Earth Science Exam
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- Examples of nonrenewable resources
- coal, uranium
- What is the passive system?
- Collects and stores solar energy
- What is apparent magnitude?
- how bright a star appears to be to an observer on earth?
- What is a water budget?
- income and spending of water for a region
- What is a tributary?
- a stream that runs into another stream or river
- What are the three galaxy types?
- spiral, elliptical, irregular
- What makes up the Geosphere?
- Rocks, mountains, beaches, ocean basins, layers of earth
- What is luminosity?
- actual brightness of a star depending on size and temperature
- What is an example of the passive system?
- Greenhouse
- What is conservation?
- the protection, restoration, and management of natural resources
- What is the suns rotation rate?
- 25+ days at equator, 34 days near poles
- What is the Doppler effect?
- Apparent change in radiation wavelength or sound due to movement of the source or reciever
- The what is located inthe stratosphere and protects us from UV rays?
- Ozone
- What does the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 do?
- controls pollution and encourages the conservation of energy, water and other natural resources
- What is till?
- Material left behind by melting glaciers consisting of all sizes
- What percentage of solar energy is reflected back into space?
- 40%
- One difference between lignite and anthracite coal
- Lignite is not as compound and solid as anthracite coal
- What is an example of the active system?
- Solar cells in spacecraft
- What causes tidal energy?
- the pull of the moon on oceans
- What is a firn?
- burried snow recrystallizes into rough, granular ice material
- What is the atmosphere?
- gaseous envelope surrounding earth
- What is the most efficient method of renewable energy?
- hydroelectric power
- What is a moraine dammed lake?
- form where river valleys are blocked by glacial moraines
- Renewable Resource
- A resource that is replaced in nature faster than or close to the rate of its use
- What is the Hydrosphere?
- all the water in the Earth system
- What are Cepheid variables
- class of yellow super giant pulsating stars
- What is an artesian well?
- Well water forced upward by artesian formation
- What is the absorption spectrum?
- continuous spectrum crossed by dark lines
- Anemometers measure what?
- wind speed
- What doe glaciers do to earth's materials?
- Redeposit them
- What is a spectroscope?
- tool that uses a prism to split light
- What is an example of mechanical erosion?
- Niagra Falls
- Define surplus
- rainfall is greater than need for moisture and soil water storage is filled
- What makes up the biosphere?
- Plants, mammals, insects, fish, birds, bacteria, ect.
- What is geothermal energy?
- energy from heat within earth
- What is the biosphere?
- All living things on Earth
- What is mechanical erosion?
- lifting effect, splits rock fragments
- What type of energy interferes with tv and radio reception?
- Windmills (wind)
- Separation can be (cheap/costly)?
- costly
- Earth moves W-E, how do stars move?
- E-W
- Example of energy cycle
- Energy from the sun - plants use and store it - plants die and compact over years - forms coal - coal burned to release stored energy - electricity
- A warm and moist air mass that moves into the United States is what type?
- MT
- What is porosity?
- percent of a materials volume that is pore space
- What is hydroelectric power?
- water power used to produce electricity
- Examples of a closed system
- submarine, earth, greenhouse, space ship
- Nonrenewable resource
- used up faster than can be replaced or exists in a fixed amount
- Where is air pressure the greatest?
- deep valley
- What is calving?
- The process by which a block of a glacier breaks off and falls into the sea to form an iceberg
- What is a pulsating star?
- brightness cycle caused by star contraction
- Where do valley glaciers move?
- through mountain valleys
- What is air pollution?
- airborne gasses or particles that occur at harmful concentration
- Elements in stars exist in what state?
- Plasma state
- What is velocity?
- speed of the river (distance/time)
- What are constellations?
- groups of stars that form a pattern?
- What is gangue?
- the rest of the rock (quartz, feldspar, calcite)
- Greater velocity = greater energy = ?
- greater ability to transport material
- Stars moving away from us wavelength's become longer
- redshift
- What is permeability?
- rate at which water or other liquids pass through pore spaces of a rock
- What is the snow line?
- The lowest elecation at which there is permanent snow during the summer
- What is a horn?
- A pyramid shaped peak formed where three of more cirques meet.
- What is a galaxy?
- systems containing millions or even billions of stars?
- What is deposition?
- process by which materials are deposited
- What is a kettle?
- bowl shaped hollows where burried blocks of ice left behind melt leaving an impression
- What is an arete?
- A sharp divide that separates two adjoining cirques
- What is sun power
- Solar energy used to produce heat and electricity
- What is an ice front?
- farthest advance of glacier
- Define Natural Leeve
- Thick deposits build up alongside stream banks
- What is the big bang theory?
- theory that states the universe originated from the instant expansion of an extremely small amount of matter of extremely high density and temperature
- What is a glacier?
- Large mass of snow and ice
- Dark areas on the sun surface are known as what?
- sunspots
- What is the shape of channel?
- the path of water flow
- What is a meander?
- river flowing through a floodplain typically winds back and fourth broad curves
- one location that a continental glacier may be found
- antartica
- What is discharge?
