Intro Flashcards
What is Earth Science?
The study of Earth’s structure, properties, processes, and biotic evolution
What is the purpose of Earth Science?
-the structure, composition, and evolution
- the life it supports
-the processes that govern the formation and behavior of Earth’s minerals
What are Earth’s Spheres
-Geosphere
-Hydrosphere
-Atmosphere
-Bioshere
What is Geoshpere?
Earth’s interior rocks and minerals, landforms and the processes that shape the Earth’s surface
What’s Earth’s actual shape
Oblate spheroid
What is a Hydrosphere?
the total amount of water on a planet
What are examples of a planet’s hydrosphere?
liquid, vapor, or ice
Examples of liquid water
oceans, lakes, and rivers
Examples of underground water
in wells and aquifers
Examples of water vapor
clouds and fog
Examples of Earth’s hydrosphere made of ice
glaciers, ice caps, and icebergs
What’s the cryosphere
frozen part of the hydrosphere
What’s the biosphere
area around the planet Earth where life exists
What is the atmosphere made up of?
78% Nitrogen
21% Oxygen
1% Gases
What are the 5 layers of the atmosphere?
Exosphere
Thermosphere
Mesoshphere
Stratosphere
Troposphere
What did Theodore von Karman create?
clear-cut separation of the fields of aeronautics and astronauts
What does the lower atmosphere do?
most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, by absorbing harmful radiation
What does the upper atmosphere do?
protect our planet by absorbing harmful radiation
What are the four primary layers of the upper atmosphere
upper stratosphere
mesosphere
thermosphere
exosphere
What did Robert Boyle invent
barometer to predict the weather
What is the biosphere?
regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth occupied by living organisms
What is Natural Selection?
the process by which traits become more or less common in a population due to consistent effects upon the survival or reproduction of their bearer (evolution)
What are the four factors of natural selection?
- Inheritance of traits from one generation to the next and variations in traits (genetic variability)
-Environmental Variability
-Differential reproduction that varies within the environment
-Influence of the environment on survival and reproduction
What are the steps of the scientific method?
-Make an observation
-ask a question
-hypothesis, gather data
-examine test results and form conclusion
-report findings
