Planet Earth and beyond

Question 1

What does the lithosphere contain?

Answer 1

The land masses make up the lithosphere, this includes all the rocks and soil of the Earth’s crust.

Question 2

What does the hydrosphere contain?

Answer 2

The water on the the surface and under the surface of the Earth, eg oceans, rivers etc.

Question 3

What does the atmosphere contain?

Answer 3

The layer of gases which surround the Earth

Question 4

What does the biosphere contain?

Answer 4

All living things on Earth, all biotic (living, eg plants and animals) and abiotic (non-living eg gases and soil)

Question 5

What layers make up the Earth’s mass?

Answer 5

The crust, mantle, outer core and inner core.

Question 6

What is the crust?

Answer 6

A thin outer layer formed of solid rock between 6km and 90km thick. The crust is thickest beneath the continents and thinnest beneath oceans.

Question 7

What is the mantle?

Answer 7

About 2900km thick, forming over half of Earth’s mass. Rocks in the mantle are in a hot, thick liquid or molten state. The molten rock has a plastic consistency which allows it to move and flow. Its temperature is about 1000C. Convection currents in this part of the mantle cause movement of tectonic plates. The part of the mantle closer to the core has a temperature of 3500C, high pressure in this part of the mantle causes it to be solid.

Question 8

What is the outer core?

Answer 8

About 2250km thick, it is molten, 4000C and consist of very dense metallic rock

Question 9

What is the inner core?

Answer 9

bout 2440km thick, 7000C. The extremely high pressure in the inner core causes it to be solid. The pressure is so high, rocks cannot melt. It consists mainly of iron and nickel

Question 10

What is the composition of the atmosphere?

Answer 10

21% oxygen
1% other gases
78% nitrogen

Question 11

What is temperature gradient?

Answer 11

Shows us how much the temperature changes with altitude.

Question 12

What is the troposhere?

Answer 12

The layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth with a height of 10km above sea level.

Question 13

What is the stratosphere?

Answer 13

Where temperature increases and air becomes thinner, it has less air resistance.

Question 14

What is the ozone layer?

Answer 14

A layer of invisible 03 gas that occurs in the stratosphere. It protects the Earth from harmful sunrays, eg ultraviolet

Question 15

What is the mesosphere?

Answer 15

Where the temperature starts to decrease again about 50km to 80km. Temperatures of -100%

Question 16

What are shooting stars?

Answer 16

Small pieces of rock moving at high speeds through space,

Question 17

What are meteors and meteorites?

Answer 17

Small pieces of rock travelling through space and called meteors and when they enter the atmosphere they are called meteorites

Question 18

What is the thermosphere?

Answer 18

80km above the Earths surface where the temperature increases again

Question 19

What is the greenhouse effect?

Answer 19

When air pollution spreads gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, CFCs and nitrous gases into the atmosphere =, these gases absorb heat energy and increase the temperature of the atmosphere

Question 20

What is global warming?

Answer 20

The Earth becoming hotter and hotter.

Question 21

How does global warming cause sea levels to rise?

Answer 21

Glaciers and ice sheets worldwise are melting and adding water to the ocean and the volume of the ocean is expanding as the water warms

Question 22

How is star born?

Answer 22

in huge clouds of gas and dust in space called nebulae. Before a star is born the gas in a part of the nebula begins to swirl, gravity pulls clumps into a large ball of glowing gas. The temperature rises higher and eventually nuclear fusion reactions take place. An enormous amount of heat and light is give off.

Question 23

What is the main gas produced by nuclear fushion?

Answer 23

Helium

Question 24

What is a protostar?

Answer 24

A very young star that is still gathering mass from it’s parent molecular cloud