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earth science sem 1
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Astronomy | the study of objects beyond Earth’s atmosphere |
| Meteorology | the study of the air that surrounds Earth |
| Geology | the study of materials that make up Earth and processes that form and change these materials |
| oceanography | the study of Earth’s oceans |
| Atmosphere | the blanket of gases that surrounds our planet |
| Hydrosphere | the water in Earth’s glaciers, seas, lakes, oceans, and the water in the atmosphere |
| Biosphere | all of the organisms on Earth and the environments in which they live |
| asthenosphere | the partially molten layer of Earth beneath the mantle and between the core |
| Lithosphere | Earth’s rigid outer shell (includes the crust and the mantle) |
| Control | a factor used in an experiment to show that the results are actually a result of the condition being tested |
| Dependent variable | a factor in an experiment that can change if the independent variable is changed |
| Independent variable | the factor in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter |
| Hypothesis | a suggested explanation for an observation |
| Law | a basic fact that describes the behavior of a natural phenomenon |
| theory | an explanation based on many observations during repeated experiments |
| Cartography | the science of mapmaking |
| Equator | the imaginary line that circles around Earth halfway between the north and south poles |
| Latitude | the distance in degrees north or south of the equator |
| Longitude | the distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian |
| Prime meridian | the point of 0 degrees longitude (Greenwich, England) |
| Topographic map | a map that shows changed in elevation of Earth’s surfaces, along with mountains, rivers, forests, and bridges |
| Contour line | a line that connects points of equal elevation |
| Contour interval | the difference in elevation between two side-by-side contour lines |
| Map legend | a guide that explains what the symbols represent |
| Map scale | the ratio between distances on a map and actual distances on the surface of Earth |
| Remote sensing | the process of collecting data about Earth from far above Earth’s surface |
| Electromagnetic spectrum | the arrangement of electromagnetic radiation according to wavelengths |
| Frequency | the number of waves that pass particular point each second |
| Global Positioning System | a radio-navigation system of at least 24 satellites that allows its users to determine their exact position on Earth |
| Element | a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by physical or chemical means |
| Atom | the smallest particle of an element that has all of the characteristics of that element |
| Nucleus | the center of an atom, made up of protons and neutrons |
| Proton | a tiny particle that has mass and a positive electrical charge |
| Neutron | a particle with about the same mass as a proton, but it is electrically neutral |
| Electron | a small particle that surrounds the nucleus of an atom; it is negatively electrically charged |
| Isotope | an atom of the same element that has a different mass number (a different number of neutrons) and the same chemical properties as a different atom of the same element |
| radioactivity | spontaneous process of decay through which unstable nuclei emit radiation |
| Compound | a substance composed of atoms of two or more different elements that are chemically combined |
| molecule | combination of two or more atoms joined by covalent bonds; the smallest amount of that combined substance |
| Chemical bond | a force that holds the atoms of elements together in a compound |
| Covalent bond | attraction of two atoms for a shared pair of electrons that holds the atoms together |
| Ionic bond | attractive force between two ions with opposite charge |
| Ion | an electrically charged atom |
| Chemical reaction | change of one or more substances into other substances |
| Crystalline structure | regular geometric pattern of particles in most solids, giving a solid a definite shape and volume |
| Refracting telescope | the first telescopes invented in circa 1600 that used lenses to bring visible light to a focus |
| Reflecting telescope | telescopes that use mirrors to bring visible light to a focus |
| Impact craters | craters on the moon that are formed when objects from space crash into the lunar surface |
| Ecliptic | the plane in which Earth orbits about the sun |
| Summer solstice | the day when the Sun is positioned directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer; the number of daylight hours in the northern hemisphere is at its maximum, while it is at its minimum for the southern hemisphere |
| Winter solstice | the day when the Sun is directly positioned overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn; the number of daylight hours in the northern hemisphere is at its minimum, while it is at its maximum for the southern hemisphere |
| Autumnal equinox | the day when Earth’s axis is not pointed at the sun resulting in both hemispheres receiving the same amounts of sunlight; the lengths of day night are equal for both the northern and southern hemispheres |
