Created by Niat Habtemariam
over 10 years ago
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Question | Answer |
a= Mantle, b= Crust, c= Convection Currents, d= Core | |
Plate Tectonics | The theory that the Earth's crust is broken up into a number of large plates that move and interact. |
Convection Current | The transfer of heat by flowing action within a liquid or a gas; the heat rises, cools, and sinks over and over again i.e. convection currents in the mantle that move the tectonic plates |
Core | The Earth's center, made of most nickel and iron. |
Mantle | A thick layer of rock below Earth's crust; it's solid, but flows very slowly. |
Crust | The outermost solid rock layer of Earth. |
Continental Drift | The theory proposed by Alfred Wegener which stated that the continents are drifting across Earth's surface. |
What is some evidence for the Continental Drift Theory? | 1. The continents fit together like puzzle pieces....2. Matching fossils were found on different continents. |
Mid-ocean ridge | Underwater mountains that extend into all oceans. This ridge is created by divergent plate boundaries. |
Sea-floor spreading | New ocean crust created at mid-ocean ridges as older crust moves away. |
Subduction Zone | When an ocean plate collides with a continental plate, the ocean plate tends to slide under the continental plate. |
How are mountain ranges created? | Convergent plates collide and push up. |
Earthquakes | A natural disaster happening when transform plates slide past one another. |
How are islands formed? | When volcanoes erupt (magma rises from within the Earth) and the magma cools i.e. Hawaiian Islands |
Folding & Faulting | The movements of plates that can cause rocks to bend, fracture, and slide. |
Relative Time Scales | They determine age by the sequences of rocks. |
Absolute Dating | Finding the actual date and age. |
Some rocks contain elements with unstable isotopes that decay slowly over time. They will decay into a different element that is stable. This change occurs at a rate called a ____ ____- amount of time required for half a sample of the radio active isotope to decay | half life |
Big Bang Theory | The theory that the Earth was created in one giant explosion billions of years ago, and is constantly expanding today from this location. |
Red Shift | Displacement of a star's light toward the red end of the spectrum, caused by an increase in distance from the star and the observer. Red shift is evidence for the big bang theory. |
How does a star form? | The gravity produces great heat, when hot enough, nuclear fusion occurs which causes hydrogen protons to join together producing the massive energy just as our sun does. |
Nebula | A cloud of dust and gas that are pulled together by gravity |
Geocentric Theory | The theory that the earth is the center of the solar system. This theory is INCORRECT. |
Heliocentric Theory | Copernicus proposed the theory that the sun is at the center of the solar system. This theory is CORRECT; Earth and other planets orbit the sun. |
Cyanobacteria | The first life on Earth. The cyanobacteria lived in oceans, performed photosynthesis and released oxygen which helped put oxygen into the atmosphere. |
How can you learn about the history of the Earth? | You can look fossils and rocks: Fossils can be used to match up rock layers that are far apart. |
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