Last Call for CRCT Prep
Earth Science
Mr. Tremble
1. What are the branches of Earth Science?
Geology: the study of the origin, history & structure of the Earth
Oceanography: the study of the sea
Meteorology: the study of the Earth’s atmosphere, especially in relation to weather & climate
Astronomy: the study of the universe
2.
What are the characteristics of a mineral?
Inorganic (meaning not made from anything living)
Solid (not a gas or liquid)
Crystalline Structure (a repeating inner structure often reflected in the shape of the crystal)
Naturally forming (created by nature without human assistance)
3.
How are minerals identified?
Luster: surface reflects light, Streak: color of a mineral in powder form, Hardness: ability to be
scratched, Density: amount of matter in a given space, cleavage: break along smooth, flat
surface, and fracture: break unevenly along curved or irregular surface
4.
Name at least 5 properties of a mineral.
1-Fluorescence (glow under ultraviolet light) 2-Magnetism (attracts iron), 3-Chemical Reaction
(will become bubbly, or “fizz,”when a drop of acid is placed on it.), 4-Taste, 5-Optical Properties
(when placed over an image it creates a double image), and 6- Radioactivity (contains radium or
uranium/ cancer causing)
5. What is the Moh’s scale and what is its rating?
Moh’s scale is a tool that determines the hardness of minerals. (Softest) 1-Talc, 2-Gypsum, 3Calcite, 4-Fluorite, 5-Apatite, 6-Orthoclase, 7-Quartz, 8-Topaz, 9-Corundum, 10-Diamond
(Hardest)
6. Explain how minerals are related to rocks?
Rocks are created from one or more minerals.
7. What is a good definition of a rock?
A naturally occurring solid mixture of one or more minerals and organic matter
8. What are the three major types of rocks?
Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic
9. Tell how each type of rock is formed?
Igneous rock forms when melted rock cools and hardens
Sedimentary rock forms when pieces of rock called sediment is weathered and they are
deposited and cemented together
Metamorphic rock is formed when heat and pressure change the chemical composition of rock.
10. What is the “Rock Cycle”?
It is the process by which new rock is formed from old rock material.
11. What is weathering? How does it contribute to rock formation?
Weathering is when water, wind, ice and heat breakdown rock into smaller fragments.
Weathering is a process in the rock cycle that helps to change each type of rock into
sedimentary rock.
12. What are the two types of weathering?
1-Chemical: happens when rock breaks down because of chemical reactions (water, air, weak
acid)
2-Mechanical: happens when rock is broken down into smaller pieces by physical means (ice,
wind, water, gravity, plants, and even animals)
13. Name three agents of weathering.
Ice, water, wind, air, gravity, plants, animals, and weak acids
14. What is erosion? How is erosion related to both rock formation and river formation?
Erosion is the process by which wind, water, or gravity transport soil and sediment from one
location to another.
Sediment is eroded from hills and mountains and washes down rivers exposing igneous rock
to oceans.
15. What are the three main layers of the Earth?
Crust (1%, thin and solid outermost layer of the Earth above the mantle and thinnest layer.)
Mantle (67%, the layer of rock between the Earth’s crust and core and it contains most of the
Earth’s mass.)
Core (33%, the central part of the Earth below the mantle and it is the densest layer)
16. Which layer is the most important to humans & why?
The crust is the most important layer because it is the layer that we are able to live on.
17. What are tectonic plates?
The outer rigid layer of the Earth’s crust is called the lithosphere and it sits on top of the upper
part of the Earth’s mantle which is liquid. This liquid layer moves pieces of the crust called
Tectonic plates.
18. What is the theory of ‘continental drift’?
Alfred Wegener wrote a hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single
landmass (Pangaea) that broke up and drifted to their present locations.
19. What are the four stages of a river?
Youthful River: The beginning of a river (upper course), when it flows quickly with lots of
energy. The river here is smaller and usually has a rapid, tumbling flow that cuts a
narrow channel (path that a stream follows) through rocky hills or mountains. The fast
flowing river can create waterfalls where it carves out layers of soft rock and leaves a cliff of
hard rock standing.