- amount or volume of water that passes a certain point in a given amount
- What are solar winds deflected by?
- the earth's magnetic field
- What is an eclipsing binary?
- 2 or more stars revolving around each other
- What is solar energy?
- Energy from the sun
- Define Gradient
- Steepness of the slope of the stream or riber
- What are ore minerals?
- valuable minerals (iron, copper)
- What is a kettle lake?
- kettles fill with rain watered runoff
- Is earth an open or closed system?
- Closed system
- What is an oxbow lake?
- curved body of water formed when deposits separate a meander from its river
- What is a circumpolar constellation?
- does not set below the horizon, seen all year long
- What are cirque lakes?
- cirques filled with water
- What are Earth's four spheres?
- Atmosphere, Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere
- The outermost atmospheric layer of the sun is called the
- corona
- What is absolute magnitude?
- brightness of a star if all stars were equal distance away
- Uranium heats water, makes steam, steams turns turbine, generating what?
- electricity
- What kind of movements does Geothermal energy drive?
- crustal movements
- What are the causes of erosion?
- running water, weather, gravity, glacial movement
- Tidal energy is what percentage of total energy?
- .002%
- What is the geosphere?
- physical features of the earth except water
- Earth is a collection of parts that are ____ & ____ with one another
- connected, interact
- More bends and curves = more friction = ?
- less velocity = less ability to transport
- What is an ice cap?
- Glacier less than 50,000 square km
- These are rarely deeper than 50 meters and occur across the width of the glacier
- crevasses
- What is a closed system?
- Energy may enter, but matter doesn't enter or leave
- True or false? The sun's energy comes from nuclear fission
- false
- Examples of an open system
- glass of water, garden, aquarium, airplane
- Nuclear power plants rely on what?
- nuclear fission (splitting nucleus of an atom)
- What is the solar wind?
- constant stream of electrically charged particles given off by the corona
- What makes up the hydrosphere?
- oceans, lakes, rivers, groundwater, glaciers, water vapor
- Coal
- The primary nonrenewable energy source used in power plants in the United States
- What are the main elements in all stars?
- hydrogen and helium
- what is an ordinary well?
- contains water up to the level of the water table
- What is tidal energy?
- Energy that comes from the rise and fall of the tides
- What is recharge?
- Soil water storage is filling
- What is electromagnetic radiation?
- energy that travels in waves
- What causes auroras?
- solar winds interacting with earth's magnetic field and the poles
- Material deposited by glacial meltwater is called what?
- outwash
- snow lines have lower elevations near what?
- poles
- how does hydroelectric power work?
- water moves turbines
- When are most reserves estimated to be used up?
- Within the next 60 years
- What are three types of load?
- solution, suspension, bedrock
- What is capacity?
- Measure of the total amount of sediment a stream can carry
- Where do natural gasses usually exit?
- above petroleum layer
- How big are continental glaciers?
- Thousands of meters thick, can cover millions of square kilometers
- Define stream piracy
- headward erosion brings formation of a river valley
- What is suspension?
- materials including clay, silt and fine sand
- What is a light year?
- distance light travels in one year
- What are the five kinds of moraines?
- lateral, medial, ground, recessional, terminal
- What is an open system?
- system and surroundings exchange matter and energy
- Stars moving toward us wavelength's become shorter
- blueshift
- how is coal formed?
- ferns, mosses, and trees containing C, H, D die and compress losing H &O making PEAT, then loses more H&O making Lignite, then Bituminous coal, then anthracite
- discharge usually increases where?
- downstream
- Examples of renewable resource
- oxygen, trees, food, solar energy
- What is fusion?
- Nuclei from lighter elements combine to form heavier elements, give off lots of energy!
- CO2 increases due to
- burning fossil fuels and deforestation
- What is Astronomical Unit?
- distance from earth to the sun
- What kind of minerals are not easily separated
- ore minerals
- Melting blocks of ice left by glacier form what?
- Kettles
- ____ is not created nor destroyed, only ____ from one form to another
- Energy, converted
- What are quasars?
- very distant, extremely luminous celestial object that is actively emitting large amounts of radiation
- Insolation comes what what three words?
- incoming solar radiation
- Which land surface will likely create low pressure in the air above it?
- lake at night
- What is the life cycle of a star?
- Nebula - Protostar - main sequence star - Red Supergiant or Red Giant - Supernova or Planetary Nebula - Neutron Star, Black Hole or White dwarf
- What makes up the Atmosphere?
- gasses, ozone, weather phenomena
- surface compounds can react with water to form what?
- sulfuric acid
- Geothermal energy is what percentage of energy that enters the earth?
- .013%
- burning of fossil fuels releases what?
- stored energy, CO2, and other toxins
- What is a nunatak?
- mounatin peak above the ice
- What is an aquifer?
- sediment/permeable rock that can store groundwater
- What is plastic flow?
- pressure changes ice grain shape slip past each other to create movement - middle layer movement
- What is a flash flood?
- single cloud burst
- Surface mining removes what?
- soil
- How does wind power work?
- Windmills capture air, electricity generated, the power depends on wind speed, windmill blades, windmill efficiency
- Solar energy is the main energy source for what?
