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177 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is the distance of the earth to the sun?
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150 million km
(993 million miles) away |
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Where is the sun located in the Milky Way?
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in one of the galaxy's spiral arms
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In Genesis 1:16, what is the sun called?
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the "greater light"
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What is the most abundant element in the sun?
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hydrogen
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Which element was indentified on the sun before it was indentified on earth?
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helium
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Why does the moon appear to be the same size as the sun when viewed from earth?
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it is 400 times closer tp the earth than the sun
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Appoximately how many differant naturally occurring elements have been indentified on the sun?
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~60 elements
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How long do sunspots last?
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days to weeks
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How is the majority of the sun's energy radiated, in what form?
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electromagnetic waves
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How fast do neutrinos travel?
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speed of light
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What is defined as the distance from the crest of one wave to the crest of the next wave?
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wavelength
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What are examples of shorter wavelengths?
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gamma rays, x-rays, and UV rays
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What are examples of longer wavelengths?
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AM radio, FM radio, microwaves, and infrared waves
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What wavelengths are visible to the human eye and which are not?
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violet to red are
UV and infrared are not |
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The sun's is surface ____________, super heated ionized matter that is neither solid, liquid nor gas
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plasma
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The sun contains ___% of all matter in entire solar system. Therefore almost all the matter in the solar system is in the __________ state.
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99; plasma
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What is the name for the visible surface of the sun?
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photosphere
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What are dark areas on the sun's surface that appear from time to time?
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sunspots
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What does the movement of sunspot's indicate about the motion of the sun?
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the sun is rotating
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Are sunspots hotter or cooler than the surrounding areas of photosphere?
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cooler
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What are the known effects of high and low sunspot activity on the earth?
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affect communications
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What is a severe storm on the sun that can hinder radio reception and solar communication on earth?
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solar flare
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What is a flow of mostly protons and electrons from the sun?
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solar wind
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The chromosphere is the lower layer of the sun's ________________.
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atmosphere
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What are pointed jets of plasma on the chromosphere?
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spicules
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What is the outer most region of the sun's atmosphere?
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corona
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In which region of the sun does energy travel primarily as electromagnetic waves?
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radiative zone
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What are streams of plasma that rise from the chromosphere and gradually fall back?
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prominences
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What happens in the sun's convective zone?
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energy is transported mainly by physical movement of plasma; energy heats plasma, rises to photosphere as granules, cools, then descends back
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The more ionizing that takes place in the earth's outer atmosphere, does what to shortwave radio signals?
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sunspots eject charged particles that strike outer levels of the atmosphere ans ionize the atom in the atmosphere; improves radio signals
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In what part of the sun are thermonuclear reactions believed to occur?
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core
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What are the two parts of the solar atmosphere?
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chromosphere and corona
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What are the three parts of the sun's interior?
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core, radiative zone, and convective zone
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What are the temperatures of the chromosphere, corona, and core?
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Chrom.- ~14,000 F
Corona- ~2,000,000 F Core- ~27,000,000 F |
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What is the main use of solar energy?
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to heat water and cool homes and businesses
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What are the advantages of solar energy?
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renewable, free, easily converted, and no pollution of products
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What are the disadvantages of solar energy?
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light is diffused and the sun's energy is not always available
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How did the Greeks first spot the planets or wanderers?
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noticed that they were moving slowly
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List the planets starting with the planet closest to the sun
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
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What type of orbit do the planets have?
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elliptical
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Who developed the three laws to describe planetary motion?
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Johannes Kepler
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When a planet is closest to the sun
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perihelion
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When a planet is farthest from the sun
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aphelion
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What is another name for the distance from the earth to the sun?
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Astronomical Unit (ua)
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What do a planet's size and mass together determine?
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surface gravity
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Which planets are considered the gas giants?
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Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
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What is another name for minor planets?
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asteroids
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How do astronomers find te minor planets?
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comparison of pictures taken over time
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Asteroids (minor planets) range from a few meters in diameter up to a third of the size of the moon. What does this mean for an atmosphere?
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there is none
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How do most of the minor planets seemed to be put together?
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small rock fragments held together by weak gravity with dust in between
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What characteristics do families of asteroids share?
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same kind of orbit and move in groups
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Which two ateroid families present a collision hazard to Earth?
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Aten and Apollo
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Is it possible for a comet to become visible without a telescope, more brilliant than the planets and even outshine the moon for a short time?
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yes
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Who was one of the first men to treat comets as ordinary cellestial objects with elliptical paths?
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Halley
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Why is a comet so bright?
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As it approaches the sun, it warms up and become gases that absorbs light from the sun. This absorbtion causes it to flouresce
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What type of orbit does a comet have?