Mature River: The middle of a river’s journey, when it gets wider and slows down, is called
the middle age. Rivers often meander (follow a winding path) along their middle
course. The current of the river no longer has the force to carry stones or gravel. This
material drops to the riverbed, where it forms bars of sand or gravel or builds islands.
Old River: When the river reaches the end of its journey. The end of the river is called the
mouth. At the mouth, there is often a river delta, a large, silty area where the river splits
into many different slow-flowing channels that have muddy banks.
Rejuvenated River: Rejuvenated terrains usually have complex landscapes because parts of
the older landforms are not destroyed. Parts of floodplains may be in the form of terraces
along the downcutting stream channels. Meandering streams have deep trenches, so a
product of older river systems is found with steep, very deep "V" shaped valleys - often
seen with younger systems.
20. How does a river go from youthful to mature? By slowing down and widening
21. Explain the ‘Water Cycle’.
The Water Cycle is the continuous movement of water from the ocean to the atmosphere to
the land and back to the ocean.
22.
List and explain the stages of the Water Cycle.
Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers or lakes or the ocean and turns it into
vapor or steam. The water vapor or steam leaves the river, lake or ocean and goes into the
air. Transpiration is the process by which plants lose water out of their
leaves. Transpiration gives evaporation a bit of a hand in getting the water vapor back up into
the air.
Condensation is when water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into liquid,
forming clouds.
Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it
anymore. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail,
sleet or snow.
Collection: When water falls back to earth as precipitation, it may fall back in the oceans,
lakes or rivers or it may end up on land. When it ends up on land, it will both soak into
the earth (Infiltration) and become part of the “ground water” that plants and animals
use to drink or it may (run-off) run over the soil and collect in the oceans, lakes or rivers
where the cycle starts
23. What is the energy source of the Water Cycle?
The energy source is the Sun. The land heats up faster than the ocean.
24. What is the percentage of earth’s surface is water? How much of that percentage is ‘saltwater’?
Water-71% Land 29%
97% of that water is saltwater, 1% freshwater and 2% ice.
25. What puts the salt in saltwater?
The most abundant salt in the ocean’s water is sodium chloride that was added to the ocean
over billions of years of dissolved minerals carried from the land by running water.
26. What are the three major movements of ocean water?
Evaporation, Condensation, and Precipitation.
27. What produces a wave?
Waves are usually created by the transfer of the wind’s energy across the surface of the ocean.
They are also created by wind, earthquakes, volcanoes, and any disturbance during its resting
point.
28. Name at least four kinds of waves. (pgs. 428 &430)
1-Open Ocean (whitecaps): white foaming waves in the open ocean that have very steep crest
and they break in the open ocean before the reach the shore.
2-Tsunamis: waves that form when a large volume of ocean water is suddenly moved up or
down
3-Storm Surge: a local rise in sea level near the shore that is caused by strong winds from a
storm, such as those from a hurricane
4-Deep-water and Shallow-water waves: waves that are half their wavelength are deep-water
and as the wave move into less deep water they become shallow-water waves
29. What are currents?
Currents are a movement of ocean waters that follow a regular pattern. They are usually
caused by the difference in temperature or density in deep currents, and by wind for surface
currents.
30. What is the Coriolis Effect? (pg.418)
It is the apparent curving of the path of a moving object (surface currents & global winds) from
an otherwise straight path due to the Earth’s rotation.
31. What is continental deflection? (pg. 418)
When surface currents meet continents, the currents deflect, or change direction.
32. What is the current that carries more water than a river?
A warm-water surface current called the Gulf Stream carries warm water from the Tropics to
the North Atlantic Ocean creating a mild climate along the coastal region.
33. How does density & salinity affect the movement of ocean water? (pg.419)
Density is the amount of matter in a given space, or volume and salinity is the amount of
dissolved salts or solids in a liquid. They both decrease the temperature of the ocean water and
increasing the water’s salinity increase the water’s density which controls current depth and
movement.
