Earth Space Science Midterm Review 2014
Name_____________________________
Part I. Earth Science basics
1. Know all vocabulary words.
2. What are the seven steps of the scientific method?
3. What is the difference between a control and a constant in an experiment?
4. What is the difference between an independent and dependent variable?
5. What is the difference between weight and mass? Which do we use in science
class? Why? What instrument do we use to measure mass?
6. List the steps you would use to find the volume of a small rock.
7. What are the four main areas of study in Earth Science?
8. What is a hypothesis and how does it become a theory?
9. Why is it important to have a control in an experiment?
10. What are the Earth’s four major spheres? In which sphere would you find lakes
and rivers?
11. How is density calculated? What units is density expressed in?
Part II. Metrics and Measurement
12. Know how to make metric conversions.
a. 232 g = __________kg, or __________mg
b. 17.89 km = __________m, or __________cm, or __________mm
c. 32 cm = __________km, or __________m
d. .086 kL = __________L, or __________mL
12. Measure the following line in centimeters
the line = __________cm, or ___________mm
Part III. Maps and Mapping
13. What is the difference between latitude and longitude?
14. What is the definition of map? Why is it difficult to make an absolutely accurate
map?
15. What is a topographic map? How does it differ from other maps?
16. On a topographic map be able to: find scale and contour interval, measure
distances, determine elevation, identify basic symbols, know where north, south,
east and west is located, determine whether a certain area has a steep landscape
17. If you were located at 0˚n and 0˚e, where would you be?
18. Using the top map on the next page answer the following questions:
a. What is the scale of the map?
b. What is the contour interval of the map? What is a contour interval?
c. How far is it from the center of Junction City to the center of Clarksville?
d. There are two schools just west of the center of Junction City, what is their
elevation?
e. How would you determine which way Rush Creek runs?
f. If you walked from Junction City (the center) to Clarksville would you be walking
uphill or downhill? How would you know?
19. Use the following map to find the latitude and longitude of the cities on the next
page.
Latitude
Longitude
a. Paris, France
b. Beijing, China
c. Portland, Maine
d. Lima, Peru
Part II. History of Astronomy
Look at the following two models of the solar system and answer the questions
below.
A.
B.
1. Which one represents the Ptolemic model of the solar system?
How is it different than our accepted model of the solar system?
2. Which diagram is the one most accepted today?
Which astronomer was responsible for creating this model.
Match the description with its astronomer.
_____3. discovered red shift/blue shift
a. Johannes Kepler
_____4. formulated and tested the law of
universal gravitation
_____5. discovered three laws of planetary
motion
_____6. made much more precise observations
than previous astronomers
_____7. created the first scientific refracting
telescope
b. Isaac Newton
c. Galileo Galilei
d. Edwin Hubble
e. Tyco Brahe
Part III. How the universe began and distances in space
_____1. The age of the universe is closest to
a. 4,000 years
c. 13 billion years
b. 13 million years
d. 100 million years
_____2. Which statement reflects the current theory of the origin of the universe?
a. A small, ancient solar system increased in size.
b. Huge clouds of gas and dust cooled and condensed.
c. Two giant balls of matter collided and broke apart.
d. An extremely small, dense ball of energy expanded.
_____3. Edwin Hubble’s great discovery was
a. relativity theory
b. that there are other galaxies and the Milky Way is not the universe.
c. the Big Bang.
d. the inverse square law.
4. The Milky Way galaxy is the one in which we live, what type of galaxy is it?
5. What are the dimensions of our galaxy? (thickness and width) Be sure to
include units of length.
Use the following diagrams to answer questions 6 and 7.
C.
B.
6. What type of galaxy is letter B?
7. What percentage of the galaxies in the universe look like those in letter C?
8. Number the following objects from 1 to 5 with 1 being the smallest object and 5
the largest.
________ star
________ universe
________ planet
________ solar system
________ galaxy
A light-year is a unit of measure.
9. Define light-year.
10. Give one example of something that is measured in light-years and one example
of something that is not measured in light-years.
11. Explain the advantage of using light-years for astronomical measurements.
IV. The life cycle of stars.
Use the following diagram to answer questions 1 through 4.
_____1. The brightest star in the diagram is
a. Sirius B
c. Betelgeuse
b. Vega
d. Rigel
_____2. The hottest star in the diagram is
a. Sirius B
c. Betelgeuse
b. Vega
d. Rigel
_____3. What is the relationship between absolute brightness and temperature for a
main-sequence star?
a. The brighter the star, the cooler its temperature.
b. The brighter the star, the hotter its temperature.
c. There is no relationship between the brightness and temperature.
_____4. Which of the main-sequence stars is closer to the end of its life?
a. Vega
b. Sun
c. Alpha Centauri B
5. How would the life cycle of a large mass star differ from the life cycle of our sun?
6. Where is our sun located on the H-R diagram? What does that mean for the life of
our star?
