Unit 1 - AOS2 - Solar System Flashcards
What follows after a change in the environment
It causes the biosphere to change to suit the environment ( constant environmental change)
Intense stresses endured on earth before include :
- Ice ages
- Warming episodes
- High and low oxygen levels
- Mass extinctions
- Large volcanic eruptions
- Meteorite impacts
The age of earth
Approx 4.5 billion years old
Found through radioactive dating ( oldest rock found is 4.5 billion years old )
When did prokaryotes first appear on earth?
3.8 billion years ago
When did eukaryotes first appear in earth ?
2 billion years ago
Solar nebula
‘Vast’ gas cloud
- consists on mainly hydrogen and helium
- what the solar system formed from
- four light years across ( distance-> size )
How did the solar system form ?
98% of the matter in the solar nebular fell to the centre ( gravity) - formed the sun through nuclear fusion as temp rose (sun began to shine and was high temp)
2% remaining condensed into proto-planets
Nuclear fusion
Protons in atoms began to fuse together
Proto planets **##
Earths formation / formation of planets
Planets formed the next 400 million years after the sun
- proto-planets (smaller planets) collided together —> increasing size
- formed hot mole ten spheres of rock, while clearing their orbits of debris
What did early solar winds cause in the solar system ?
- it caused planets close to the sun to lose most of their lighter elements in their atmospheres
- while planets further away kept theirs
Jovian planets characteristics and examples
- ice or gas giants
- multiple moons
- support ring system
- no solid surface
- gas giants = Jupiter , Saturn
- ice giants = Neptune, Uranus
Terrestrial Planets characteristics and examples
- rocky material
- surfaces are solid
- don’t have rings
- few moons
- relatively small
- mercury, Venus , earth, mars
Sun
- primary source of energy
- solar energy : is created through nuclear fusion
- earth is in the ‘ goldilocks zone ‘
- hydrogen gas (72%) and helium gas (28%)
Solar cycle definition
Is the activity level of the magnetic field —> created from nuclear fusion ( when gas moves)
- solar cycles last approx 11 years
Magnetic field definition
Movement of gases ( nuclear fusion )
Solar minimum in the sun characteristics
- low amounts of solar activity
- less dark sun spots
Solar maximum of the sun characteristics
- high amounts of solar activity
- more dark sun spots
Do the solar cycles impact the climate on earth?
it has no impact
- due to the solar max and minimum being less than one percent.
Photon
is the smallest unit of light, carrying electromagnetic radiation at speeds of 300,000km per second.
- travel in straight lines through space and waves when hit earth
define the terms wavelength and frequency in terms of electromagnetic radiation
Wavelength - is the length of one wave of radiation.
Frequency - is the frequency of the number of waves passing by per second (measured in hertz ‘Hz’)
Relationship between the wavelength and frequency and the energy of a photon
There is a linear relationship between the wavelength and frequency of electromagnetic radiation. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency which increases the energy of the photons.
the four ways photons interact with objects
R.R.A.T
Reflect - if the surface has a surface that cannot penetrate through
Refract - Transmitted but bent (is like reflect but transmitted)
Absorbed - is when the object is opaque
Transmitted - is without the bending of the electromagnetic waves if transparent and passes through.