34. What causes tides? What are the two types of tides? (pgs.432,434)
Tides are daily changes in the level of ocean water. They can be influenced by the gravitational
force of the sun and the moon.
1-High tide: bulges of ocean water when the ocean faces the moon and on the opposite side of
the Earth
Ex. Spring Tide: are tides with the largest daily tidal range and occur during the new and full
moons, or every 14 days
2-Low tide: the areas where water is drawn from between the high tides
Ex. Neap Tide: are tides with the smallest daily tidal range and occur during the first and third
quarters of the moon.
35. What is an air mass? (pg.490)
It is a large body of air where temperature and moisture content are similar throughout.
(Cold or Warm air mass)
36. What is a front? (pg.492)
It is the area in which two types of air masses meet with different densities and usually
different temperatures.
37. What are the four types of fronts? (pgs.492-493)
Cold front: when cold air moves under warm air, which is less dense, & pushes the warm air up
Warm front: when warm air moves over cold air, denser air
Occluded front: when a warm air mass is caught between two colder air masses
Stationary front: when a cold air mass meets a warm air mass and don’t have enough force to
lift the warm air mass over the cold so the two air mass remain separated
38. What is weather? (pg. 483)
It is the short-term condition of the atmosphere at a certain time and place. It is affected by
temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind and visibility.
39. What is the atmosphere? (pg.448)
It is a mixture of gases that surround the Earth (78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% argon, carbon
dioxide, water vapor, and other gases)
40. What are the layers of the atmosphere? (pgs.450-453)
(Closest to the Earth) Troposphere/ Weather layer and most dense, Stratosphere/ Ozone
layer, Mesosphere/Middle layer and coldest, and the Thermosphere/ highest temperatures and
least dense. (Farthest from the Earth’s surface)
41. Why is the ‘ozone layer’ so important to us? (pg.451)
The ozone layer protects life on Earth by absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun
42. What is a star? (pg.582)
A star is a huge, hot, bright ball of gas that is trillion of kilometers away from Earth
43. What is the most important star in the universe? (pg.586)
The Sun is the most important.
44. What is the difference between rotation & revolution? (pg.630)
Rotation: the spinning of a body, such as a planet, on its axis (Earth’s full rotation takes 24 hours
or 1 day)
Revolution: the motion of a body that travels one complete orbit around another body in space
(Earth’s full orbit of the sun takes 365.25 days)
45. What is a day/month/year? (pgs.554-555)
Day: the time required for Earth to rotate once on its axis which takes 24 hours
Month: roughly the amount of time required for the moon to orbit once around the Earth
Year: the time required for the Earth to orbit once around the sun which takes 365.25 days
46. What is the Solar System? (pg. 614, 644)
The solar system includes a star we call the sun, the planets, and many moons and small bodies
that travel around the sun.
47. How is the Solar System divided? (Chapter21 Section 2-5 )
Inner Planets: smaller and rockier; 1-Mercury, 2-Venus, 3-Earth, 4-Mars
Outer Planets: larger and made mostly of gases; 5-Jupiter, 6-Saturn, 7-Uranus, 8-Neptune, 9Pluto
Moons: natural or artificial bodies that revolve around larger bodies such as planets are called
satellites; all moons are satellites and all planets have natural satellites called moons except
for Mercury and Venus
Small Bodies: Comets: a small body of ice rock, and cosmic dust and it gives dust in the form a
tail as it gets close to the sun and melts, Asteroids: a small, rocky object that orbits the sun
usually in a band, and Meteors: a bright streak of light that results when a meteoroid burns up
in the Earth’s atmosphere (Shooting Star)
48. What is a constellation?(pg. 564)
It is a region of the sky that contains a recognizable star pattern and that is used to describe the
location of objects in space.
49. What is a galaxy? (pg. 596)
It is a large group of stars, dust, and gas bound together by gravity
50. How are stars and galaxies related? (pg. 596)
Galaxies are considered star factories because they are made of a collection of raw materials
such as clouds of gas and dust. They are drawn together by gravity and produce stars in an
ongoing cycle.