Answer the questions with at least one paragraph to get full credit on the SOL Rev HW. Use a sheet of paper or type the
answers. Please use your own words.
1. How does new scientific evidence affect hypotheses, theories, and scientific laws?
2. Global warming results, at least in part, from human activity. Human activity, which alters the natural balance of the
ecosystem, allows one of Earth’s main energy sources to create more heat than it would otherwise. Which of Earth’s main
energy sources is at work in the warming process? Explain your answer.
3. Write a short essay about the process of identifying minerals.
4. You are an architect who incorporates natural stone into the construction of a building. For what features might you use
foliated rock, and what type of rock would you use? Where might you use nonfoliated rock? What type would you use?
Explain your answer.
5. Which renewable energy source do you think offers the most promise to replace fossil fuels in powering homes and
businesses in the long term? Explain why you think the way that you do.
6. You are analyzing sedimentary rock layers that have an igneous intrusion. What caused the igneous intrusion? What is the
relative age of the igneous intrusion? What geologic law applies here?
7. How do geologists use the law of superposition and the law of crosscutting relationships to determine the relative age of
disrupted or eroded rock layers?
8. Laurasia split apart from a supercontinent and began to drift northward. A new rift split it in two. This rift formed the
North Atlantic Ocean. Explain how and why these occurrences probably affected Laurasia’s climate.
9. A large valley near a mountain is a syncline. Where would you find the oldest and youngest layers of rock?
10. If the A horizon and B horizon of a soil have a strong red color, what can you assume about the composition of the C
horizon? Explain your answer.
11. Why does the soil tend to be rich in a floodplain?
12. Explain how a well, a spring, and an artesian formation bring groundwater to Earth’s surface.
13. Compare a valley that was shaped by a river with a valley that was formed by a glacier.
14. How do climatic changes affect continental glaciers?
15. Suppose another ice age occurred. What effect would this have on the continental shelves?
16. Name a major factor that influences climate, and explain its significance.
17. What do you think is the most exciting benefit to life on Earth that has been achieved because of space research? Explain
why.
18. How did the land, atmosphere, and oceans of Earth form?
19. What is the relationship between sunspots and powerful magnetic fields on the sun?
20. Write a short essay about what future technology would be necessary to observe distant stars as they exist in the present.
Answer the questions with at least one paragraph to get full credit on the SOL Rev HW. Use a sheet of paper
or type the answers. Please use your own words.
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Answer Section
ESSAY
1. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample ANS: Hypotheses must be flexible, so if evidence is gathered that is contrary to a
hypothesis, the hypothesis must be modified or discarded. A theory is an explanation that is more established
over time, but new scientific evidence, sometimes gathered by new methods, can prove a theory invalid. A
scientific law is a broad statement that explains how the natural world behaves under certain conditions, and
for which no exceptions have been found. But that doesn’t mean exceptions won’t be found in the future, and
if that occurred the law would have to be modified or discarded.
PTS: 1
2. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: The sun is at work in the process of global warming. Human activity such
as pollution disturbs the atmosphere, altering the amount of solar energy that reaches and warms Earth.
PTS: 1
3. ANS:
Answers will vary. Sample answer: Minerals have several physical properties that help scientists and others
identify them. Many properties can be observed simply by looking at a sample of the minerals. Others involve
tests. Most minerals have color, which is a property easy to observe. Unfortunately, it is not always reliable
for identification because some different minerals share a color and sometimes small amounts of an element
can affect the color of a mineral. Streak, or the color of a mineral in powdered form, is a more reliable clue.
Luster is another property useful for identifying minerals. Luster is the way light is reflected from a mineral’s
surface. Some minerals have a metallic luster reflecting light the way polished metal does. Others have
various sorts of nonmetallic luster. The ways minerals break is another clue to their identity. Some exhibit
cleavage, breaking along specific planes to form smooth surfaces; others break unevenly into pieces with
curved or irregular surfaces. Hardness is another property of minerals used to identify them. Minerals are
compared to standards on a hardness scale. Other properties include crystal shape, density, and some special
properties. It is important to remember that a single property of a mineral sample not enough to identify it.
