EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE

1
EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE

• WHAT YOU
• NEED TO KNOW

2
Explain how evidence from stars and other
celestial objects provide information about the
processes that cause changes in the composition
and scale of the physical universe.

• Describe that stars produce energy from nuclear
  reactions and that processes in stars have led to
  the formation of all elements beyond hydrogen and
  helium.
• Describe the current scientific evidence that
  supports the theory of the explosive expansion of
  the universe, the Big Bang, over 10 billion years
  ago.

3
STARS AND ELEMENTS

• Elements heavier than lithium are all synthesized
  in stars. During the late stages of a stars life
  cycle, massive stars burn helium to carbon,
  oxygen, silicon, sulfur, and iron.
• Elements heavier than iron are produced in two
  ways in the outer envelopes of super-giant stars
  and in the explosion of a supernovae. All these
  heavy elements are produced in stars through
  nuclear fusion. All carbon-based life on Earth is
  literally composed of stardust. Most of the
  material in our universe, however, is still
  hydrogen.
• Keep in mind that our Sun is a star and currently
  does, and will continue to do, these things.

4
BIG BANG THEORY

• The Big Bang Theory is the dominant scientific
  theory about the origin of the universe.
  According to the Big Bang, the universe was
  created sometime between 10 billion and 20
  billion years ago from a cosmic explosion that
  hurled matter and in all directions.
• There are three tests of the Big Bang theory (the
  expansion of the universe, the abundance of light
  elements, and cosmic microwave background
  radiation). These tests are supports for this
  theory.
• The universe is expanding because galaxies can be
  observed moving away from us at great speeds.
  There is a red shift in the light from these.
• Light elements, including H and He, make up the
  majority of elements in the universe.
• The Big Bang Theory received its strongest
  confirmation when the cosmic radiation was
  discovered in 1964 by Arno Penzias and Robert
  Wilson, who later won the Nobel Prize for this
  discovery.
• Although the Big Bang Theory is widely accepted,
  it still leaves a number of tough, unanswered
  questions.

5
Explain that many processes occur in patterns
within the Earths systems.

• Explain the relationships of the oceans to the
  lithosphere and atmosphere (e.g., transfer of
  energy, ocean currents, and landforms).
• Summarize the relationship between the climatic
  zone and the resultant biomes.
• Explain climate and weather patterns associated
  with certain geographical locations and features
  (e.g., tornado alley, tropical hurricanes, and
  lake effect snow).

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EARTH AND CLIMATE

• Global circulations explain how air and storm
  systems travel over the Earth's surface. The
  global circulation would be simple if the Earth
  did not rotate, if the rotation was not tilted
  relative to the sun, and if Earth had no water.
• The sun heats the entire Earth, but where the sun
  is more directly overhead it heats the Earth and
  atmosphere more. The result is that the equator
  becomes very hot with the hot air rising into the
  upper atmosphere. That air would then move toward
  the poles where it would become very cold and
  sink, then return to the equator. One large area
  of high pressure would be at each of the poles
  with a large belt of low pressure around the
  equator. However, since the earth rotates, since
  the axis is tilted, and since there is more land
  mass in the northern hemisphere than in the
  southern hemisphere, the actual global pattern is
  much more complicated than this.

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EARTH AND CLIMATE

• Usually, fair and dry/hot weather is associated
  with high pressure, with rainy and stormy weather
  is associated with low pressure. You can see the
  results of these circulations on a globe.
• Look at the number of deserts located along the
  30N/S latitude around the world. Now, look at
  the region between 50-60 N/S latitude. These
  areas, especially the west coast of continents,
  tend to have more precipitation due to more
  storms moving around the earth at these
  latitudes.

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CLIMATE AND BIOMES

• Biomes are defined as "the world's major
  communities, classified according to the
  predominant vegetation and characterized by
  adaptations of organisms to that particular
  environment.
• The importance of biomes cannot be overestimated.
  Biomes have changed and moved many times during
  the history of life on Earth. More recently,
  human activities have drastically altered these
  communities. Thus, conservation and preservation
  of biomes should be a major concern to all.

