Earth and Space Sciences Flashcards

Flashcards based on Earth and Space Science study guide, covering topics from space systems to geologic time and sustainability.

What is wavelength?

The length of one wave

What is frequency?

The number of waves in a certain distance.

What is the electromagnetic spectrum?

The range of different types of light/energy, determined by the wavelength of an energy wave.

What is emission spectra?

The specific wavelengths that are released by specific elements; appears as a few lines of color, and each element has a unique spectra.

What is nuclear fusion?

When two hydrogen atoms combine to create helium and energy, the process that allows stars to give off energy.

What is the Doppler effect?

The apparent change in wavelength/frequency from an object that is moving.

What is redshift?

When an object is moving away from an observer, wavelength is longer and you observe this.

What is blueshift?

When an object is moving towards an observer, wavelength is shorter and you observe this.

What is the Big Bang Theory?

Theory for how the universe formed, stating that the universe began as a single dense point 13.8 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since

What is the HR Diagram?

Plots stars based on their temperature and luminosity, also providing other information like color, spectra class, mass, size, lifetime, and type/stage of life.

What is the life cycle of stars?

The stages of a star’s life, which depend on the mass of the star.

What is Gravity?

Pushes stars inwards.

What is Nuclear Fusion?

Pushes stars outwards.

What is equilibrium?

When the forces of gravity and fusion are equal and balanced

What is stellar nucleosynthesis?

The formation of new elements in stars by combining other elements; lighter elements are fused into heavier elements.

What is core collapse?

Happens when a star cannot fuse any more elements; the star size contracts and begins to die, and it leads to either a supernova or a white dwarf.

What are the Jovian planets?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

What are the Terrestrial planets?

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

What are the dwarf planets?

Pluto, Ceres, and Eris

What is gravity?

The force of attraction between any two objects, affected by mass and distance.

What is Kepler’s first law?

All objects revolve in the shape of an ellipse with the sun at one of the foci.

What is Kepler’s second law?

Because planets have elliptical orbits, the distance between the planet and the sun changes therefore changing the velocity of the planet throughout the orbit.

What is Kepler’s third law?

The further a planet is from the sun, the longer it takes to revolve around the sun.

What is Rotation?

Spinning on its axis, which takes about 24 hours / one day to complete

What is revolution?

Going around the sun, which takes about 365 days or 1 year to complete.

What is a solar eclipse?

When the moon blocks the sun's light from reaching the earth and can only occur in the new moon phase

What is a lunar eclipse?

When the earth blocks the sun’s light from reaching the moon and can only occur in the full moon phase.

What causes tides?

The moon's gravitational pull causes earth to experience the tides, the rising and falling of water.

What is insolation?

Incoming solar radiation.

What is a nebula?

Our solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago as this

What is a parent isotope/ unstable isotope?

An element that cannot remain in its current state forever; is constantly trying to turn into a stable isotope

What is radioactive decay?

The process of unstable isotopes turning into a stable isotope.

What is a stable isotope/ daughter isotope?

The product of radioactive decay; what the parent isotope turns into.

What is half-life?

The amount of time it takes for half of the parent isotope to decay into the daughter

What is a solute?

A dissolved substance

What is a solvent?

A substance that can dissolve a solute.

What is a solution?

A mixture of a solute and solvent

What is unsaturated?

When a solvent is not “full” and can hold more of a solute.

What is saturated?

When a solvent is “full” and cannot hold any more of a solute.

What is supersaturated?

When a solvent is hold more solute than it can at room temperature.

What is evaporation?

When liquid water changes into water vapor in the air

What is a precipitate?

A solid that is left behind from the evaporation of water

What is crystallization?

When a solution turns into a solid

What is cleavage?

Breaks in a regular pattern along flat edges; has corners, looks like it was cut

What is fracture?

Breaks randomly

What are igneous rocks?

Form from magma (underground) or lava (above ground)

What are sedimentary rocks?

Form from sediments (other broken rocks or minerals) being compacted together

What are metamorphic rocks?

Form from other rocks being exposed to high temperatures and high pressure.

What is Bowen’s Reaction Series?

Explains the temperature at which minerals in magma turn from liquid to solid, or, if you have a solid and melt it, it is the order in which those minerals melt (form magma)

What is Oceanic crust?

Made up of basalt, a mafic igneous rock. More dense, thinner, and younger in age

What is Continental crust?

Made up of granite, a felsic igneous rock. Less dense, thicker and older in age.

What is continental drift?

Alfred Wegner proposed this idea which said that the continents were moving and were once a giant supercontinent, Pangea.

What is plate tectonics?

Earth’s crust is divided into several large, rigid plates that move due to convection currents in the mantle.

What is a divergent boundary?

Plates move away from each other.

What is a convergent boundary?

Plates move toward each other.

What is a transform boundary?

Plates slide past one another.

What is a hotspot?

A region of the mantle where magma rises upward through the crust to form a volcanic feature.

What is convection?

Heat transfer due to differences in density.

What is physical weathering?

breaks rock into smaller pieces. These smaller pieces are just like the bigger rock, just smaller. That means the rock has changed physically without changing its composition.

What is chemical weathering?

The rock changes, not just in size of pieces, but in chemical composition. That is, one type of mineral changes into a different mineral.

What is erosion?

When sediments are moved.

What is deposition?

When sediments are dropped off or deposited in a new place.

What are glaciers?

Thick layers of ice.

What is mass wasting/ mass movement?

When gravity pulls a large amount of rock and soil downslope causing mass movement

What is a watershed?

the geographic region whose rainfall and ground water drains into one particular river

How do scientists understand Earth's history?

Scientists use correlating rock layers, relative dating and absolute dating to piece together earth’s history

What is an index fossil?

A fossil that is both short lived (only existed for a short period of time) and geographically widespread (found in many places around the world).

What is unconformity?

A gap in the rock record due to deconstructive forces such as weathering and erosion

What is relative dating?

Scientists determine which rocks and geologic events formed first, second, third, etc.

What is absolute dating?

Using radioactive decay to determine the age of a rock or fossil

What is isoline?

connects points of equal value

What is isobar?

connect points of equal air pressure

What are the Earth's 3 convestion cells?

Hadley, Ferrel, and Polar cells

What are examples of Environmental deaths?

Ocean acidification, Lung cancer from mining, Heat related deaths in NY, Deforestation of the Amazon

What are natural resources?

Societies will develop where there is an abundance of them

What is water scarcity?

The idea that there is not enough freshwater to meet the needs of humans and ecosystems

What is porosity?

The amount of open space in soil

What is permeability?

The ability of water to flow through soil

What is infiltration?

When water seeps into soil and becomes groundwater

What is runoff?

When liquid water moves along Earth’s surface

What are some solutions to air pollution?

Reduce Coal, Reduce Oil, Reduce Natural Gas, Increase Renewables, Increase Nuclear energy

What are solutions to Ocean acidification?

Restoring Coastlines and mangrove forests to capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the geosphere