| Solar eclipse | when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth and blocks our view of the Sun |
| Lunar eclipse | when the Moon passes through Earth’s shadow |
| Retrograde motion | the movement of a planet in the opposite direction across the sky of its normal motion |
| Astronomical unit | a unit of measurement equal to 1.496 million kilometers, the average distance from the center of Earth to the center of the Sun |
| Perihelion | the position when a planet is closest to the Sun in its orbit |
| Aphelion | the position when a planet is farthest away from the Sun in its orbit |
| eccentricity | the ratio of the distance between the foci to the length of the major axis, the way to describe the shape of a planet’s elliptical orbit |
| Terrestrial planet | the inner four planets that are close to the size of Earth and have solid, rocky surfaces |
| Gas giant planet | the outer four planets that are much larger than Earth, and are more gaseous and lack solid surfaces |
| Meteoroid | an interplanetary material that falls towards Earth and enters Earth’s atmosphere |
| Precession | the wobble in Earth’s rotation axis |
| Planetismals | a solid body that was formed from tiny grains of condense material |
| asteroid | small, rocky body orbiting the sun that vary greatly in size |
| Meteor | a meteoroid falling towards Earth that burns up in Earth’s atmosphere and produces a streak of light |
| Meteorite | a meteoroid that collides with the ground |
| Comet | small, ice bodies that have highly eccentric orbits around the sun that vary greatly in size |
| Meteor shower | when Earth enters a cometary orbit where particles from the comet burn up upon entering Earth’s upper atmosphere |
| Photosphere | the lowest layer and visible surface of the Sun’s atmosphere; about 400 km in thickness |
| Chromosphere | the next layer above the photosphere of the Sun; has a thickness of about 2500 km and a temperature of 30000 K; usually only visible during a solar eclipse |
| Corona | the top layer of the sun’s atmosphere which extends from the top of the chromosphere and has a temperature range of 1 million to 2 million K; has a very low density which means that it is only visible through special instruments |
| Solar wind | the outward flow of gas from the corona at high speeds |
| fusion | the combining of lightweight nuclei into heavier nuclei |
| Fission | the splitting of heavy atomic nuclei into smaller, lighter atomic nuclei |
| Spectrum | visible light arranged according to wavelengths |
| parallax | the apparent shift in position of stars as observed from Earth which is caused by the motion of the observer |
| Apparent magnitude | how bright a star appears to be |
| Absolute magnitude | the brightness an object would have if it were placed at a distance of 10 pc |
| Luminosity | the energy output from the surface of a star per second |
| Hertzsrung-Russell diagram | a graph that relates stellar characteristics-class, mass, temperature, magnitude, |
| Main sequence | in a H-R diagram, the broad, diagonal band that include about 90 percent of all stars and runs from hot, luminous stars in the upper-left corner to cool, dim stars in the lower-right corner |
| Nebula | large cloud of interstellar gas and dust that collapses on itself, due to its own gravity, and from a hot, condensed object that will become a new star |
| Protostar | hot, condensed object at the center of a nebula that will become a new star when nuclear fusion reactions begin |
| Neutron star | collapsed, dense core of a star that forms quickly while its outer layers are falling inward, has a radius of about 10 km, a mass 1.5 to 3 times that of the Sun, and contains only neutrons |
| Supernova | massive explosion that occurs when the other layers of a star are blown off |
| Black hole | small, extremely dense remnant of a star whose gravity is so immense that not even light can escape its gravity field |
| Halo | spherical region that surrounds the Milky Way’s nuclear bulge and disk |
| Supercluster | gigantic threadlike or sheetlike cluster of galaxies that is hundreds of millions of light-years in size |
| Hubble constant | value (H) used to calculate the rate that the universe is expanding; measured in kilometers per second per megaparsec |
| Cosmology | study of the universe, including its current nature, origin, and evolution, based on observation and the use of theoretical models |
| big-bang theory | theory that proposes that the universe began as a single point and has been expanding every since |
| Steady-state theory | theory that proposes that the universe is the same as it has always been |
| Cosmic background radiation | weak radiation that is left over from the early, hot stages, of the Big Bang expansion of the universe |
| Inflationary universe | model predicting that the universe is flat; can explain the walls and voids in the distribution of galaxies |
| Geological time scale | record of Earth’s history from its origin 4.6 billion years ago to the present |
| Era | the second longest span of time in the geological time scale that is measured in hundreds of millions to billions of years |
| Eon | the longest span of time on the geological time scale measured in billions of years |
| Correlation | the matching of outcrops of one geographic region to another |