The five biomes are aquatic, tundra, forests,
deserts, and grasslands. Think about what it
would be like to live in each!
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EARTH AND CLIMATE

• Tornado alley This is where warm, humid air from
  the Gulf of Mexico collides with cooler, drier
  air from Canada. These collisions create the huge
  thunderstorms that can form tornadoes.

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EARTH AND CLIMATE

• Tropical hurricanes The terms "hurricane" and
  "typhoon" are other names for a strong "tropical
  cyclone". Five factors are necessary to possibly
  form tropical cyclones
• Warm waters (or, more specifically, the moisture
  in the air above them) are the energy source for
  tropical cyclones. When these storms move over
  land or cooler areas of water, they weaken
  rapidly.
• Upper level conditions must be conducive to
  thunderstorm formation.
• A pre-existing weather disturbance. This is most
  frequently provided by tropical
  wavesnon-rotating areas of thunderstorms that
  move through the world's tropical oceans.
• A distance of approximately 10 degrees or more
  from the equator, so that the Coriolis effect is
  strong enough to initiate the cyclone's rotation.
  
• Lack of vertical wind shear (change in wind
  velocity or direction over height). High levels
  of wind shear can break apart the vertical
  structure of a tropical cyclone.

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EARTH AND CLIMATE

• Lake effect snow Lake-generated snow squalls
  form when cold air, passing for long distances
  over the relatively warm waters of a large lake,
  picks up moisture and heat and is then forced to
  drop the moisture in the form of snow upon
  reaching the downwind shore. Lake-effect snows
  are common over the Great Lakes region because
  these large bodies of water can hold their summer
  heat well into the winter, rarely freeze over,
  and provide the long distance which allows the
  air to gain the heat and moisture required to
  fuel the snow squalls.

Lake-effect snows are most pronounced and
effective wherever terrain features such as small
hills or mountains are oriented along the lee
shores. This is what it would be like in
Cleveland!
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EARTH AND CLIMATE

• Moisture for storms comes from large bodies of
  water, primarily oceans, and are pushed over the
  continents by air currents. When this moist air
  comes over a land and hits a mountain, it is
  forced up the range where it cools, condenses,
  and often falls as rain. Mountains often receive
  much more precipitation than the areas around
  them.

As this air pushes over the top of the mountain
and down the other side, it can again expand,
although it has now lost much of its moisture.
This "Rain Shadow" effect can be so strong that
the area behind a mountain is a desert. In fact,
all the deserts of North America are influenced
by this "Rain Shadow" effect.
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Explain the 4.5 billion-year-history of Earth and
the 4 billion-year-history of life on Earth based
on observable scientific evidence in the geologic
record.

• 1. Explain that gravitational forces govern the
  characteristics and movement patterns of the
  planets, comets, and asteroids in the solar
  system.
• 2. Explain how geologic time can be estimated
  by multiple methods (e.g., rock sequences, fossil
  correlation and radiometric dating).
• 3. Describe how organisms on Earth contributed
  to the dramatic change in oxygen content of
  Earths early atmosphere.

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SOLAR SYSTEM

• How does gravity work? There are two ideas you
  need to know. These ideas work throughout the
  universe. The more massive an object is, the more
  gravity it has. The closer two objects are, the
  stronger the gravitational pull between them. SO,
  putting these two rules together, the more
  massive and the closer two objects are, the
  greater the gravitational attraction between
  them. Think of Newton when you think of gravity!
  Think of how early scientists got in trouble for
  thinking the Sun, rather than the Earth, was the
  center of our solar system!

Asteroids are rocky lumps of material, sometimes
known as minor planets and exist mostly between
Mars and Jupiter. Comets are a bit like giant
dirty ice-balls with diameters between five and
fifty kilometers. They, like the planets, are
kept in orbit by the force of gravity.
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GEOLOGIC TIME

• Fossil correlation Fossils can often be used to
  estimate dates of rocks in which they are
  embedded. They can also be used to make guesses
  about what earlier times were like (climate,
  etc).
• Radiometric dating Rocks often contain
  radioactive materials that are decaying at a
  constant rate. Looking at the fractions of these
  materials now present helps us date things.
  Carbon dating is a good example.

16
Describe the finite nature of Earths resources
and those human activities that can conserve or
delete Earths resources.

