Cset

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Solar System

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The sun and its 9 orbiting planets

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The Sun

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Composed essentially of hydrogen and is very massive with a mass 750 times the amount of all planets combined. Is a medium sized star and is only one of billions of stars in our milky way galaxy

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Planets in order from the Sun

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Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto

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Innermost planets

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Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Composed mostly of rocky metalic material

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Outermost planets

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Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Composed mostly of hydrogen, helium, ices, amonia and methane

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Jupiter

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Is a gas giant exception, composed largely of hydrogen and is best thought of as a 1/2 formed sun

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Planets with satelite moons

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Earth (1), Mars (2), Jupiter (8), Pluto (2)

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Distinguishing features of Jupiter

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giant red spot

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Planets with significant atmospheres

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Earth and Venus

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Astronomical Units (AU)

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used to measure distances from the sun. Sun-Earth distance- AU=1. The closest planet is Mercury with AU=.39 and the furthest is Pluto AU=39.4

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Asteroids

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Lie in a belt between Mars and Jupiter and orbit into the same rotational sense as the rest of the planets. Rangein size from the largest (diameter of about 1,000km) to others too smakk to have any perceptible gravity. Composition is generally carbonaceous or rocky-metallic

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Comets

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Compositions have significant amounts of ice and water. Orbits are more accurately elliptical that that of planets or asteroids and when approaching the sun they exhibit tails or comas as a result of their ice being boiled or sublimated off by heating

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Earth's rotation and the time of day

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Because the Earth rotates once upon its axis every 24 hours the time of day varies from point to point on its surface. There are 36o longitude lines in one degree increments. Every hour a given location on Earth;s surface rotates through 15 degrees of longitude

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Position of the Sun in the sky

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The west to east rotation of the Earth makes the sun appear to "rise" and "fall" in the sky each day. The tilting of the Earth's axis accounts for the difference in length of days from season to season with the effects being more pronounced at higher latitudes (opposite seasonal phasing in Southern Hemishpere)

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Galaxies

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Large collections of stars which are composed not just of stars but also hydrogen, dust particles and other gases

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Stars

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Essentially large masses of hydrogen which have been pulled together under the influence of gravity. With sufficient amounts of hydrogen and gravitational pressure, fusion is initiated in the stars interior which causes the star to glow

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The Big Bang Theory

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The theory that the universe was formed about 14 billion years ago in one giant explosion, or "big bang". From the explosion, the bits of gasand matter from the stars and planets flew out in all directions. Some scientists think that the explosion continues to this day, which explains why billions of stars, planets and other heavenly bodies are constantly moving deeper and deeper into space

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Minerals

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The building blocks of rocks. Some rocks consist of only 2 minerals while others are made up of dozens. Minerals give rocks their basic qualities- color, hardness, texture, density and luster. Formed as magma cools. Ex of minerals: Quartz, calcite, hornblende, mica

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Igneous rocks

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when magma cools (either inside the earth or outside it as lava) it turns into igneous rock
Ex: Granit, Obsidian, Basalt

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Sedimentary Rocks

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Made of sediment, tiny grains of sand, silt, clay, or bits of other rocks. The sediment settles at the bottom of lakes, rivers or oceans and slowly hardens over time. The rocks "grow" as more sediment settles and becomes layered

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Metamorphic Rocks

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Form from sedimentary, igneous or other metamorphic rocks that have metamorphosed, or changed over time. Heat and pressure work together to change the minerals in the original rocks into new metamorphic rocks, all without melting the rocks
Ex: Slate, marble, quartz

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Rivers

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Bodies of water that begin at a source and flow between banks of Earth to a mouth where they empty into a large body of water

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Gully or Rill Erosion

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When water runs rapidly downhill and it carves gullies in the land, taking with it large amounts of dirt and rock

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Sheet Erosion

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water running over gentle slopes takes Earth with it as it moves from a large area

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Deposition

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Rivers and streams are the great movers of the Earth. When rivers runinto lakes or oceans they dump tons of dirt that they have carried for long distances. The dirt is called silt when it is deposited in standing water

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Core

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At the very center of the Earth. Made up of molten rock. Solid inner core and liquid outer core. Radius of about 2,100 miles

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Mantle

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Next layer after the core, beneath the crust. A layer of very hot, sometimes molten rock. about 1,800 miles thick

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Crust

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The surface of the Earth. A thin layer of rock. Ranges from about 3 miles thick under the deepest parts of the Ocean to 22 miles thick under mountain peaks

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Lithosphere

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Solid outermost shell. Includes the crust and the uppermost mantle. Is fragmented into tectonic plates conductively cooling surface layer of the Earth's convection system

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Earthquakes

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caused when the tectonic plates that make up the Earth's surface collide, seperate or scrape against each other

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Plate tectonics

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Theory that explains the observed evidence for large scale motions of the Earth's lithosphere. The lithosphere is broken up into tectonic plates. These plates move in relation to one another at one of 3 types of boundaries:
Convergent- or collision boundaries
Divergent- or spreading boundaries
Transform
*Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building and oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries

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Mountains

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Ususally produced by the movement of lithospheric plates. Forces surface rock upwards, creating a land higher than the surrounding features

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Volcanoes

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Created when 2 tectonic plates collide, form a mountain top and blow their tops. Composed of fiery igneous rock, ash and many different kinds of layers of dirt and mud that have hardened from previous eruptions

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Evidence of plate tectonics

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Evidence for continental drift and underlying plate tectonics:
1. Continents look like seperated pieces of a jigsaw puzzle (Pangea- supercontinent 165 million years ago)
2. Fossils found along edge of continents suggest species similarities that would only make sense if 2 continents had been joined
3. There's a large amount of seismic, volcanic and geothermal activities along plate boundaries
4. There are ridges (1.e. Mid-Atlantic ridge) where plates are seperating due to lava welling up between them as they pull apart. Also, mountain ranges being formed where plates push up against each other (ex: the Himilayas are still growing)

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Effects of Plate Tectonics on Climate, Geography and Distribution of Organisms

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Alter the distribution of the continental land masses. Change continental elevations: colliding continental land masses are thrust upward, thereby forcong elevation upward. Varying atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. Increased tectonic activity leads to increased volcanism, leads to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thereby altering the climate by raising temperatures

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Weather

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day-by-day variations. Due to heating from the sun. Sun emits energy at an almost constant rate, but a region receives more heat when the sun is more directly overhead and when there are more hours of sunlight in a day

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Climate

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long term synthesis of weather

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Effects of Climate on Atmosphere: Hydrologic Cycle

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4 Stages: Storage, Evaporation, Precipitation and runoff. Air movement in atmosphere governed by differences in pressure. Air masses at poles have high pressure and low moisture content. Air masses near the equators have low pressures and high moisture content (Heating decreases the density of air at the equator and increases at the poles)

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Estuary

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Where a river meets a sea or ocean

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Ocean

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Large body of salt water that surrounds a continent. Oceans cover 2/3 of the Earth's surface

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Lake

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a large body of water surrounded by land on all sides

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Tides

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generic term used to define alternating rising and falling in sea level with respect to the land. Produced by gravitational attraction of the moon and sun. Additional features such as configuration of coastline, water depth, ocean floor topography can also affect tides