- plants
- wno lines have higher elevations near what?
- equator
- What are five nonrenewable energy resources?
- Fossil Fuels, Uranium, Petroleum/oil, coal and natural gas
- What are the two types of erosion?
- mechanical and chemical
- What is gradient?
- steepness of slope
- Lines of equal pressure on a weather map are called what?
- isobars
- Most minerals (can/can't) be separated from surrounding rock
- can
- What is the continuous spectrum?
- unbroken band of colors
- What is competence?
- measure of maximum size of particles a stream can carry
- What do fossil fuels consist of?
- carbon
- What is the primary energy source for power plants?
- coal
- As a stream approaches its base level, gradient ____ and velocity ____
- decreases, decreases
- What causes air pollution?
- natural sources (forest fires, volcanoes) and human activity
- What is glacial milk?
- rock flour mixes with meltwater
- What is base level?
- level of the larges body of water into which a stream flows
- What are striations?
- Long parallel scratches in rock that show the general direction of glacial movement
- What did the 1987 montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer do?
- treaty to reduce and eventually eliminate production of all CFC's and other ozone depleting substances by 2006
- Valley glaciers exist on all continents except where?
- Australia
- What kind of glacier veries in size from 2-100km long and hundreds of meters thick
- valley glaciers
- What are the four renewable energy resources?
- Water, Wind, Sun and Geothermal
- What is the emission spectrum?
- series of unevenly spaced lines of different colors and brightness
- What is load?
- eroded rock and soil transported downstream
- Define Base Level
- level of the largest body of water into which it flows
- What is chemical erosion?
- dissolving soluble minerals
- What are outwash plains?
- deposits made by glacial streams
- What is a delta?
- fan shaped deposit
- What is evidence for ice ages?
- till, outwash, striations, lakes and swamps, moraines
- What is an active system?
- Collects, stores, and distributes energy
- What is suspension?
- larger particles, look muddy (clay, silt)
- Define deficit
- need for moisture is greater than rain flow and soil water storage is gone
- What is bedrock?
- bed load, moving portion of bed (sand, pebbles, boulders)
- Is uranium a fossil fuel?
- no
- What is the zone of saturation?
- pores filled with ground water
- Geothermal energy has a role in what cycle?
- The Rock cycle
- possible effects of global warming
- rising sea levels, increase in storm severity, more heat waves and droughts, relocation of crop growing areas
- Name a main element found in our sun
- Hydrogen
- What is the outer atmosphere of the sun?
- Corona
- Where do glaciers form?
- areas always covered by snow
- What is an esker?
- Long winding ridges formed from meltwater tunnels flowing below the glacier
- What is the zone of aeration?
- capillary fringe just above water table, pores filled with air not water
- what do spectroscopes determine?
- what elements make up the atmosphere of stars and planets
- What are long winding ridges formed from streams flowing in tunnels below the ice?
- Eskers
- Where do continental glaciers form?
- polar regions, Greenland, antartica
- What is a firn?
- Partially compacted and refrozen snow which has yet to become a glacier
- What is a moraine?
- A deposit of till left behind when a glacier retrats.
- What does the EPA do?
- monitors and sets standards for drinking water and air quality
- What is the electromagnetic spectrum?
- Continuum showing range of electromagnetic radiation by wavelength
- what is solution?
- small particles, and dissolved materials (calcium, magnesium)
- what is capillary action
- interaction between water and the soil
- Each magnitude differs by what?
- 2.5 times
- Environment
- Includes all resources, influences and conditions near Earth Surface
- What kind of energy powers volcanoes, geysers and earthquakes?
- Geothermal Energy
- What is rock flour?
- rocks become broken up to make powder
- A long smooth canoe shaped hill
- Drumlin
- What are minerals
- nonrenewable resources
- What is a spring?
- where water table reaches the surface such as on a mountain side
- Solar energy causes rock to weather forming what?
- soil
- What is basal slip?
- The bottom layer slip of glacier
- How do glaciers move?
- under the force of gravity
- Acids have a PH (greater than/less than) 7?
- less than
- What did the clean air act of 1970 do?
- Identified 6 key pollutants as indicators of air quality
- What are reserves?
- Deposits of mineral worth mning
- Most load is carried by what?
- suspension
- Energy produced inside the sun equals the ?
- force of gravity
- What is a kame?
- Small, cone shaped hills formed from meltwater at the ice front?
- In mining what from mine pits can be dangerous?
- runoff
- How are fossil fuels formed?
- from remains or organisms that lived millions of years ago
- What is headward erosion?
- lengthens streams or gullies. Land is worn away at head of a stream of gully
- Solar energy is what percentage of energy that enters the earth?
- 99.985%
- Some minerals can be used as they are, others have to be ____
- processed
- What is one theory for the cause of ice ages?
- changes in the position of Earth and sun
- Greater gradient = greater velocity= ?
- greater ability to transport materials
- What is a divide?
- high land that separates one drainage basin from another
- What is a variable star?
- star showing regular variation of brighness over cycles of time