| cross-cutting relationship | a principle that states that an intrusion or a fault is younger than the rock it cuts across |
| Original horizontality | a principle that states sedimentary rocks are deposited in horizontal or nearly horizontal layers |
| superposition | a principle that states that in an undisturbed rock sequence the oldest rocks are at the bottom and each successive layer is younger than the layer underneath |
| Unconformity | a gap in the rock record caused by the burial of an erosional surface |
| Uniformitarianism | a principle that states that the processes occurring today have been occurring since Earth formed |
| Half-life | the amount of time it takes for one-half of the original amount to decay |
| Radioactive decay | the emission of radioactive particles and the resulting change into other elements over time |
| Radiometric dating | a process where scientists try to determine the ratio of parent nuclei to daughter nuclei within a given sample of a rock or fossil |
| Altered hard part | when all the organic material has been removed and the hard parts of a plant or animal have been changed either by mineral replacement or by crystallization |
| Cast | a mold filled with minerals of sediment to create a replication of the organism |
| Fossil | the evidence or remains of once-living plants or animals |
| Original preservation | the soft and hard parts of plant and animal remains that have not undergone any kind of change since the organism’s death |
| Index fossil | the remains of plants or animals that can be used by geologists to correlate rock layers over large geographic areas to date a particular rock layer |
| Mold | a hollowed-out impression of the original organism created when the original shell parts of an organism within a sedimentary rock are weathered and eroded |
| Zircon | a very stable mineral that commonly occurs in small amounts in granite |
| Differentiation | the process by which a planet becomes internally zoned when heavy material sink toward its center and lighter materials accumulate near its surface |
| Precambrian Shield | a core of Archean and Proterozoic rock |
| Laurentia | an ancient continent that made up modern-day North America’s core |
| Cyanobacteria | tiny, threadlike chlorophyll bearing filaments |
| Stromatolite | large mats and mounds of billions of cyanobacteria |
| Banded iron formation | alternating bands of chert and iron oxides found in rock deposits |
| Red bed | sedimentary rocks that are younger than 1.8 billion years and are rusty red in color |
| Mineral | a naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a specific chemical composition and a definite crystalline structure |
| Crystal | a solid in which the atoms are arranged in repeating patterns |
| Magma | molten material found beneath Earth’s surface |
| Luster | the way that a mineral reflects light from its surface |
| Streak | the color a mineral is when it is broken up and powdered |
| Hardness | a measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched |
| Cleavage | the quality of a mineral that splits relatively easily and evenly along one or more flat planes |
| Fracture | the quality of a mineral that breaks with rough or jagged edges |
| Specific gravity | the ratio of the weight of a substance to the weight of an equal volume of water at 4 degrees celsius |
| Ore | a mineral that contains a useful substance that can be mined at a profit |
| Gems | valuable minerals that are prized for their rarity and beauty |
| Igneous rocks | rocks formed from the crystallization of magma |
| Extrusive | fine-grained igneous rocks that cool quickly on Earth’s surface |
| Intrusive | coarse-grained igneous rocks that cool slowly beneath Earth’s surface |
| Felsic | igneous rocks that are light-colored and rich in silica |
| Mafic | igneous rocks that are dark-colored and rich in iron |
| Ultramafic | unusual igneous rocks that have low silica contents and very high levels of iron and magnesium |
| Porphyritic | a texture that includes large, well-formed crystals surrounded by finer-grained crystals of the same mineral or different minerals |
| Sediments | pieces of solid material that have been deposited on Earth’s surface by wind, water, ice, gravity, or chemical precipitation |
| Deposition | the result of when sediments are laid down on the ground or sink to the bottoms of bodies of water |
| Lithification | the physical and chemical processes that transform sediments into sedimentary rocks |
| Cementation | the process where mineral growth cements sediment grains together into solid rock |
| Clastic sedimentary rocks | rock and mineral fragments produced by weathering |
| Evaporites | sediments that are chemically precipitated from a water solution due to evaporation |
| Regional metamorphism | metamorphism affecting rocks over a large area caused by heat and pressure |
| Contact metamorphism | an effect that occurs when molten rock come in contact with solid rock |
| Foliated | rocks characterized by wavy layers and bands of minerals |
| Nonfoliated | metamorphic rocks that lack mineral grains with long axes in one direction |
| Rock cycle | the continuous changing and remaking of rocks |
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