Several properties must be determined.
PTS: 1
4. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: Foliated rock can be used for roofs or walkways because it forms in flat
sheets; nonfoliated marble is a very hard stone that will withstand weathering outside the building.
PTS: 1
5. ANS:
Answers will vary. Students should offer details and convincing reasons for their choice.
PTS: 1
6. ANS:
The igneous intrusion was caused by a magma eruption that later cooled and solidified. The igneous intrusion
is younger than the sedimentary rock it cuts through, applying he law of crosscutting relationships.
Answer the questions with at least one paragraph to get full credit on the SOL Rev HW. Use a sheet of paper
or type the answers. Please use your own words.
PTS: 1
7. ANS:
According to the law of superposition, all rocks beneath an unconformity are older than those rocks above the
unconformity. If a fault or intrusion cuts through rock layers or other rock features, the fault or intrusion is
younger than all the rocks and rock features it cuts through.
PTS: 1
8. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: Because Laurasia moved north, away from the equator, its climate
probably became cooler. Breaking into smaller parts meant having more surface near the ocean. This would
also affect the climate, probably increasing precipitation.
PTS: 1
9. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: The oldest layers of rock would be at the outer edges of the valley, or
deep underneath the center. The youngest layers of rock would be in the center of the valley near the surface.
PTS: 1
10. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: The C horizon is likely to be high in iron content. Iron-rich bedrock is
often red in color. The residual soil will be similar in composition to the underlying bedrock that produces it.
PTS: 1
11. ANS:
When the river overflows repeatedly over time, it deposits organic sediment that improves the soil in the
floodplain.
PTS: 1
12. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: Wells are dug through permeable rock to reach the water table. Water can
then be brought to the surface. Springs are usually found in rugged terrain where the ground surface drops
below the water table. Water bubbles naturally at the surface. An artesian formation is a sloping layer of
permeable rock sandwiched between two layers of impermeable rock and exposed at the surface. Pressure
causes water to rush to the surface.
PTS: 1
13. ANS:
A valley that was formed by a river is V-shaped and has more gently sloping sides than a valley formed by a
glacier. A valley formed by a glacier is U-shaped and has steep sides; it may also have hanging valleys high in
the valley walls.
PTS: 1
14. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: During warmer periods, continental glaciers retreat due to melting ice and
loss of ice volume. During colder periods, continental glaciers advance due to new ice and snow compacting
onto the glacier, increasing ice mass.
PTS: 1
15. ANS:
Answer the questions with at least one paragraph to get full credit on the SOL Rev HW. Use a sheet of paper
or type the answers. Please use your own words.
The continental shelves would be exposed so they would erode and weather.
PTS: 1
16. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: Latitude is an important factor that determines climate. Different latitudes
on Earth’s surface receive different amounts of solar energy. This solar energy affects temperature and wind
patterns, in addition to average annual temperature and precipitation.
PTS: 1
17. ANS:
Answers may vary. Students may describe technology such as satellite weather communication, satellite radio
and television, navigation devices, cellular communication devices, smaller electronic devices, or medical
technology that originated in the space field.
PTS: 1
18. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: Land formed through differentiation, when denser layers sank to the
center core of Earth and lighter areas formed the surface crust. The mantle formed between the core and crust.
Earth’s atmosphere formed when volcanic eruptions released large amounts of gases in a process called
outgassing. Oceans formed when Earth cooled enough for water vapor to condense and form rain. The liquid
water collected to form oceans.
PTS: 1
19. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer: Magnetic fields slow the movement of gas in the convective zone,
reducing energy transfer from the core, and causing relatively cooler areas, or sunspots.
PTS: 1
20. ANS:
Answers may vary. Sample answer:. Because stars are light-years away, to observe them as they exist in the
present we would need technology that could travel to the stars and send data back faster than the speed of
light. Only a technology that could accelerate light beyond its maximum natural speed would allow us to
make direct observations of distant stars in real time.
PTS: 1