TEST #1 Flashcards
The Universe
Everything there is
The Big Bang Theory
Formed the Universe
Age (14ish billion years)
A big explosion where all matter started and the universe expanded out
The Red Shift
The doppler effect (sound or light that can be treated as waves, wavelength and frequency- if the sound producing thing is coming toward you, the frequency increases, away->decreases)
Cosmic Background Spectrum
Calculation of cosmic matter
Galaxies
Systems of stars
100 billion in the universe
Distance (100,000 to millions of light years)
Light year
How far light travels in a year
Light takes 8 minutes to get to the earth from the sun
What are the different shapes of galaxies?
Elliptical
Spiral
Irregular
Milky Way
(Our galaxy)
Spiral Shaped
100,000 light years
Disk shaped, thinner in the center
What is at the center of our solar system?
The sun
And then the rest is made up of planets, moons, comets, asteroids, interplanetary medium
Interplanetary medium
Atoms floating, but essential a vacuum
List the planets of our solar system in order.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What are considered the “innermost planets?”
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
What are some characteristics of “innermost planets?”
Inner, minor, terrestrial
High density
What are considered the “outermost planets?”
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What are some characteristics of “outermost planets?”
Outer, major
Low density
What are some similarities between “innermost” and “outermost” planets?
All revolve around the sun in the same direction, elliptical orbits, pretty much same plane, all planets tend to rotate on their axis, many of them have moons
What are smaller bodies within our solar system?
dwarf planets, Ceres (asteroid belt), Trans Neptunian (outside of pluto), asteroids, meteorites (iron-fe-ni alloy, stoney-rocks, stoney-iron), comets (icy, highly elliptical) , gas and dust
The Nebular Hypothesis
Formed the Solar System
Spinning cloud of gas and dust
Then it condenses, small particles start attracting each other, and also the whole thing is spinning
Plate Tectonics
Theory that explains outermost phenomena of earth
earthquakes, mountain chains, volcanoes, deep-ocean trenches
Structure of the Earth
Inner core, outer core, mantle, crust
Inner core of the Earth
Solid iron and nickel
Outer core of the Earth
Liquid iron and nickel
Mantle of the Earth
Rocky, solid, high pressure and temperature, solid mantle can flow like putty or magma
Crust of the Earth
Oceanic (thinnest, under oceans) and continental (thicker)
What is the Lithosphere?
Crust
Part of the upper mantle is also in the lithosphere
100kmish thick
“sphere of rock”
Divided into plates that move (a lot of plate tectonic activity happens at these boundaries)
What is the Asthenosphere?
Mantle
“weak sphere”
Convection drives the movement of plates (enough flow to it, viscosity)
What are plates in Plate Tectonics composed of?
They are lithospheric plates
Divergent Plate Boundary
Plates pull apart
Hot mantle material below rises up
Solid mantle material as it rises, melts (magma)
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Example of a divergent plate boundary
Magma chamber beneath the ridge
Builds oceanic crust constantly
Liquid rises and solidifies, igneous rock is formed; in this case, basalt
What type of rock is oceanic crust?
Basalt
What are examples of divergent plate boundary activity?
Oceanic-ridges, faults (earth is stretched), and earthquakes
What happens to continental crust at a divergent plate boundary?
Similar to oceanic, but volcanoes are formed.
Convergent Plate Boundary (oceanic under oceanic)
Subduction zone
Melting of down-going slab
Line of volcanic islands along subduction zone
What is the deepest oceanic under oceanic zone?
Mariana trench, not much sediment “sediment starved” (pacific plate under phillipine plate)
Convergent Plate Boundary (oceanic under continental)
Subduction zone
Oceanic plate is thinner and denser (always oceanic under continental)
Oceanic subduction, causes melting, water is released, magma rises, (crystallizes below surface) igneous rock formed or (magma surfaces) chain of volcanoes are formed
What are examples of oceanic under continental formations?
Cascades, Pacific northwest-St. Helens, the Andes
Beniat waldotty zone: earthquake zone
Convergent Plate Boundary (continental/continental collision)
Typically ocean is subducted away and ocean is stripped away and continents collide, tiny subduction of continental
Mountains and earthquakes
What are examples of continental collision formations?
India, Himalayas
India used to be south of Asia and then it eventually collided and formed a mountain range
Also Mt. Everest and the Tibetan Plateau
Transform Plate Boundary
Horizontal motion
Slides past one another
Earthquakes, no melting
No igneous activity
What are transform faults?
Offsets of divergent boundaries, boundaries want to be straight
(strike/slip fault)
At which boundaries can earthquakes occur?
All three
At which boundaries can mountains be created?
Divergent and convergent
Andes, Himilayans, Cascades=divergent
Convergent mountains under the ocean
Some transform
At which boundaries can volcanoes occur?
Divergent and convergent boundaries
Mt. veneer or Mt. Fiji
Divergent boundary volcanoes are under the ocean
James Hutton
father of modern geology, came up with uniformitarianism
Atoms
smallest part of an element that retains the properties of that element
What are the subatomic particles that make up an atom?
nucleus, electrons, cloud or field
What is the nucleus of an atom composed of?
protons and neutrons
Charge of a proton
+1 charge, 1 amu
Charge of a neutron
+1 charge, 1 amu
Charge of an electron
-1 charge, 1/2000 amu
Isotope
two of the same atoms, the same atomic number, but different mass
Ex: Oxygen 16 (8 neutrons) , 17 (9 neutrons), 18 (10 neutrons)
When are electrons stable?
When they have a filled outer shell
Ionic Bonding
(no longer electrically neutral)
(+)=cation
(-)=anion
Opposite charges attract
Covalent Bonding
Electrons are shared
Metallic Bonding
“sea” of electrons
What is the most common type of bonding?
Ionic
What are the most common elements in the Earth’s crust and mantle?
O -2 (most common) Si +4 Al +3 Fe +2, +3 Ca +2 Na +1 K +1 Mg +2 (least common) SiO2=quartz “over sized apples feel cold not kinda mushy”
Anions
Larger than atoms (pick up electrons, cloud expands)
Cations
Smaller than atoms (give up electrons, cloud contracts)
(atomic number) Z=
of protons=# of electrons in an atom
Crystal Structure
Anions held together by smaller cations
Structure: anions with smaller cations in holes
Crystalline
Atoms are in a systematic, organized arrangement
Crystal Lattice
All directions indefinitely, 14 different kinds
Ex: halite (NaCl)
Amorphous
Atoms are randomly arranged
Mineral
Naturally occurring
Crystalline
Inorganically formed
Mineral examples
Pyroxene Ca(Mg,Fe)Si206 Olivine (Mg,Fe),SiO4 OR Mg2-xFexSi04
Coupled Solid Solution
Ions maintain charge balance
Plagioclase ( to change one thing you have to change the other) (most common mineral in the earth’s crust
Mg and Fe are similar in radius (typically the same charge +2)
Mineral’s Properties
Crystal structure, color, streak, cleavage, luster, fracture, form, specific gravity, magnetism, etc.
Streak
Rub against streak plate
Luster
The appearance of light reflected from a mineral
Cleavage
(how they break) Micas, one direction of cleavage Some have two direction 90 degrees break planes Some have two not at 90 degrees 3 at 90 degrees 3 not at 90 degrees (calcite) 4 (flourite)
Fracture
(no cleavage planes) (ex: quarts)