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elliptical
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What is the Oort cloud?
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a resevoir of comet nuclei in a region surrounding the solar system out of 50,000 ua
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Why does the orientation of comet orbits cause problems for evolutionary theories of the origin of the universe?
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All orbiting objects would be flattened into a disk shape which is not what we observe in comet orbit
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True or False? Comets are fragile
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True
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True or False? Every five seconds or so, a 1 meter or smaller comet strikes the earth's atmosphere and vaporizes?
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True
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Most astronmers agree that comets last for only ____________________ at the most.
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hundreds or thousands of years
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What is a a particle of rock or dust in space that orbits the sun?
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meteoroid
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What is a a meteoroid that has entered the earth's atmosphere and begins to glow?
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meteor
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What is a meteoroid that reaches the ground?
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A meteorite
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About how far is a meteor aboove the earth's surface before it is seen?
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about 60-80 miles
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Why are opportunities for seeing meteors generally better after midnight?
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The observer is on the leading face of the earth as it goes through orbit
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True or False? Astronomers think that all the shower meteors are fragments from the breakup of comets.
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True
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True or False? A meteorite has never hit Earth?
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False
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How do meteorite craters point to a young Earth?
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Lack of meteorite craters in fossil record. If fossils were buried over millions of years ago, then we should see many meteorite craters
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Name one way that scientists knew the moon did not have an atmosphere even beofre they visited it.
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if it did then the stars passing would gradually dim but with the moon they abruptly blink out
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What does waxing mean?
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increasing phase of the moon in which the illuminated part of the moon gradually increases
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What does waning mean?
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decreasing phase of the moon in which the illuminated part of the moon gradually decreases
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What is a solar eclipse?
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when the moon is between the earth and the sun which prevents light from reaching the earth
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How many times a year does a solar eclipse occur?
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2-3
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How much of the Earth's surface is affected by the solar eclipse?
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never much more than 150 miles
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True of False? You should take special precautions when viewing a solar eclipse and never look directly at it.
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True
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True or False? Most people go through life without ever witnessing a total eclipse of the sun firsthand.
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True
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What is a lunar eclipse?
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the darkening of a full moon when it asses into earth's shadow
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When is the only time that a lunar eclipse can be seen?
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during a full moon
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True or False? It is hard for astronomers to know when a lunar eclipse will happen.
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False
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True or False? You should take special precautions when viewing a lunar eclipse and never look directly at it.
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False
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What color is the moon during an eclipse?
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dull coppery-red
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What does the word geology literally mean?
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the study of the earth
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What do we call geologists who study earthquake waves?
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seismologists
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Which layer of the earth is the thinnest?
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crust
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Which layer is more dense, the core material or the mantle material?
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core
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What is the coolest layer of the earth?
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crust
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What do we call layers of rock within the earth's crust?
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strata
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What do scientists believe the earth's core is mostly composed of?
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iron
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List three features of the earth that point to a supernatural design
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ideal mass
rotation gravity |
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what is an organic substance example? (3)
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chalk deposits, plants, and coal
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How old do Evolutionists currently believe the earth is?
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4-5 billion years
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What is the key principle to uniformitarianism?
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present is the key to the past
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As a christian studies the earth's history, what three major events dexcribed in the Scripture must he remember?
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-Creation
-Fall and Curse -Flood |
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When is radiocarbon dating fairly accurate?
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5,000 years old
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List the assumptions that geologists make when using radioactive dating techniques
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-materials have always decayed at a constant rate
-original amount can be determined -final material in the decay process cannot be added or removed |
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Name two methods that scientists use to measure the amount of radioactive carbon-14 in a sample
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Liquid Scintillation COunting
Excellerated Mass Spectrometer |
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How does carbon-14 get into a living organism's tissues?
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carbon-14 is taken up as carbon dioxide by green plants, is eaten by animals or humans, and the carbon-14 gets in their tissues
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some radio carbon ages do not agree with ages that can be varified by other means
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anomalous sample
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the change of radioactive element into a different radioactive element or non-radioactive element
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decay
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arguement against doctrine of uniformity
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fossil graveyards
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study of processes abd structures of the earth
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geology
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measuring how much carbon-14 is in a sample
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radiocarbon dating
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loose material that sinks to the bottom of a body of water
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sediment
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all sedimentary rock layers of the earth's crust
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strata
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What do we call series of shockwaves traveling through the earth?
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earthwuake
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According to ___________________________ theory, the crust of the earth is divided into many pieces about the same size of continents that seem to be moving relative to each other.
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plate tectonics
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True or Flase? Modern day seismologists believe that faults and earthquakes are caused by tectonic forces
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true
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used to record and measure quake waves
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seismograph
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a scientist who studies earthquakes
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seismologists
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the scale used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake
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Richter scale
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what is the higest number in the Richter scale?
