Eos Midterm 1

Front 1

Singularity

Back 1

Point of infinite density with no volume

Front 2

What is a better name for the Big Bang?

Back 2

Expansion. Universe is still expanding today.

Front 3

Protostar

Back 3

Large object that forms by contraction out of the gas of a giant molecular cloud

Front 4

Supernova

Back 4

Explosion of a massive supergiant star

Front 5

Nebula

Back 5

Interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas and plasma. It is the first stage of a star's cycle.

Front 6

Three characteristics of a planet

Back 6

1. Nearly large enough to be round
2. Orbits around the sun.
3. Cleared its orbit of all other objects

Front 7

The three dwarf planets

Back 7

1. Ceres
2. Pluto
3. Eris

Front 8

Planet Composition

Back 8

1. Mercury to Ceres (Rocky)
2. Jupiter to Uranus (Gaseous)
3. Pluto to Eris (Rocky and Icy)

Front 9

Solar Wind

Back 9

Made up of a stream of protons and electrons.
This wind “blew away”
or “boiled” away most of
the lighter gaseous material from the inner solar system

Front 10

Which planets do not orbit within a single plane?

Back 10

Pluto, Eris, and comets (trans-Neputunian objects)

Front 11

Asteroids

Back 11

Rocky chunks of debris ranging from 100s meters to 100 kms in across.

Front 12

Where is the asteroid belt concentrated?

Back 12

Between Mars and Jupiter.
The distance between asteroids is very vast.

Front 13

Why is there an asteroid belt?

Back 13

The asteroid belt is a ring of debris that never coalesced into a planet because of the strong gravitational disturbances that Jupiter creates in this region of space

Front 14

Meteroid

Back 14

Particle of dust or chunk of debris (less than 10 m)

Front 15

Meteor

Back 15

Meteoroid burning up in
the Earth’s atmosphere
leaving streak of light

Front 16

Meteorite

Back 16

Meteoroid that has made contact with the Earth's surface.

Front 17

Where do meteorites come from?

Back 17

1. Debris from comets
2. Debris from asteroids.
3. Planetary debris ejected in past impacts

Front 18

Comets

Back 18

Chunks of ice and rocky debris with a highly elliptical orbits.

Front 19

Composition of comets

Back 19

1. 2. tails: plasma and dust
2. Nucleus (ice, rock, and dust)

Front 20

Where do comets come from?

Back 20

1. Short distance (orbits < 200 years): Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud
2. Long distance (orbis > 200 years): Oort Cloud

Front 21

Meteor Shower

Back 21

A great number of meteors that seem to come from one region of space within a relatively short time period. This is the direction the Earth is traveling in its orbit around the sun. It is the Earth that runs into the meteors, not the other way around.
Ex: Leonids and Perseids

Front 22

What causes meteor showers

Back 22

When Earth passes through the debris trail of a comet's orbit

Front 23

How does a dynamo work?

Back 23

Uses the magnetic field of a magnet to produce an electric current

Front 24

How does the Earth work?

Back 24

Uses an electric current to produce a magnetic field. Outer liquid core creates a electric current, and as a result of that rotation of the outer liquid core around the inner solid core and heat convection currents, creates an enormous magnetic field .

Front 25

What is the gaseous composition of the atmosphere?

Back 25

1. 78% nitrogen
2. 21% nitrogen
3. 1% other gases

Front 26

What are the layers of the Earth and what are their radius?

Back 26

1. Inner Core (1220 km)
2. Outer Core (2260 km)
3. Mantle (2900 km)
4. Crust (7 to 70 km)

Front 27

What are the section of the mantle?

Back 27

1. Lower Mantle
2. Upper Mantle
- Asthenospheric Mantle
- Lithospheric Mantle

Front 28

What are the 2 types of crust?

Back 28

Continental and Oceanic

Front 29

What is the lithosphere?

Back 29

Made up of the lithospheric mantle and crust.
Rigid region of rocks that make up tectonic plates

Front 30

Why layers of the Earth flow?

Back 30

1. Asthenospheric mantle
2. Lower Mantle
3. Outer core

Front 31

What are mantle xenoliths?

Back 31

Rocks brought to the surface by magma rising from the mantle. Mantle has a rock type called perodite.

Front 32

What are the 6 observations of Wegner's proposal for continental drift?

Back 32

1. Fit of the continents
2. Distribution of mountain belts
3. Distribution of old rocks
4. Distribution of glacial deposits
5. Distribution of climate zones
6. Distribution of fossils

Front 33

What is bathymetry?

Back 33

Shape of the seafloor surface

Front 34

What are three types of plate boundaries?

Back 34

1. Divergent
2. Convergent
3. Transform

Front 35

What are the two different types of divergent boundaries?

Back 35

1. oceanic-oceanic crust (Mid-ocean Ridge)
2. Continental-continental crust (continental rift)

Front 36

What are the three types of convergent boundaries?

Back 36

1) Oceanic - Oceanic crust (Island Arc Subduction)
2) Continental - Continental crust (Orogeny)
3) Oceanic-Continental (Volcanic Mountain Chain)

Front 37

What are the two types of continental margins and what do they mean?

Back 37

1. Active: Coast line = plate tectonic boundary
2. Passive: Coast line not = to plate tectonic boundary

Front 38

What are the 5 traits that characterize a mineral?

Back 38

1. Inorganic
2. Naturally occurring
3. Ordered atomic structure
4. Specific chemical composition
5.Solid