Geology

Question 1

How long ago did the solar system start to form

Answer 1

4.5 billion years

Question 2

How did earth become the size it is today

Answer 2

Collisions with asteroids and stuff

Question 3

What can we learn about early earth through recreating asteroid impacts

Answer 3

• can simulate what it looked like way back

- huge impacts + craters formed

Question 4

How did the core of the earth start to generate heat

Answer 4

• huge impact released a loooot of heat
• Fe + Ni melted and moved to core (generated more heat)
• melted magma on surface (literally hell on earth)
• within first 40 million years

Question 5

How was the magnetic field created

Answer 5

Rotating ball of Fe

Question 6

Role of magnetic field

Answer 6

Protects us from the sun

Holds air in + saves atmosphere

Question 7

How did earth reach its present mass

Answer 7

More collisions (meteorites)

Question 8

How old is earth

Answer 8

4.5 billion years old

Question 9

How do we know how old earth is

Answer 9

Meteorites (radioactive dating) (formed same time as earth)

Question 10

Theories to explain how water formed on earth (3)

Answer 10

• asteroids comets
• –looking to see the ratio of H2O and HDO (2x heavy hydrogen) - so far Kuiper belt comets have different proportions but maybe the asteroid belt
• 3.9 billion years ago earth cooled + formed crush over mantle, warm liquid covered it (water)
• water from volcanoes (steam condensed from cooling earth) (steam from where?)

Question 11

How might earth have been seeded with the building blocks of life

Answer 11

• comets from asteroid belt

- asteroids - have amino acids (organic compound)

Question 12

Composition of earth’s early atmosphere

Answer 12

-CO2
-H2O (g)
-N2 (a little)
NO OXYGEN

Question 13

What form was the earliest life

Answer 13

• 3.7-3.9 billion years ago
• primordial soup of amino acids
• bacteria (single celled in oceans)

Question 14

What is the significance of extremophiles in understanding the origins of life?

Answer 14

• organism that can live in extreme environments
• proved that life evolved at high temperatures
• thermofiles

Question 15

Where do we find extremophiles today?

Answer 15

• live at 230F
• bubbling lakes at Yellowstone
• prove that life could’ve survived and adapted on early earth

Question 16

What was earth’s earliest structured life? What process evolved this organism?

Answer 16

• Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)
• photosynthesis
• fed O2 into air

Question 17

What change in earth allowed complex life to form

Answer 17

• Cyanobacteria (photosynthesis)
• Oxygen is here now!
• LAND!!!

Question 18

How are humans actions possibly returning earth to its origins

Answer 18

• fossil fuels are too used
• climate change
• population explosion

Question 19

What are cryospheres? What is their role in regulating the planet?

Answer 19

North + south poles

Regulate climate + water levels

Question 20

How is earth’s water driving global temperatures

Answer 20

Ice melts = water absorbs light = planet heats = ice melts

Question 21

Where is the majority of earth’s freshwater stored?

Answer 21

70% in Antarctica

Question 22

How soon might the North Pole be free of ice in the summer?

Answer 22

40-60 years

Question 23

If all the glaciers melt, how much could water levels rise?

Answer 23

3ft (that’s bad)

Question 24

Why is earth considered to be nearing old age

Answer 24

• sun gets brighter + hotter

- all CO2 gone (?)

Question 25

How much longer do scientists think earth can sustain life?

Answer 25

-500 million to a billion years