Earth science

Earth

Earth

°the only planet known to cater life forms.

° This planet underwent massive change in the environment million years ago to enable living organisms to thrive and survive in it.

° From single simplem microorganisms, Earth’s environment allowed these organisms to evolve into a more complex and diverse organism.

°it has been existing 4.543 billion years.

° In its early formation, life was not possible because the environment did not permit it. However, as time went by, life flourished from microorganisms into a more complex organism. The presence of life on

Earth was made possible due to the following factors:

° the third planet from the sun and considered as haven for many

life forms. As a closed system, it serves as harbor of life for billions of years

and still continue to comfort innumerable life forms.

° have different systems that interact with other to provide all the necessities in order for life to continue to prosper.

Temperature

° It influences how quickly atoms, molecules or organisms

move.

° in Earth’s condition, temperature is just right to support life.

Low temperature

slows down chemical reaction and produces ice that makes liquid water unavailable.

High temperature

can cause break down of important biological molecules.

Water

° It is one of the important ingredients in the different biological processes.

° Absence of this will interfere reactions necessary for life.

However, solid form ofthis will also hinder living organisms to use it.

° It have different forms. The solid (ice) in the two poles

and liquid along the equator which allows living organisms to consume

it.

Atmosphere

° It provides significant insulation or shielding from the sun and impact of small to medium size meteorite.

° Provides chemicals needed for life, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide .

° Earth has a right size and distance from the sun that permits it to have a right amount of atmosphere .

Green house gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) and mathane (CH4)

trap heat and protects our planet from freezing.

Ozone layer(O3)

shields the Earth’s surface from harmful UV radiation.

The size of the planet and its distance from the sun

affects its ability to hold significant amount of atmosphere

Presence of gravity

It helps in sustaining its atmosphere.

Energy

° Earth has available energy- rich sunlight to support life. Living

organisms like plants and photosynthetic bacteria use light as the

source of their energy. Some chemosynthetic organisms rely on

chemical energy to support various biological processes.

° Earth is at right position from the sun that enables it to harness

enough amount of sunlight

Nutrients

° It is an essential factor used to build and maintain organism’s body structure.

° In our planet, there are processes that recycle nutrients. Water,

carbon and oxygen, phosphate and nitrogen cycles are some of the

examples.

Insufficient or absence of nutrients

can impede synthesis of the different biological molecules.

Volcanism

helps in cycling the nutrients.

Earth

° a complex system of interrelating physical, chemical, and biological processes.

° It is a system in which sets of interconnected components are interacting to form a unified whole.

° comprised of four major smaller systems known as subsystems

° the only planet in the solar system that are known to contain water in all three phases.

Subsystems

These are also called as spheres of the Earth.

Athmosphere

° serves as the Earth’s blanket.

° Its name rooted from the Greek word atmos which means gas and sphaira which means globe or ball

° It is composed of gases in varying amount and its relative abundance is also crucial in different parts of the Earth.

° generally composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon and the remaining 0.10% is made up of different trace gases and vapor.

° serves as the Earth’s protection form harmful UV rays and keeps the planet warm through greenhouse gasses.

°Is affected by the Earth’s gravity, so this is the reason why as the altitude increases the amount of gases in the atmosphere decreases.

° It is composed of layers namely: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere.

Atmos

gas

Sphaira

Globe/ball

Geospehere

° comes from the Greek word geos meaning ground.

° It pertains to the solid part of the earth. It is divided in to three layers such as the crust,mantle, and the core.

° It is composed of naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals, organic material or natural glass called rocks.

° It contains all the soil, rocks, and minerals present in the crust to the core of the Earth.

° It comprises the geologic landforms such as mountains and hills.

Geos

Ground

Regolith

° composed of loose particles of rocks that enveloped the surface of Earth.

Hydro

° Greek word which means water.

Hydrosphere

is composed of all the water on Earth in any form. includes; ice, water vapor and liquid water.

Temperature and salinity

Water on Earth is constantly and consistently moving because of

° It also plays an important role in absorption and redistribution of solar

radiation.

Biosphere

° came from the Greek word bios meaning life.

° It is composed of all living things and the areas where they are found. It includes all animals, microbes, and plants.

° It extends to the upper areas of the atmosphere where insects and birds can be found.

° It also extends to the deep parts of the oceans where marine organisms can still survive.

