Conditions for life on Earth

Question 1

What happens when oxygen reacts with iron in the oceans

Answer 1

Form Banded Iron Formation

Question 2

Why is liquid water essential for life?

Answer 2

Physiological solvent
Transport across membranes
Thermoregulation
Habitat
UV protection
Lubrication
Anomalous expansion on freezing

Question 3

What is proxy data?

Answer 3

Data that paleoclimatologists gather from natural recorders of climate variability, e.g. tree rings, ice cores or ocean sediment

Question 4

what are the harmful effects of UVB?

Answer 4

Alters genetic coding and damages skin cells directly, the genetic mutations may lead to cancer

Question 5

What are archaea?

Answer 5

Prokaryotic, single-celled microorganisms (commonly extremophiles)

Question 6

What are photoautotrophs?

Answer 6

Organisms that can make their own energy using light via photosynthesis

Question 7

What was the first bacteria to photosynthesise?

Answer 7

Cyanobacteria

Question 8

How does atmospheric pressure affect water?

Answer 8

Pressure was high enough to prevent liquid water from boiling in early development

Question 9

What’s the required temperature range for life on Earth?

Answer 9

-15C - 115C

Question 10

What distance is Earth from the sun?

Answer 10

152.03million km

Question 11

How do the Auroras work?

Answer 11

Energized particles from the sun slam into the Earth’s upper atmosphere, but the magnetosphere protects us releasing photons at the collision

Question 12

What affects the insolation reaching Earth?

Answer 12

Clouds reflect and absorb
Albedo of surfaces
Ozone layer utilizes UV radiation

Question 13

What does gravity between the Earth and the moon do?

Answer 13

Create tides dn keeps the Earth orbit nearly upright in relation to its movement around the sun

Question 14

How was the Earth formed?

Answer 14

About 4.6 billion years ago, gravity pulled rock fragments together, the huge amounts of energy absorbed as the rocks collided created heat and produced a ball of molten rock, the surface gradually cooled for the crust of rock

Question 15

What’s the axial tilt range of Earth?

Answer 15

22.1 and 24.5
Currently 23.5

Question 16

Why can ice prevent water from freezing?

Answer 16

Ice floats (9% expansion) stopping the convection current that may have cooled down the whole body of water, insulating the water underneath

Question 17

What are the types of EM radiation?

Answer 17

Radiowaves, x-rays, gamma rays
Infrared radiation (700nm-1mm)
Visible light (380-700nm)
Ultraviolet radiation (100-400nm)

Question 18

What’s a more efficient way of energy production?

Answer 18

Aerobic is more efficient than anaerobic because aerobic extracts most of the glucose molecules in the form of ATP

Question 19

What was the food source for early bacteria?

Answer 19

Undersea volcanoes

Question 20

What’s the equation for anaerobic respiration?

Answer 20

C6H12O6= C2H5OH + CO2 + ATP

Question 21

What is precession?

Answer 21

Slow movement to change the orientation of Earth’s axis

Question 22

What’s the Earth’s mass and why is it relevant to the development of life?

Answer 22

5.98x10^24kg (densest planet due to liquid core), this mass creates a gravity that holds the atmosphere

Question 23

What was the Proterozoic?

Answer 23

Period of time that oxygen was building up in the atmosphere from 2.45 billion years ago till 540 million years ago

Question 24

What’s the composition of the atmosphere?

Answer 24

Exosphere, Thermosphere, Mesosphere, Stratosphere and Troposphere

Question 25

What is pollen analysis?

Answer 25

Identification and determination of frequency of pollen grains in peat bogs and other preservative situations as means of dating fossils and other remains

Question 26

What is axial tilt?

Answer 26

Angle between Earth’s rotational axis and orbital axis

Question 27

What factors allow us to study how and why conditions have changed?

Answer 27

Continental drift, ocean current, oceanic chemistry and atmospheric pressure

Question 28

How did the reduction in CO2 relate to temperature?

Answer 28

Prevented a long-term temp rise though the brightness of the sun increased about 10% every billion years

Question 29

How is carbon stored in rocks?

Answer 29

In slow geological processes, sediment is cemented together and turns to rock

Question 30

How does the speed of rotation of Earth create suitable conditions for life?

Answer 30

Reduces temperature extremes

Question 31

What does the magnetic field do?

Answer 31

Prevent biologically damaging radiation entering Earth