: ______
14. The process by which heated water changes from a liquid to a gas: ______
15. The process by which water vapor changes from a gas to a liquid (clouds form): ______
16. The process in which green plants create nutrients from sunlight, carbon dioxide, water, and chlorophyll:
______
17. Plants get their energy for photosynthesis from the ______.
Planet Earth is surrounded by a thin layer of gases called the atmosphere, which protects its surface from the harshness of space. Heated unevenly by the Sun and spun around by Earth’s rotation, the air is forced into ever-changing swirling patterns.
Earth’s atmosphere is essential to the survival of living organisms
1. The atmosphere is an essential blanket for life on Earth, keeping the planet at a comfortable temperature; it holds in the Sun’s warmth.
2. It protects life on Earth’s surface from dangerous radiation. The atmosphere blocks much of the Sun’s incoming ultraviolet rays.
3. The atmosphere allows living things to breathe.
The atmosphere is a mixture of gases, mainly nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%), the remaining 1% is made of gases, water, and dust. Take a vertical slice of Earth’s atmosphere and it forms several distinct layers: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere. The layer closest to the crust where most of our weather occurs is the troposphere. The temperature decreases with height in the Troposphere because rising air expands and cools.
The circulating atmosphere produces strong winds, blowing in a pattern caused by the Sun’s heat and Earth’s rotation. Satellites monitor the world’s temperature in the troposphere. Scientists believe the world’s temperature in the Troposphere is warming because extra carbon dioxide enhances the green house effect.
This increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes mostly from the burning of coal and oil in factories and automobiles, and the destruction of rain forests, which absorb the carbon dioxide gas. As more forests are cut down, leaving fewer trees to absorb carbon dioxide, there is an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Earth’s Atmosphere
1. The Earth is tilted at about 23 ½ and it revolves around the Sun.
This is why we have ______.
2. What is the name of the star in our Solar System? ______
3. We have day and night because of the Earth’s ______
4. How much of the Earth is illuminated by the Sun at all times? ______
5. Give 3 reasons why living things thrive on planet Earth:
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
6. The continuous path of an object (the Moon) around another object (the Earth) is called a
______
7. It takes Earth 24 hours to spin once. Earth’s ______is why we have day and night.
8. Earth’s diameter is about 8,000 miles, how many miles would you travel if you went all the way around
the world following the equator? Earth’s circumference (C=3.14 d) is about______miles.
9. Earth’s inner core made of ______
10. Name the layer of the atmosphere where our weather occurs: ______
11. The blanket of gases that surrounds planet Earth is called: ______
12. The atmosphere: blocks out harmful ______, creates the greenhouse effect which traps in
sunlight and keeps Earth’s ______steady, creates clouds by collecting water
evaporated by the Sun which give us rain and other forms of ______, and gives living
things ______to breathe.
13. The ______keeps all the planets orbiting around the Sun
About 2/3 of Earth’s lithosphere is covered with water. There is also water in the atmosphere, we call it water vapor. Water can be found at the North and South Poles too. All of Earth’s water makes up the hydrosphere.
And without water, there would be no life. Earth is the only planet we know of where water exists in all three states: solid, liquid, and gas. As a liquid, it blankets most of Earth, averaging a depth of two miles in the oceans. As a solid, ice, it covers the North Pole and South Pole. As a gas, it forms clouds in our atmosphere and influences the weather.
Drought hits a region when its normal rainfall drops off for a long period. In the 1930’s drought and bad farming methods in the Great Plains combined to create the Dust Bowl. Windstorms whipped up about 350 million tons of parched soil from Texas to North Dakota, carrying it as far east as the Atlantic Ocean. However, almost all the environmental damage was done in the Great Plains region. The Dust Bowl was one of history’s worst environmental disasters.
We use names like Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. But really Earth has just one big ocean, and its impact on the climate is huge. The Northern Hemisphere has most of Earth’s land, which heats and cools quickly, while the Southern Hemisphere has more water, which heats and cools more slowly. As a result, the Northern Hemisphere tends to see hotter summers and colder winters. The Southern Hemisphere generally has milder weather with fewer temperature extremes.
All humans are made up of about 65 percent water. Water helps regulate our temperature, carries important nutrients and oxygen, and removes wastes. The chemical reactions that turn nutrients into energy have to take place in water as well. Each of us needs to consume water each day to survive.
Earth recycles everything. Water’s recycling process begins when it falls from clouds as rain or other precipitation. Most of it runs into rivers, lakes, and oceans or goes underground. Plants and animals use some water. The Sun’s heat causes water to evaporate, meaning it becomes a gas, called water vapor, which rises into the air. The water vapor in the air cools and condenses into droplets of liquid water, which form clouds, this is called condensation. Eventually, the droplets in the clouds get too heavy and return to the Earth’s surface, continuing the water cycle.
Evaporation
Liquid water evaporates
From Earth’s surface and enters the
atmosphere as water vapor.
Mount Everest in the Himalayas is the highest place on Earth – 29,035 feet above sea level. Yet the rocks and fossils at its top came from an ancient ocean floor. How did that happen?
Earth’s crust is like a jigsaw puzzle; it is broken up into huge, thick plates that drift atop the soft, underlying mantle. The plates are made of rock and drift all over the globe; they move horizontally and vertically. They change in size as their margins are added to, crushed together, or pushed back into the Earth’s mantle. The upper mantle beneath the plates is hot and moldable. This allows the plates to slide around. Sometimes they slip past each other; other times they collide.
All of these movements cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. But the collisions can also make Earth’s crust buckle and form mountains, like Everest. The motion of tectonic plates is the biggest force reshaping Earth’s surface.
Most earthquakes occur at the edges of tectonic plates, along fault lines, fractures in the uppermost crust. Average plate movement is about one inch a year. The southern half of the California Pacific Coast lies across the San Andreas Fault. Some scientists believe that within 50 million years, this coast will break off completely and form a new landmass.
Even without earthquakes, Earth’s crust takes a beating. Wind and water needed only 65 million years to weather and erode limestone, sandstone, and other rocks to create the Grand Canyon. Meanwhile, the weight and size of glaciers, huge rivers of ice, carve valleys and fjords out of solid rock. Human activities also reshape Earth. Coal mining practices in many parts of the U.S. cause whole mountaintops to be sheared off, as seen in West Virginia.
Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico was formed by water eating away at limestone and other vulnerable rocks for thousands of years. Like most caves, Carlsbad also teems with life. Its most famous residents are about one million bats.
About 10,000 tons of space rock head toward Earth every day. Almost all of these meteors burn up in the atmosphere or do no damage. But some leave, well, a lasting impression. To date, scientists have found more than 150 impact craters worldwide, but the true number will never be known because many are covered by water or plant life. A 55-yard wide iron-and-nickel rock left a crater near Winslow, Arizona, 50,000 years ago. It slammed into Earth at 25,000 miles per hour!
Earth Science – Earth’s LayersName ______