The earth Flashcards
What are the layers of the earht?
Crust, mantle, outer core, inner core
What is the radius of the earth’s crust
5-50 km
What is the distance from the center of the earth to the crust
6400 km
What is the radius of the earth’s combined core
3500
What is the radius of just the earth’s inner core
1300
What is the earhts outer core like?
Hot liquid
What is the earhts inner core made of
Iron and nickel
What chemical in the earths atmosphere protects us from UV rays?
Ozone (O3)
What is convection
???
What keeps the earhts surface warm
Greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide
Why is the sky blue?
THe earht’s atmosphere scatters blue light from the sun more than red.
What is the great oxygenation event?
Blue-green algae photosynthesis kicked in (couple billion years ago) and oxygen (O2) is created
What causes a red sky?
Fires, eruptions ect. The difference in chemcials in the air change which color of light (RGB) is being scattered
Why does the atmosphere constantly have a “healthy” dose of carbon in ut?
The carbon cycle. Carbon gets reused and recycled through a combination of weather, erosion, and volcanic eruptions.
What is the greenhouse effect
Energy is trapped by carbon molecules (infrared)
What is a positive feedback effct?
Dangerous! Change in one direction causes additional change in the other direction
EG surface water on Venus boils H2O into the atmosphere bc hot —> H2O makes it more hot —-> more water gets boiled
What is a negative feedback effect?
Change in one direction causes a change in an opposing direction
EG: House gets cold —-> heating kicks on
What are convection cells in the atmosphere
Heat rises in one place and then comes down in another
What is the Coriolis effect
Earth is constantly rotating which deflects heat and storm systems horizontally
What causes spiral storm systems on the earth??
Coriolis effect/conservation of angular momentum causes opposing systems/winds to interact from opposite directions slightly skewed and create a spiral
How are storm systems different in the northern and southern hemisphere?
Rotate in opposite directions
What are jetstreams and where do they occur?
Within convection cells. Go aroudn the earth
What causes the tides on earth
Moon is simulttaneously pulling strongly on close side of the earth and weakly on its far side, but because it is also constantly changing this force is constantly shifting with the strongest force following the moon around the planet and pulling the tides with it.
What is the different between a spring tide and a neap tide?
Neap: weakest, 3rd and 1st quarter, moon is at 90 deg. from sun
spring: strongest, new and full, moon is in line with earth and sun
What is a king tide?
Spring tide when moon is closest to earth
What is happening to the earths rotation over time?
It is slowing down- transferring its angular momentum to the moon
What does the transfer of angular momentum from the earth to the moon do to the moon over time?
Pushes it farther away
What caused the glacial advance(s)
Variation in the earth’s orbit and tilt
What was the last (most recent) glacial advance
Wisconsin glacial
What are the two closest evidences of glaciation to us?
Verrazano Narrows and the terminal moraine in between exit 10 and exit 11 on the NJTP (highest point is water supply)
What did the great oxygenation event cause?
O2, Fe2O3- Created banded iron formations (milanmkovitch cycles)
What is the generic name for effects caused by the earths orbit and tilt?
Milankovitch cycles
What are Sheer waves (S-waves
sideways compared to direction of propogation (squiggly)
What can S- Waves go through?
Only solids
What are P- waves
go along the direction of propogation (straight across)
What kind of waves are sound waves?
P- waves
What can P- waves travel through?
gases liquids and solids
Which type of wave did we feel in the new jersey earth quake?
S-waves
What are s waves and p waaves used for in terms of scientific discovery
Mapping out the interior of the earth based on time of earthquake and time of arival
How do we know what the earhts core is made of?
Since s waves can only pass thru solids, we see the point at which they can and cant pass through to know that there is a liquid interior
What are the inner and outer core made of?
Liquid/solid iron and nickel
What is the mantle made out of
silicase
What keeps the interior of the earth warm?
radioactive decay (heavy elements that sank are now decaying)
What carries out the heat transfer in the mantle?
Convection
What does convection in the earths mantle lead to
movement of tectonic plates (up and down like a rotating conveyer
How were the earhts tectonic plates discovered?
matching fossils on opposing sides of the world
Where is iceland located
The middle of the midoceanic ridge
Where was the spot that the ocean shores flooding was measured with magnetic feilds?
Somewhere on the pacific
What causes the earhts magnetic feild?
the “dynamo” that creates a sort of “bar magnet” - circulating electric current
What happens to the earths magnetic feild regularly
it flips
how do we know that the earths magnetic field flips
rocks and shit bc when it hardns it always points in the certain way and then it flips we’ve found rocks from both ways
What is true about the magnetism on either side of the pacific oceanic ridge
symmetrical features
What is magnetization of molten rocks durign solidification
> iron and shit randomly oriented when hot not magnetic
will remember the direction of the magnetic field that it is cooled in
Where were plate tectonics nailed down
Specific symmetrical spot in the south pacific ocean
Know map of the things about plate tectonics
What is hawaii
a string of hotspot sheild volcanos- islands get pushed up as crust gets pushed over the hotspots
what mountain ranges used to be connected?
Iberian-Appalachians (west Virginia)
What happens if you shoot a particle across magnetic field lines
it gets steered to the side
What does earths magnetic feild protect us from
charged particles from the sun (solar wind)
why is life on mars wonky
solar wind no protection shawty has no magnetic feild
What do you need for a magnetic dynamo (pseudo magnet)
- rotation (fast for turbulence
- liquid metallic (conduction)
What was the crater that killed the dinos
Chixiclub (mexicos arm)
what is the main signature of the dinasours being dead from chixiclub
Iridium boundary IR (outer space:!) all of the rest of it sank into the core
Charged particle formuula
How do charged particles feel force depending on magnetic field presence?
no magnetic - no force
along - no force
perpendicular - to B feel force perpendicular to both
what happens to a charged particle that runs along a magnetic feild line?
curly cue!
What do charged particles on the surface of the sun do?
run along magnetic feild lines between sunspots
