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Earth and Space Flashcards

1
Q

a hot glowing ball of hydrogen and helium, 4.5 billion-year-old yellow dwarf star, and center of the solar system

A

Sun

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2
Q

stream of high-energy particles sent into space; causes the light display of aurora borealis and aurora australis

A

Solar wind

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3
Q

Where is aurora borealis located?

A

Northern Hemisphere

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4
Q

Where is aurora australis located?

A

Southern Hemisphere

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5
Q

storms that look like huge arches; lasts for several days

A

Prominences

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6
Q

more intense than prominences; lasts for 15 minutes

A

Solar flares

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7
Q

cool black storm areas

A

sunspots

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8
Q

Layers of the sun from inside to outside

A

Core, Radiation Zone, Convection Zone, Photosphere, Chromosphere, Corona

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9
Q

smallest and closest planet to the sun; no atmosphere

A

Mercury

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10
Q

has a core of molten iron, hottest planet in the solar system, and rotates the slowest among the planets

A

Venus

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11
Q

only planet in the universe known to harbor life

A

Earth

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12
Q

Red planet; covered with iron-rich dust

A

Mars

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13
Q

biggest planet; has the great red spot

A

Jupiter

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14
Q

planet that has prominent rings

A

Saturn

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15
Q

ice giant; orbits on its side unlike other planets

A

Uranus

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16
Q

windiest planet

A

Neptune

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17
Q

the galaxy that includes our solar system

A

Milky Way

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18
Q

“dirty snowballs,” with tails of dust and gases, forced from the head by solar radiation; tail always points away from the sun

A

Comets

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19
Q

a meteoriod as it burns up in the atmosphere; “shooting star”

A

Meteor

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20
Q

a meteoriod that does not completely burn up

A

Meteorite

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21
Q

Earth’s only natural satellite

A

Moon

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22
Q

collapsed stars that resulted to huge gravitational forces where even light cannot escape

A

Black Holes

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23
Q

massive, remote celestial objects emitting remarkably large amounts of energy

A

Quasars

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24
Q

These are intermittent radio signals emitted by dying stars (nuetron stars)

A

Radio Pulsars

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25
Where is the asteroid belt located?
between Mars and Jupiter
26
What are the moon phases?
full moon, waxing gibbous, first quarter, waxing crescent, new moon, waning crescent, last quarter, waning gibbous
27
the regular rise and fall of sea levels
tides
28
What causes the tides?
gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun
29
strongest tides; when the sun, Earth, and moon are on the straight line; sun's and moon's gravities add up
Spring tides
30
weakest tides; when the sun, Earth, and moon form a right angle; the sun's and the moon's gravities cancel out one another
Neap tides
31
North star; tip of Little Dipper's "handle"
Polaris
32
brightest star in the night sky; "Dog star"
Sirius
33
closest star to Earth but is too small to br seen in the night sky
Proxima Centauri
34
closest star to Earth that is visible in the night sky
Alpha Centauri
35
Big bear; contains the Big Dipper
Ursa Major
36
Little bear; contains the Little Dipper
Ursa Minor
37
Big dog; contains Sirius
Canis Major
38
Little dog
Canis Minor
39
The Hunter
Orion
40
The Winged Horse
Pegasus
41
Layer of the Earth from the crust down to the rigid upper mantle
Lithosphere
42
Layer of the Earth; the plastic-like upper mantle where rock can easily move
Asthenosphere
43
lowest layer of the atmosphere; nearly all weather occurs and clouds appear
Troposphere
44
Layer of the atmosphere where ozone layer is located
Stratosphere
45
Layer of the atmosphere where most meteors burn up
Mesosphere
46
layer of the atmosphere; series of regions in parts of the mesosphere and thermosphere
Ionosphere
47
layer of the atmosphere; the "final frontier" of Earth's gaseous envelope
Exosphere
48
Composition of the Atmosphere
Nitrogen - 78% Oxygen - 21% Argon - 0.9% All other gases - 0.06% Carbon Dioxide - 0.04%
49
measures air pressure
Barometer
50
measures wind speed
Anemometer
51
measures humidity
Hygrometer
52
measures wind direction
Wind Vane
53
measures the amount of rainfall
Rain Gauge
54
clouds become electrically charged, producing lightning and thunder
Thunderstorms
55
up to 63 km/hr winds
Topical depression
56
63-117 km/hr winds
Tropical storm
57
Pacific Ocean origin (120-350 km/hr winds)
Typhoons
58
Atlantic Ocean origin (120-350 km/hr winds)
Hurricane
59
Indian Ocean origin (120-350 km/hr winds)
Cyclone
60
small but about 500 km/hr
Tornadoes
61
movement of water through the soil itself
Percolation
62
process that changes liquid water to gaseous water (water vapor)
Evaporation
63
water vapor turning back into liquid water
Condensation
64
all liquid and solid water particles that fall from clouds and reach the ground
Precipitation
65
water vapor being released from plants and soil
Transpiration
66
process that releases energy in the prescence of oxygen
Respiration
67
when plants and animals die, they decay; this process uses up oxygen and releases carbon dioxide into the air
Decomposing
68
also called oxidation; this process causes metals to rust; uses up oxygen
Rusting
69
the process by which fire is generated, requires oxygen along with heat and fuel; uses up oxygen and releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
Combustion
70
six main processes of carbon cycle
photosynthesis, respiration, exchange, sedimentation, extraction, and combustion
71
developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912; the theory of the movement of the continents relative to each other
Theory of Continental Drift
72
evidences of continental drift
fossils in Africa and South America, positions of mountain ranges, glacial striations, tillites
73
scratches in rock caused by movement of glaciers
Glacial striations
74
glacial sediments burried in rock
Tillites
75
the "supercontinent" existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras
Pangea
76
What are the names of the two continents Pangea broke into during Mesozoic era?
Laurasia (North) & Gondwanaland (South)
77
Laurasia broke up into these continents during Mesozoic Era
Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and South America
78
type of plate boundary where plates slide side-by-side against one another, causing earthquakes
Transform
79
type of plate boundary where plates move away from one another, forming mid-ocean ridges, creating young crust on the ocean floor
Divergent
80
type of plate boundaries where plates move toward each other
Convergent
81
type of convergent plate boundary where one of the two oceanic plates is subducted into the mantle, magma rises, forming volcanoes; also creates trenches
oceanic-oceanic
82
type of convergent plate boundary where the oceanic plate is subducted into the mantle, magma rises, forming mountain ranges usually containing volcanoes
oceanic-continental
83
type of convergent plate boundary where neither plate is fully subducted; the plates are forced into one another, forming tall mountains
continental-continental
84
"size" of an earthquake, or energy released; measured using Richer scale or Moment Magnitude scale
Magnitude
85
used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake; 1-10, wherein 2 is 10x stronger than magnitude 1, and so on
Richer scale
86
used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake where it is commonly used because of higher precision
Moment Magnitude scale
87
amount of damage of an earthquake; measured using Mecalli scale (1-12)
Intensity
88
used to measure the amount of damage caused by earthquakes
Mercalli scale
89
an earthquake's point of origin
focus
90
the point on the earth's surfacr directly above the focus of an earthquake
Epicenter
91
type of rock from lava (e.g. granite, basalt, magma)
Igneous
92
type of rock formed from other rocks that were changed due to intense heat and pressure (e.g. marble, slate)
Metamorphic
93
type of rock formed from sediments which were eroded to lower places; forms fossils (e.g. sandstone, shale, calcite)
Sedimentary

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