Earth

Question 1

What is the mean diameter of Earth in km

Answer 1

12,742km

Question 2

What is the axial tilt of earth

Answer 2

23.5 degrees

Question 3

What is the Earth’s Inner Core made out of

(is it solid or liquid)

Answer 3

solid iron-nickel (mostly iron) alloy, with an average temperature of 5,500C

It’s solid because of the pressure.

Question 4

What is Earth’s Outer Core made of

What is special about the outer core

Answer 4

Liquid Iron, with some nickel

about 5,000C

Currents in the outer core are thought to create the earth;s magnetic field

Question 5

What is the largest of earth’s layers, is it solid or liquid

Answer 5

The Mantle

Its solid but deformable, allowing convection currents on geological timescales

Question 6

How thick is Oceanic Crust? (km)

How thick is Continental Crust? (km)

Answer 6

7-8km (oceanic)

25-70km (continental)

Question 7

What is the mass of the earth in kilos (3 decimal places)

Answer 7

5.972 x 10²⁴

Question 8

What are the five layers of earth’s atmosphere, beginning at the lowest

Roughly what km range do they fill

Answer 8

Troposphere (0-16km at equator)

Stratosphere (16-56km)

Mesosphere (56-86km)

Thermosphere (86-700km)

Exosphere (>700km)

Question 9

What is the name of the line that is often used to define the boundary between the atmosphere and outerspace (obviously there is no real boundary)

What is the altitude of this line in miles and kilometers

For kudos, what percentage is it of Earth’s radius

At what altitude do atmospheric effects become noticeable during re-entry

Answer 9

Karman Line

100km (62 miles)

1.57%

120km (75 miles)

Question 10

What is the name for the study of Earth’s atmosphere and processes called [specifically what ‘ology’ is it]

Answer 10

atmospheric science

or aerology

Question 11

What is the third most common element in the atmosphere?

What are the two most common molecules (not including water vapour)

Answer 11

Argon

CO₂ and CH₄

Question 12

What is the altitude range of the International Space Station

What atmospheric layer is it in?

Answer 12

330-410km

Thermosphere

Question 13

In what atmospheric layer do most meteorites burn up during reentry

What is the significance of this layer transport wise

Answer 13

Mesophere

Its too low for orbital or suborbital spacecraft but too high for jet aircraft

Question 14

What atmospheric layer has the ozone layer

what does this mean for the definition of the layer

Answer 14

The stratosphere

The stratosphere defines a layer in which temperatures rise with increasing altitude.

This rise in temperature is caused by the absorption of ultraviolet radiation (UV) radiation from the Sun by the ozone layer, which restricts turbulence and mixing.

Question 15

What is the name for the component of the atmosphere ionised by solar radiation

What famous thing happens in this area

The zone changes from day to night, but how far does it extend in day time

Answer 15

Ionisphere

auroras

50km to 1000km

Question 16

Why is the sky blue during day and red at sunset

Answer 16

When light passes through our atmosphere, photons interact with it through scattering. If the light does not interact with the atmosphere, it is called direct radiation and is what you see if you were to look directly at the Sun. Indirect radiation is light that has been scattered in the atmosphere. For example, on an overcast day when you cannot see your shadow there is no direct radiation reaching you, it has all been scattered. As another example, due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering, shorter (blue) wavelengths scatter more easily than longer (red) wavelengths. This is why the sky looks blue; you are seeing scattered blue light. This is also why sunsets are red. Because the Sun is close to the horizon, the Sun’s rays pass through more atmosphere than normal to reach your eye. Much of the blue light has been scattered out, leaving the red light in a sunset.

Question 17

What is the difference between a siderial day and solar day

Why is the siderial day on earth four minutes shorter than the solar day (-best way of approaching it, is actually to ask why is the solar day four days longer)

Answer 17

Sideral day is a rotation relative to the stars (how long does it take a constellation to make a complete ‘orbit’)

The solar day is the same except with respect to the Sun (how long from noon-noon etc)

The sideral day is 23 solar hours and 56 solar minutes

The solar day is longer because of the orbit. It if revolved just a sidereal day amount the sun would have moved relatively so it needs to go a bit further to make the solar day. Remember the video?