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is none
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the energy of a quake
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magnitude
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crack in a rock where movement has occurred
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fault
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the actual location of a quake's activity
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focus
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the point directly above the location of a quake's activity
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epicenter
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At least ___ seismic stations are needed to pinpoint a quake's epicenter
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3
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which quake waves are the first to reach a seismic station?
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P waves
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Which waves are the last to reach a distant seismograph?
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L waves
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an ocean wave caused by an earthquake
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tsunami
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can anyone acurately predict when earthquakes wil occurr?
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no
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a mountian built up by molten rock that has risen to the surface thorugh a vent
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volcano
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magma that reaches the earth's surface
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lava
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an enlarged depression caused by an explosion or the collapse of a volcanic cone
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caldera
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a vent in the ground from which various gases escape
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fumarole
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historically, what have been the most hazardous emmissions from volcanoes?
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glowing avalanches, lahars, and pyroclastic flows
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tiny, angular, glassy fragments
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ash
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pieces of solidified magma a little larger than ash
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cinders
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masses of lava that solidify while flying through the air
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bombs
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volcano that emits mostly lava in quiet eruptions
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shield volcano
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a volcano that emits lava and solid debris in alternately quiet and explosive eruptions
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composite volcano
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a volcano that emits mostly cinder, ashes and bombs
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cinder volcano
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list the 3 different terms that describe a volcano
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active, dormant, and extinct
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define extinct
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having no historical record of eruption
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a volcano showing no seismic indications of activity deep underground
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extinct volcano
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what is another name for the circum-pacific earthwuake and volcano belt?
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"ring of fire"
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how is the thermal gradient of the earth related to hot springs?
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hot earth warms up the water
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a spring that periodically ejects large quantities of hot water and steam
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geyser
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what do we call the type of internal energy of the earth, particularly evident in areas where hot springs fumaroles, and geysers exist?
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geothermal energy
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what is one of the most difficult aspects of developing geothermal energy sources where none are known to exist?
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deciding where to drill exploratory wells and funding
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what % of energy in the united states is generated by geothermal energy?
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0.4%
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about what 5 of the earth's surface is covered by oceans?
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71%
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what sections of the oceans are more or less surrounded by land?
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seas
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used by modern oceanographers to determine the depth of the ocean
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echosounding
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what do we call the shallow, submerged edges of a continent?
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continental shelf
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the steep region extending downward from a continental shelf
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continental slope
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located between the continental slope and the deep sea floor
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continental rise
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the broad, flat, deep sea floors
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abbysal plains
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what do we call submerged mountain or hill rising from the sea floor?
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seamount
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what do we call a seamount that has a flat top?
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guyot
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what kind of system is the mid-atlantic ridge?
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mountain system
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what is a "smoker"?
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underwater hydrothermal vent
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why did the invention of the echosounder radically change man's understanding of the ocean basins?
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we could see the features of the ocean floor
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why are coral reefs only in relatively shallow water?
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need light to ive
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a coral reef separated from the mainland by a lagoon
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barrier reef
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what is a ring of low coral islands and reefs surrounding a central laggon called?
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atoll
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how much salt does 1000g of seawater contain?
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35g
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what is the most abundant salt found in ocean water?
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sodium chloride
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is the ocean water near the poles more or less salty compared to other parts of the ocean?
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less
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what is the most important resource in the ocean's waters?
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fresh water
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of desalinating seawater to provide fresh water?
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distillination and reverse osmosis
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which gas is produced in only the lighted zones near the surface of the ocean?
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oxygen
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the alternating rise and fall of the ocean's waters
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tides
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what usually ha sthe greatest effect in causing tides?
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moon
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twice a month, lower than usual tides
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neap tides
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higher than usual tide occuring twice a month
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spring
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how far does a wave generally move the water?
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stays in the same area and simply spins in circles
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what do we call an unstable wave that is too tall for its wavelength?
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breaker
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the horizontal distance from the crest of one wave to the crest of the next wave
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wavelength
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what current results from waves breaking at an angle to the shore?
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longshore
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a strong, narrow surface current that carries watr from the shore to the sea
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rip currents
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a spit with a sharp bend
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hook
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a mass of rock that has been cut off from the mainland by erosion
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stack
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a wave deposit that connects either two islands or an island with the mailand
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tombolo
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the major ocean current located in the west atlantic ocean
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gulf stream
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subsurface currents that travel along the ocean floor and are more dense than the surrounding water because they are laden with sediment
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turbidity currents
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are currents affected by the rotation of the earth?
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yes
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