EARTH SCIENCE REVIEWER Flashcards
Plato and his student Aristotle –
first widely accepted idea about
the structure of the Universe.
* Geocentric Model – „Earth-centered‟
Aristotlean Universe
Heliocentrism
“Sun-centered”
The Copernican Revolution
As the currently accepted theory of the
origin and evolution of the universe, the _____ Theory postulates that 13.8 billion years
ago, the universe expanded from a tiny,
dense and hot mass to its present size and
much cooler state.
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory has withstood the tests for expansion
the redshift
abundance of hydrogen, helium, and lithium,
CMBR
this was Einstein‘s favoured model after he
rejected his own original model (Einsteinian
Universe). The oscillating universe followed the
general relativity equations of the universe with
positive curvature, which results in the universe
expanding for a time and contracting due to
pull of its gravity in a perpetual cycle of Big
Bang, followed in time, BigCrunch.
Oscillating Universe (1930)
-proposed by English astronomer Fred Hoyle
and the Austrians Thomas Gold and Herman
Bondi.
-the theory predicted a universe that
expanded but did not change its density with
matter being inserted into the universe as it
expanded in order to maintain a constant
density.
Steady State Universe
-initially “many worlds” by American physicist
Hugh Everett III and Bryce DeWitt in the 1960s
and 1970s.
- sees our universe as just one of the many
“bubbles” that grew as part of a multiverse.
Multiverse
-by American physicist Alan Guth
-based on the BigBang
-he incorporated a short, early period of
exponential cosmic inflation in order to solve
the horizon and flatness problems of the
standard Big Bang model
Inflationary Universe
– matter that has gravity but do not emit light
Cold dark Matter
“ordinary matter”
– protons, electrons, neutrons, atoms, planets, stars,
galaxies, nebulae, and otherbodies
Baryonic Matter
the Universe’s rate
of expansion will increase
substantially so that everything in
it, down to the smallest atom, will
be ripped apart.
The Big Rip
– a source of anti-gravity
Dark Energy
the building block of galaxies born out of
clouds of gas and dust in galaxies.
Stars
In 1929, Edwin Hubble announced his significant
discovery of the “redshift” and its interpretation
that galaxies are moving away from each other,
hence as evidence for an expanding universe,
just as predicted by Einstein‟s Theory of General
Relativity.
* He observed that spectral lines of starlight made
to pass through a prism are shifted toward the
red part of the electromagnetic spectrum, i.e.,
toward the band of lower frequency; thus, the
inference that the star or galaxy must be moving
away from us.
Expanding Universe
the universe will stretch
forever, distributing heat evenly in
the process until none is left to be
usable enough. The universe will
slowly cool as it expands until
eventually it is unable to sustain any
life.
The Big Chill
An average star at
the center of our
solar system;
It is by far the largest
object in our solar
system;
It sheds most of the
heat and light that
makes life possible
on Earth
The Sun
predicts that,
after having expanded to its
maximum size, the Universe will
finally collapse into itself to form
the greatest black hole ever.
The Big Crunch
the universe
would simply expand and contract
(or bounce) forever.
The Big Bounce
is the largest
and most massive
planet.
It takes about 12
years for ___ to
orbit the sun.
has 79 known
moons.
Special feature-The
Great Red Spot
“Mini SolarSystem”
Jupiter
has the largest
volcano in our solar
system: Olympus Mons.
Olympus Mons is
approximately 15 miles
high.
appears red
because of iron oxide,
or rust, in its soil.
has two moons
and takes about two
years to complete an
orbit.
Mars
is the only planet
known to support living
organisms.
has one moon
and an oxygen rich
atmosphere.
Earth
Closest planet to the
sun; smallest
Mercury has a
revolution period of
88 days. Mercury has
extreme temperature
fluctuations, ranging
from 800F (daytime)
to -270F(nighttime);
Almost no
atmosphere.
Mercury
Brightest object in the
night sky (next to the
Sun and Moon);
Very hot due to large-
scale greenhouse
effect;
It takes 225 days to
complete revolve
around the sun;
Rotates on in axis 243
days (Retrograde).
Venus
It takes the ___ approximately 29 days to
complete one rotation. The same side of the
___ always faces us.
The ___ surface is covered in dust and
rocky debris from meteor impacts. It has no
water or atmosphere.
The___ reflects light from the sun onto the
earth’s surface.
Moon
is composed almost
entirely of hydrogen
and helium.
has many rings
made of ice. ___
rings are very wide.
They extend outward to
about 260,000 miles
from the surface but
are less than 1 mile
thick.
has 62 known
moons, some of which
orbit inside the rings!
It takes ___ about 30
years to orbit the sun.
Saturn
is blue in color
due to methane gas
in its atmosphere
has 11 dark rings
surrounding it.
has 27 known
moons and takes 84
years to complete
one orbit.
Special feature: It
rotate horizontally
meaning it rotate on
its side (barrel motion)
Uranus
has the
fastest winds in the
solar system: up to
2,000 km/hr.
is also blue in color
methane due to gas in its atmosphere.
takes 165
years to orbit the
sun and has 14
moons.
Neptune
5 officially recognized dwarf planets
Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris
are
either rocky or
metallic objects
that orbit the
Sun. They are
too small to
considered
planets but are
sometimes called
planetoids.
Asteroids
asteroids that are on a
collision course with Earth.
Meteoroids
streak of light created when a
meteoroid strikes our atmosphere at
high velocity and friction causes the
chunk of space matter to burn up.
Meteors
what is left that strikes the
Earth’s surface if the meteoroid does not
burn up completely.
Meteorite
small, fragile, irregular-
shaped body composed of a mixture of non- volatile grains and frozen gases.
Their orbits are
highly elliptical or
parabolic.
Comets
A large body of small
objects orbiting (the short
period comets) the Sun in
a radial zone extending
outward from the orbit of
Neptune (30 AU) to about
50 AU. Pluto maybe the
biggest of the Kuiper Belt
object.A large body of small
objects orbiting (the short
period comets) the Sun in
a radial zone extending
outward from the orbit of
Neptune (30 AU) to about
50 AU. Pluto maybe the
biggest of the Kuiper Belt
object.
Kuiper Belt