° It is also in this zone that the interaction between the different subsystems is most dynamic.

°In biosphere, each organism plays an important role to the food web. If one is lost the others will be affected.

listen

Matter and energy flows and cycle between the four subsystems to sustain and make life on Earth possible. Both of it can flow across the boundaries between each subsystem.

Geospehere

° is where the rocky part of the earth is in contact with water, air, and life.

° It is also generally where the spheres intersect and affect each other.

Sphere interactions

The processes that move matter and energy from one sphere to another

is called

° Changes in any sphere greatly affect the other spheres as well since all the spheres are interconnected system.

Biogeochemical cycles

° The four subsystems are closely linked through the ___ which involves biological, geochemical, and chemical factors.

° These cycles are alleyways by which substances move through biotic which is the biosphere and abiotic which is the geosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere, components of Earth.

° It allows the circulation of important nutrients that form and support life like carbon,

oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and water.

° It also maintains the balance of substances in the different subsystem of the Earth. Any interference and disturbances in the flow of matter and energy may cause damage to any of the subsystems and its components .

Minerals

° are important component of the Earth’s lithosphere. They are naturally occurring materials that play a significant role in human civilization.

° are naturally occurring substances that are harnessed and used by humans in everyday life.

° present everywhere and some examples can be found at home.

° can be distinguished using their physical and chemical properties.

° Physical properties include habit, luster, cleavage and fracture, hardness,color, and streak.

° Example of these are: Hematite (hinges, handles, make-up color), Chromite (chrome

plating, dyes), Copper (electric wiring), Quartz (clocks, mirrors), Gold (jewelries),

Feldspar (porcelain, ceramics) and Fluoride (toothpaste). Because of its importance,

we need to determine its physical and chemical properties.

Crystal habit

° refers to the overall shape or growth pattern of the mineral.

° It can be described as equant, elongate and platy.

Equant

three dimensions of the mineral have about the same length, like that of

a cube or sphere.

Elongate

forms prismatic or prism-like crystals that are thicker than the needle

as in a pencil.

Platy

looks like a flattened and thin crystal (like plate).

Luster

describes the appearance of a mineral when light is reflected from its surface.

° It can be described as opaque, transparent, dull, or shiny.

Metallic luster

is opaque and very reflective like gold and silver.

Nonmetallic luster

is dull, silky, greasy, and pearly like silicates.

Cleavage

° refers to the tendency of minerals to break along very smooth, flat and shiny surfaces.

° It can be described as one, two, three, four or all direction.

fracture

° A mineral ______ may break along random, irregular

surfaces.

° It can be classified as conchoidal, uneven, hackly, splintery, and earthy.

Some minerals break only by fracturing, while others both cleave and fracture

Biotite and mica

have one direction

Orthoclase

has two directions

Galena

has three directions

Fluorite

has four directions.

Quartz

has a conchoidal fracture.

Asbetos

has a splintery fracture.

Hardness

° is a measure of the mineral’s resistance to scratching.

° Harder minerals will scratch softer minerals.

Friedrich Mohs

° in 1812 ranked minerals according to hardness as shown in Table 1.

°He selected ten minerals of distinctly different hardness that ranged from a very soft mineral (talc) to a very hard mineral (diamond).

Color

° is one of the most obvious properties of a mineral but not reliable alone.

° Some minerals come in just one color, while others come in many colors and

varieties.

Quartz

varies widely in color, due to minor (parts per billion) impurities

and even defects in its crystalline structure.

Streak

° refers to the color of the mineral in its powdered form, which may or may not be the same color as the mineral.

Bayo-ang(2016), streak plate

° According to ________ 20streak is obtained by scratching the mineral on an unpolished piece of white porcelain called a ________ . When the excess powder is blown away, what remains is the color of the streak.

° Streak is a more reliable property than color as streak shows the true color of

minerals. It does not vary even if color does.

Magnetism

° Some minerals are attracted to a hand magnet.

° To test a mineral for magnetism, just put the magnet and mineral together and see if they are attracted.

Magnetite

is the only common mineral that is always strongly magnetic.

Striations

° presence of very thin, parallel grooves.

° The grooves are present in only one of the two sets of cleavages and are best seen with a hand lens.

° They may not be visible on all parts of a cleavage surface.