Question 18

What are the three atmospheric cells in the each of earth’s hemisphere’s starting at the equator going north

What is the name of the current that equalises the pressure between the cells

Answer 18

Hadley Cells

‘subtropical jet stream’

Ferrer Cells

‘polar jet stream’

Polar Cells

Question 19

What are the trade winds

what do they mean for storms

Answer 19

The equatorially travelling descending air of the Hadley cells

In meteorology, the trade winds act as the steering flow for tropical storms that form over the Atlantic, Pacific, and southern Indian Oceans and make landfall in North America, Southeast Asia, and Madagascar and eastern Africa, respectively.

Question 20

What is the middle latitude equivalent of the trade winds

Answer 20

the Westerlies

Question 21

At what altitude (zone, as opposed to km) does the jetstream flow

Which way do they flow

Answer 21

near the altitude of the tropopause (which is the ceiling of the tropospheric cells)

West to east

Question 22

What are Rossby waves (macroscopically)

and where are they most familiar

Answer 22

Also known as planetary waves, are a natural phenomena in the atmosphere and oceans that largely owe their properties to Earth’s rotation. (they are due to the variation in the Coriolis effect with latitude.)

Atmospheric Rossby waves are giant meanders in high-altitude winds with major influence on weather. These Rossby waves are associated with pressure systems and the jet stream

Question 23

What is the ENSO?

What is the name of the warm phase,

What is the name of the cold phase

Answer 23

El Niño Southern Oscillation

It refers to the cycle of warm and cold temperatures, as measured by sea surface temperature, SST, of the tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean.

The warm phase is called El Niño

The cold phase is called “La Niña”

The ENSO cycle, both El Niño and La Niña, causes global changes of both temperatures and rainfall.

Question 24

Why are there different names for earths inner structures

Answer 24

Because it can be defined chemically or mechanically

Question 25

What is the name of the mechanically rigid component of the Earth’s structure, and which components does it consist of

Answer 25

Lithosphere

consists of the crust and the upper portion of the mantle

Question 26

What is the name for the upper most part of the lithosphere that chemically reacts to the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere through the soil forming process?

Answer 26

Pedosphere

Question 27

What is the asthenosphere

Answer 27

The asthenosphere (from Greek ἀσθενής asthenḗs ‘weak’ + sphere) is the highly viscous, mechanically weak and ductilely deforming region of the upper mantle of the Earth.

It is involved in plate tectonic movement and isostatic adjustments.

Question 28

What is the name for the boundary between the earth’s crust and mantle (NOT lithosphere and asthenosphere)

What defines it

Answer 28

Mohorovičić discontinuity

The boundary is defined by a contrast in seismic velocity.

Question 29

What are the three most abundant elements in the Earth’s crust

Answer 29

Oxygen (46.6%)

Silicon (27.7%)

Aluminum (8.1%) - the most abundant unambiguously metal

Question 30

What is the name for the lower layer of the Earth’s crust

What minerals is it rich in

(and how does this relate to its name)

In what form does it come to the surface

and what else is it somtimes called

Answer 30

Sima (aka basal layer)

Magnesium Silicate (not name of Sima relates to these)

Comes the surface as Basalt, and since the ocean floors are therefore made of Sima is its sometimes called the oceanic crust

Question 31

What is the name that refers to the composition of the upper part the Earth’s crust, and which is sometimes therefore equated with the continental crust

How does it get its name

How to geologists often refer to rocks in this area

Answer 31

Sial

named after rocks rich in silicates and aluminium minerals

It is however a geochemical term not a plate tectonic term

Geologists often refer to the rocks in this layer as felsic, because they contain high levels of feldspar, an aluminium silicate mineral series. However, the sial actually has quite a diversity of rock types, including large amounts of basaltic rocks.

Question 32

What are p-waves and s-waves

Which ones are able to pass through liquids such as molten rock

Answer 32

p-waves are compression waves (these are the ones that can travel through liquids and molton solids)

S-waves (aka shear waves) shake rock from side to side and up and down so only travel through solid rock

Therefore P-waves can through the whole planet, but S-waves are prevent from doing that by the outer core (you can see how this can be used to determine the size of the core)

Question 33

Who was responsible for the theory of continental drift (the precursor of plate tectonics)

How many major plates make up 94% of the earth’s surface

What plate does the UK sit on

Answer 33

Alfred Wegener (1880-1930)

7

then there are about a dozen smaller plates making up the rest

Eurasian plate