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Geosciences
Geosciences Exam
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What are the two types of systems used to map the sky? | Constellations and the Equatorial System |
| How many constellations are there? | 88; used to divide the sky into units |
| How is the Equatorial system used? | Divides the celestial sphere into coordinates like latitude and longitude |
| What are the coordinate labels called? | Declination=latitude (degrees); Right ascension=longitude (hours) |
| What were the seven heavenly bodies known to the Greeks? | the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn |
| How was the circumference of the Earth measured? | Erastothenes observed the angles of the noon Sun in two Egyptian cities (north and south). |
| What is retrograde motion? | A movement that appears to be a westward drift; when one planet overtakes its slower neighbor and the neighbor appears to be moving backwards. |
| What are Kepler's laws? | 1. The path of each planet around the Sun is elliptical 2. The law of equal areas 3. The orbital periods of the planets and their distances to the Sun are proportional. |
| What did Galileo discover with the telescope? | 1. Jupiter's four largest satellites 2. planets are circular disks and not just points of light 3. Venus exhibits phases like the moon 4. the Moon's surface is not smooth 5. the Sun has sunspots and rotational motion |
| What is Newton's law of universal gravitation? | Every body of the universe attracts every other body with a force that is directly proportional to mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. |
| Contribution of Copernicus | constructed the heliocentric model for the solar system; |
| Contributions of Brahe | Stellar parallax-determine distances to the nearest stars |
| one parsec is equal to... | 3.26 light years (3.09 x 10^13 km) |
| How do we know planets are closer than stars? | Nearby objects exhibit more parallax than more remote ones. |
| How is the zodiac divided? | The zodiac is divided into 12 constellations; Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. |
| What are the uses of constellations? | At each change in equinox (winter, spring, summer, autumn) the Sun shifts. Ex. Earth in autumn position the Sun is seen against Virgo. |
| What are the basic parts of a reflecting telescope and what are their functions? | Reflecting telescope: light is reflected and therefore easier to see the colors; Curved (parabloid) mirror-collect and focus light; |
| What are the basic parts of a refracting telescope and what are their basic functions? | Refracting telescope: light is gathered and focused by lenses; lenses-focuses the light by bending the rays. |
| Which planet is the least dense? | Saturn |
| What are the terrestrial planets? | Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars |
| What are the Jovian planets? | Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune,Uranus |
| What are the terrestrial planets made of? | Rock |
| What are the Jovian planets made of? | Ice (frozen liquids and gases-water, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane all frozen) |
| Surfaces of Jovian planets | No true surface; atmospheres thicken with depth and then liquify; no true distinction between atmosphere and crust |
| What is the difference in atmospheres between terrestrial and Jovian planets? | Jovian planets were far enough away (cold enough) to allow gases to condense into ices. A planet's ability to retain an atmosphere depends on its mass and temperature. |
| How does the size, mass, and gravitational pull of the moon compare to that of Earth? | Size: diameter 3,475 km (1/4 Earth); Mass: density 3.3 times that of water (mantle rock on Earth); Gravitational pull: 1/6 of Earth's (ex. 150 lbs on Earth 25 lbs on Moon) |
| What features are used to describe the surface of the moon? | Maria formed by fluid basaltic lava; terrae or lunar highlands formed by repeated impact craters (rapidly moving debris) |
| How does the inner core and magnetic field of the moon compare to that of Earth? | Small iron core; less of a magnetic field |
| What is the atmosphere and water content of the Moon? | No atmosphere; no flowing water |
| What is the collision theory of the formation of the Moon and what evidence supports it? | A large body about the size of Mars struck Earth and sent fragements into space which accumulated and became the Moon; same materials that make up Earth make up the Moon. |
| Which two planets have no satellites? | Mercury and Venus |
| How many moons does Jupiter have? | 63 |
| Identify Jupiter's moons | Callisto and Ganymede and larger than Mercury; Europa and Io are about the size of our Moon |
| Why are Jupiter's moons interesting? | they are all different. Ganaymede has a core with a strong magnetic field; Io is very active in regards to volcanism. |
| Which planet is the most dense? | Earth |
| What are Earth's spheres? | Hydrosphere=water; Atmosphere=gases; Biosphere= life; Geosphere=solid Earth (largest) |
| What are the layers of the atmosphere? | Trophosphere=where we live, temp cools with altitude; Stratosphere=temp remains constant until 50 km then rises; Mesosphere=temp decreases with altitude; Thermosphere=temp rises above 100 degrees C. |
| What are the different types of volcanoes? | Shield volcanoes (largest); Cinder cones (most abundant); Composite cones (most beautiful and dangerous) |
| What are plate tectonics? | Lithosphere broken into many pieces (plates; about a dozen) which move and shift the continents. |
| What are converging plates? | These slip past each other |
| What occurs when continental margins are near these plates? | Called active margins; mostly in the Pacific |
| What are the seven major plates? | N. American, S. American, Pacific (largest), African, Eurasian, Australian, Indian, Antarctic |
| What are the intermediate plates? | Caribbean, Nazca, Philippine, Arabian, Cocos, Scotia, Juan de Fuca |
| What are the three types of plate boundaries? | Divergent-2 plates move apart, form new ocean floor; Convergent- 2 plates move together, create mountains; Transform- 2 plates grind past each other with production or destruction |
| What drives plate motion? | Mantle covection; slow movement of plates and mantle are driven by unequal distribution of heat within Earth's interior |
| How are earthquakes measured in regards to size? | Intensity and Magnitude |
| What is intensity and how is it measured? | A measure of the degree of earthquake shaking ata agiven locale based on the amount of damage. Modified mercali scale |
| What is magnitude and how is it measured? | Calculations that use data provided by seismic records; Richter scale-based on amplitude of the largest seismic wave (P, S, or surface) recorded on a seismograph. |
| What is a Moment magnitude scale? | Only scale that adequately measures very lg. earthquakes |
| What is a tsunami? | seismic sea waves; large underwave earthquakes causing massive waves; created by vertical displacement along a fault along the ocean floor |
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