Earth Science, Smartbook pt 1 Flashcards
Exponential growth rates are more aggressive than
_____ growth rates because they increase by more every passing year and can be difficult to stop or slow down.
Linear
Successfully finding or producing food, finding clean water, and making shelter are ways humans ______ to thrive.
Modify the environment
What is the ecological footprint?
The amount of land or sea needed to support the human lifestyle.
Which two factors were primary in driving the beginning of the environmentalism movement in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s?
Water and air pollution
What are sustainability practices?
Sustainability practices are methods of using resources so that they can be sustained forever.
What is geology?
The study of the solid Earth and the processes that shape it
What is the scientific method?
A process of evaluating the world
Any natural or artificial geologic condition that poses a threat to human life or property is called a geologic _______
Hazard
What degree of uncertainty or error do scientific predictions have?
Most scientific predictions have some range of errors which varies depending on the type of process and methods of measurement.
If ______, there are more interactions between people and consequently more environmental problems.
Population is increased
Over time, societies have used technology to increase food supplies at a(n) ______ rate, which has led to populations growing at a(n) ______ rate.
Exponential; exponential
Choose all that are examples of how we practice science in our daily lives.
Taking medicine
Reading scientific reports
Composting household scraps
Creating a new recipe
Humans tend to become ______ geologic hazards with large recurrence intervals.
Complacent about
When did the environmentalism movement begin in the United States?
1960s
How is the relative age of rocks or sediments determined?
The oldest rocks or sediments are found on the bottom layers, and the newest layers are found at the top.
What is a geologic hazard?
Any geologic condition that creates a possible risk to human life or property.
Scientific predictions or explanations are always very accurate and free of errors.
False
Earth’s history shows that the system is ______, and human input has a ______ effect.
Dynamic; noticeable
The science of the solid Earth is called
Geology
Which of the following may generate environmental risk?
Natural processes or events
A(n)
______ risk is the chance that a natural process or event will have negative consequences for a person or for a society.
Environmental or geologic
Severely limiting the number of fish that can be caught and the number of trees that can be harvested is an example of what practice?
Sustainable
Order these geologic hazards by placing those that cause the most anxiety at the top and those that humans tend to become complacent about at the bottom
Flooding, Earthquakes, and Volcanic Eruptions
Superposition is the method used to determine relative
of rocks or sediments.
Age
______ are 0.6 to 6 miles in diameter, and they are composed of small rocky fragments embedded in a mass of ice and frozen gases.
Comets
Humans have a measurable impact on the planet, and the Earth system responds within a dynamic system.
True
Choose all that are characteristics of the Moon’s gravitational field
Acts to minimize the amount of wobble in Earth’s axis, reducing the seasonal extremes experienced on the planet
Strongly influences ocean tides
The facts that Mercury and Earth’s moon are heavily cratered and that radiometric dating has shown that Earth, the Moon, and asteroids all solidified at about the same time, are evidence in support of the ________ hypothesis
Nebular
All planets in our solar system revolve around the Sun in a ______ direction (as viewed from above) and have regular orbits that are nearly circular. The Sun and most planets, except Venus, spin on their axes in a ______ direction.
Counterclockwise; counterclockwise
Choose all of the following planets that are smaller than Earth.
Mars
Venus
The major extinction event occurring about 65 million years ago and ending the reign of the dinosaurs is marked in the geologic time scale at the juncture between the ______ and ______ eras.
Mesozoic; Cenozoic
Choose all of the following characteristics that are true for comets.
They are composed of small rocky fragments embedded in a mass of ice and frozen gases.
They are 0.6 to 6 miles in diameter.
The Moon’s ______ strongly influences ocean tides and acts to minimize the amount of wobble in Earth’s axis, reducing the seasonal extremes experienced on the planet.
Gravitational field
Choose all of the following statements that are true regarding our solar system
Most planets and the Sun spin about their axes in a counterclockwise direction.
The planets revolve around the Sun in the same counter-clockwise direction (as viewed from above).
All the planets and their moons lie in the solar plane, a plane that coincides with the Sun’s equator.
Rank the following planets by size, with the smallest on the top and the largest on the bottom.
Venus
Earth
Neptune
Jupiter
Geologists separate the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras of the geologic time scale at about 65 million years ago because ______.
Animal life worldwide made significant changes at that time, with the dinosaurs going extinct and the mammals taking over as the dominant animal type
Choose all that are the possible causes of the mass extinctions on Earth, such as the one that occurred at the end of the Mesozoic era.
A series of large volcanic eruptions
A gamma-ray burst
The movement of continental landmasses
A large meteor impact
The ________
provides warmth and generates wave energy, providing visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light on Earth. The _____
influences ocean tides on Earth.
Sun; Moon
A large meteor impact, a series of large volcanic eruptions, and/or a gamma-ray burst are all possible causes of _________ on Earth, such as the one that occurred at the end of the Mesozoic era.
Mass extinctions
In what way are extremophile bacteria related to the origin of life on Earth?
While Earth was forming, it would have been inhospitable for most of today’s life-forms, but these bacteria could survive under extreme conditions.
Habitable zones, or places with ______, are the most likely places to seek out extraterrestrial life because ______.
Liquid water (H2O); all life-forms we know of require liquid water to survive
What are the biosignatures that scientists will be looking for in future space missions?
Gases associated with organic life on Earth
The ozone layer ______.
Acts as a protective shield for Earth by absorbing much of the incoming ultraviolet radiation
Scientists once thought that comet and asteroid impacts no longer posed a risk to life on Earth. They now realize that ______.
Over the last 500 million years, impacts were relatively common, and the resulting environmental changes can lead to mass extinctions