• Use of resources
• Urban growth and waste disposal
• Farming (C and N cycles, erosion, crop rotation,
  fertilizers)
• Pest control
• Global warming
• Exponential population growth

17
Explain the processes that move and shape Earths
surface.

• Explain how the slow movement of material within
  Earth results from
• a. thermal energy transfer (conduction and
  convection) from the deep interior
• b. the action of gravitational forces on
  regions of different density.
• Explain the results of plate tectonic activity
  (e.g., magma generation, igneous intrusion,
  metamorphism, volcanic action, earthquakes,
  faulting, and folding).
• Explain sea-floor spreading and continental drift
  using scientific evidence (e.g., fossil
  distributions, magnetic reversals, and
  radiometric dating).

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CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Wegener was intrigued (like people before
him) by plant and animal fossils found on the
matching coastlines of South America and Africa,
now widely separated by the Atlantic Ocean. He
reasoned that it was impossible for most of these
organisms to have swum or have been transported
across the ocean. To him, the presence of
identical fossil species along the coastal parts
of Africa and South America was the best evidence
that the two continents were once joined.
His theory was also supported by the discovery of
both fossils of tropical plants and dinosaurs in
Antarctica that led him to the conclusion that
this now frozen land once must have been situated
closer to the equator where lush, swampy
vegetation could grow. His downfall HOW?
WHAT FORCES?
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EARTHS STRUCTURE

• In the picture, you can see the thin crust, over
  the mantle and then the core. Most of the mantle
  and core are liquid and can flow.

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PLATE TECTONICS

• The Earths crust is made up of a dozen or so
  major plates and several minor plates. These
  tectonic plates are constantly on the move. The
  fastest plate races along at 15 centimeters (6
  inches) per year while the slowest plates crawl
  at less than 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) per year.
• You'll notice that most plates are part
  continental and part oceanic. Continental plates
  tend to be made of lighter, less dense rocks and
  oceanic plates are made of heavier, more dense
  rocks.

What causes these plates to move? Since plates
move, do they run into each other?
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CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES
In a contest between a dense oceanic plate and a
less dense continental plate, its the dense
oceanic plate that sinks. In this case, one plate
is pulled beneath another (subduction), forming a
deep trench. The long, narrow zone where the two
plates meet is called a subduction zone. Look for
curved volcanic mountain ranges with deep
trenches alongside. Boundaries like this are
known to produce historic earthquakes of great
magnitudes.
When two oceanic plates collide, the plate that
is older, therefore colder and denser, is the one
that will sink.
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MORE ON CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES

• The Himalayan mountain range provides a
  spectacular example of continent vs. continent
  collision. When two continental plates meet
  head-on, sometimes neither one can sink because
  both plates are too buoyant.
• It is here that the highest mountains in the
  world grow. At these boundaries solid rock is
  crumpled and faulted. Huge slivers of rock, many
  kilometers wide are thrust on top of one another,
  forming a towering mountain range.

Look at how older rocks that are colder and
denser may now be layers under younger rocks!
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DIVERGENT BOUNDARIES

• If plates collide, can
• they also separate?

An example of divergent plate boundaries is in
East Africa where a spreading process has already
torn Saudi Arabia away from the rest of the
African continent, forming the Red Sea. A new
spreading center may be developing under Africa
along the East African Rift Zone.
Geologists believe that, if spreading continues,
the three plates that meet at the edge of the
present-day African continent will separate
completely, allowing the Indian Ocean to flood
the area and making the easternmost corner of
Africa (the Horn of Africa) a large island.
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TRANSFORM PLATE BOUNDARIES
At transform plate boundaries plates grind past
each other side by side. Unlike convergent or
divergent boundaries, the plates do not go under
or over each other. A good example of this type
of boundary is the one that separates the North
American plate from the Pacific plate along the
San Andreas fault, a famous transform plate
boundary thats responsible for many of
Californias earthquakes. The San Andreas fault
is unusual because most transform boundaries
occur on the ocean floor. Movement along the San
Andreas (or any other fault) can occur either in
sudden jolts or in a slow, steady motion called
creep. Which is a bigger problem for us here on
Earth?
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CARTOON ACTIVITY

• Take your cartoon and place it in line with the
  others so that the pictures tell a story. This is
  very similar to how we take fossil pieces and put
  them together to tell a story about the past.