Earth Science and Orbital Mechanics Review Flashcards

This flashcard set covers the mechanisms of Earth's thermal energy balance, greenhouse gas impacts, feedback loops on global warming, Carbon-14 and Uranium-238 dating, and Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

Primary cause of Earth heating

Sunlight is absorbed by the Earth, transforming light energy into heat.

Highest albedo material

White clouds.

Earth's cooling mechanism

Blackbody radiation causes the Earth to radiate infrared radiation into space.

Greenhouse gasses function

Contributing to global warming by absorbing some of the infrared light that would otherwise radiate outward into space.

Primary source of methane in the atmosphere

Agriculture and waste.

Dating the first organisms on Earth

Using Uranium-238 or other radioactive isotopes with a long half life to date the rocks in which the fossil is found.

Earth's current albedo

The Earth reflects about $30\%$ of incident sunlight.

Slowing feedback loop (Plants)

Additional $CO_2$ in the atmosphere causes plants to grow more rapidly, which in turn reduces atmospheric $CO_2$ concentrations.

Accelerating feedback loop (Permafrost)

Methane buried under permafrost is released as the permafrost melts due to rising temperatures.

Accelerating feedback loop (Albedo)

A warming Earth leads to less ice and snow, replacing white snow with darker rocks and reducing Earth's albedo.

Stefan-Boltzmann Law behavior

Hot objects cool down faster than cold objects because hot objects emit more infrared radiation.

Estimated age of sample (95% Nitrogen-14)

Approximately $25,000$ years old.

Kepler's Second Law variables

The area between the orbital path and the sun is the same for equal periods of time.

Kepler's conclusion on orbital shape

Mars has an elliptical orbit because it was observed to orbit the sun at different speeds in different locations.

Factors affecting gravitational force

How far apart the two objects are and how massive the two objects are.

Composition of inner planets

The sun attracts all matter due to gravity, but the denser or heavier rocks were pulled closer while lighter gas particles were not pulled as strongly.

Kepler's Law of Orbits

The star must be located on one foci as a planet makes an elliptical orbit around it.

Orbital period relationship

The farther a planet is from the sun, the longer the time it takes to make a complete orbit around it.

Planetary ranking by orbit time (Shortest to Longest)

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.