° Before you decide if there are no striations, look at all parts of all visible cleavage surfaces, moving the sample around as you look wherein light is reflected from these surfaces at different angles.

Grooves

are present in only one of the two sets of cleavages and are best seen with a hand lens.

Specific gravity

° is the weight of that mineral divided by the weight of an equal volume of water.

° The specific gravity of water equals 1.0.

° Most silicate, or rock-forming, minerals have specific gravities of 2.6 to 3.4; the ore minerals are usually heavier, with specific gravities of 5 to 8.

° For most minerals, specific gravity is not a particularly noteworthy feature, but for some, high specific gravity is distinctive (examples are barite and galena).

Taste, odor, feel

° Some minerals have distinctive taste (halite is salt, and tastes like it).

° Some give off a distinctive odor (the powder of some sulfide minerals, such as sphalerite, a zinc sulfide,smells like rotten eggs)

° Some have a distinctive feel (talc feels slippery).

Chemical properties

° show the presence and arrangement of atoms in minerals.

° Using their chemical properties, minerals are identified by how they react to certain substances.

° Some minerals, especially carbonate minerals, react

visibly with acid.

° (Usually, a dilute hydrochloric acid [HCl] is used.)

° When a drop of dilute hydrochloric acid is placed on calcite, it readily bubbles or effervesces, releasing carbon dioxide.

° Some are toxic like cinnabar and soluble in water like halite

Metallic sulfide

Minerals form into sulfuric acid when exposed to air and water.

° Uranium and thorium containing minerals like Autunite (hydrated calcium uranium phosphate) and Thorianite (thorium dioxide) are radioactive.

° Metals like magnesium are flammable.

Cuarto(2016)

° classified minerals according to their chemical composition using Dana System which divides minerals into eight basic classes.

° The classes are native elements, silicates, oxides, sulfides, sulfates, halides, carbonates, phosphates, and mineraloids.

° This classification shows the chemical composition of minerals.

Native elements

These minerals are naturally occurring in nature in an uncombined form with a distinct mineral structure.

° It can be classified as metal, semimetals and nonmetals.

° Example: Silver

Silicates

° This is the largest group of minerals.

° It contains silicon and oxygen, with some aluminum, magnesium, iron and calcium.

° Example: Feldspar

Oxides

° It is formed from the combination of a metal with oxygen.

° This group ranges from dull ores like bauxite to gems like rubies and sapphires.

° Example: Magnetite

Sulfide

° These are made of compounds of sulfur usually with a metal.

° They tend to be heavy and brittle.

° Example: pyrite

Sulfates

° These are made of compounds of sulfur combined with metals and oxygen.

° It is a large group of minerals that tend to be soft, and translucent.

° Example: gypsum

Halides

° They form from halogen elements like chlorine, bromine, fluorine, and iodine combined with metallic elements.

° They are very soft and easily dissolved in water.

° Example: halite /table salt

Carbonates

These are group of minerals made of carbon, oxygen, and a metallic element.

° Example: Dolomite

Phosphates

° They are often formed when other minerals are broken down by weathering.

° They are often brightly colored.

° Example: Apatite

Mineraloid

It is the term used for those substances that do not fit neatly into one of the eight classes.

° Example: Amber

Rock

naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals, organic material or natural glass.

Stratosphere

Ozone is present and jetsky planes fly

Troposphere

Home to most weather and clouds

Troposphere

The lowest layer of the Earth atmosphere, extending from the surface to a height that varies by latitude, longitude, and season.

It is home to most weather, and contain 80% of the atmosphere mass and 99% of its water vapor.

Where human lives

Receives more human pulotion due to its contact from the ground surface.

Stratosphere

Is where you find the very important ozone layer.

Has its own set of layers.

There are no storms sturbelance here to mix up the air, so cold, heavy air is at the bottom and warm, light air is at the top.

Mesosphere

Is the coldest layer of the earth atmosphere.

First line of defense from bodies entering the atmosphere; meteors begin to burn up upon entering the ______.

Thermosphere

Home to the international space station at its orbith.

Where you'll find low earth orbit satellites.

Exosphere

A thin, Athmosphere like layer where molecules are gravitationally bound to the earth, but are spread out that they behave more like individual atoms and molecules escaping into space.

Made of of extremely low densities like hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide,and there's a lot of empty space in between.

Very cold and there's no air to breath.

Dana System

Devides mineral into 8 basic classes.