Planet Earth Flashcards
What is the shape of the earth?
The shape of the earth is an oblate spheroid.
Latitude and Longitude
- Latitude - Horizontal lines, measured in degrees, stated as a number of degrees north or south of equator.
- Longitude - stated as a number of degrees east or west of the prime meridian - (0 degrees), vertical lines, lines are all same length.
How do you find latitude and longitude?
Lines of latitude are horizontal lines and lines of longitude are vertical lines.
Which of the earth’s internal divisions is the thinnest?
crust
Which internal layer of the earth lies directly below the mantle?
outer core
Which part of the earth’s surface has a latitude of 23.5 degrees north?
Tropic of Cancer
What is the value of the ratio Earth’s mean diameter: Moon’s mean diameter?
4:1
Which of the earth’s internal divisions has the highest temperature?
inner core
What is the latitude of the tropic of cancer?
23.5 degrees North
On the date of the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, the Sun follows a path directly above a latitude of?
23.5 degrees South
The Prime Meridian is a line of
longitude, running north-south through greenwich.
Seeing conditions relate to the
Steadiness of the atmosphere when observing
What is the latitude of the arctic circle?
66.5 degrees North
Which line of latitude is 90 degrees further south from the Arctic Circle?
Tropic of Capricorn
What are the earth’s four major internal divisions and features? - Crust
crust - very thin, thickness from 0-70km, older continental crust consists of low density rocks like granite, and younger, thinner crust consists of darker denser rocks like basalt. split up into a number of continent-sized tectonic plates.
What are the earth’s four major internal divisions and features? - Mantle
mantle - lower mantle is solid, upper is semi-molten, allowing thermal convection currents to rise and fall.
outer core - temperature is 5000K, made of liquid iron with some nickel.
What are the earth’s four major internal divisions and features? - Outer Core
outer core - temperature is 5000K, made of liquid iron with some nickel. Currents of charged particles that flow in outer core are responsible for Earth’s magnetic field.
What are the earth’s four major internal divisions and features? - Inner Core
inner core - temp is 5500K, about same as Sun’s photosphere, high pressure prevents the iron and nickel from melting.