Part V. Our Solar System
1. What was the first step in the formation of our solar system once the nebula was
present?
2. How did the distance from the sun affect the size and composition of the planets?
Match the following with the correct planet, planets may be used more than once.
_____1. The first of the giant planets to form.
a. Earth
_____2. The planet on which the greenhouse effect was first
described.
_____3. The only planet on which water is present in all three
forms.
_____4. The smallest of the terrestrial planets.
b. Mars
_____5. The planet most like the Earth in size and density.
e. Uranus
c. Jupiter
d. Mercury
_____6. Also known as the “red planet”.
f. Venus
_____7. The only planet to rotate on a plane perpendicular to its
orbit.
Use the following diagram to answer the questions on the next page:
Select the number that illustrates the moon’s position in its orbit for each of the
following:
________1. full moon
________2. third quarter
________3. waxing crescent
________4. new moon
________5. waxing gibbous
________6. waning crescent
________7. What type of eclipse occurs when the moon casts its shadow on the Earth?
a. lunar
b. sidereal
c. solar
d. synodic
________8. During the period that the moon’s phases are changing from new to full,
the moon is
a. waning
b. approaching the Earth
c. waxing
d. receding from the Earth
Part VI. Maps and mapping
Use the following map to find the latitude and longitude of the cities on the next
page.
Latitude
Longitude
1. London, England
2. Portland, Maine
3. Perth, Australia
4. Cairo, Egypt
Base your answers to the following questions on the topographic map below. Points A, B,
C, D, and X represent locations on the map. Elevations are measured in feet.
1. What is the elevation of each of the following points? A. _____________
B. _____________
C. _____________
D. _____________
2. What is the contour interval of this map? _________________________
3. In what direction does Fish Creek Flow? _______________________
4. What is the elevation of Point X.? ____________________
5. Which side of Rock Mountain is the steepest? (compass direction)
____________________
6. Which side of Rock Mountain has the gentlest slope? (compass direction)
__________________
7. Which cross section best represents the profile along straight line AB?
Part VII. Minerals
1. There are five parts to the definition of a mineral; one of them is that a mineral
has a definite crystal structure, what are the other four?
a.
b.
c.
d.
2. Using the definition of a mineral determine whether or not the following
substances are minerals. (If they are, put a yes on the line, if they aren’t, put a no)
________ a. quartz
________ b. granite
________ c. sugar
________ d. table salt
________ e. mica
3. Match the physical property of a mineral with the correct definition.
_____ a. color
1. The ratio of a mineral’s mass to volume
_____ b. cleavage
_____ c. density
_____ d. luster
_____ e. streak
2. How light is reflected from a mineral’s
surface.
3. A property not very useful in mineral
identification.
4. The color of a mineral in power form.
5. The tendency of a mineral to break
along flat, even surface.
4. Using the table above, answer the following questions.
a. What does this table describe?
b. What common materials might you use to determine the hardness of
apatite?
c. How does the hardness of corundum compare to the hardness of gypsum?
5. A geologist finds an unknown mineral while working in a national park. The
geologist is carrying a kit that contains a geologic hammer, a hand lens, a jackknife, a
piece of unglazed tile, and a penny. What physical properties of the mineral could
the geologist determine using the items in the kit? (Hint – There are at least five.)
And how could those properties be determined?
Part VIII. The Rock Cycle
Fill in the following diagram.
Part IX. Rocks
1. Define rock. What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?
2. There are three rocks on the front table, tell me whether you think each one is an
igneous rock, a sedimentary rock or a metamorphic rock and explain your answer.
a.
b.
c.
Multiple Choice. Place the letter of the correct answer on the line.
_____3. A fine-grained igneous rock forms
a. deep within the Earth
c. as the result of slow cooling
b. from lava
d. as the result of quick cooling
_____4. Cementation often occurs after Earth materials are
a. eroded
b. weathered
c. intruded
d. deposited
_____5. Metamorphic rocks that have a banded appearance due to the alignment of
minerals are called
a. foliated
b. non-foliated
c. clastic
d. glassy
_____6. Fossils can be found in
a. igneous rocks
c. metamorphic rocks
b. sedimentary rocks
d. all of the above
_____7. Foliated metamorphic rocks are formed as the result of
a. erosion and compaction
b. the intrusion of magma
c. mountain building
d. volcanic eruptions
_____8. If you had a rock with a very fine grained texture of interlocking crystals and
a uniform color it would most likely be
a. a sedimentary rock
b. a metamorphic rock
c. an igneous rock
d. it could be any of them
_____9. Many sedimentary rocks have visible layers because of the process of
a. eruption
b. deposition
c. intrusion
d. crystallization
_____10. Which statement best describes how an intrusive igneous rock forms?
a. Slowly cooling magma forms rock with large crystals.
b. Slowly cooling magma forms veins of ore.
c. Slowly cooling magma forms rock with small crystals.
d. Fast-cooling magma forms rock with foliated crystals.
_____11. What are the main agents of metamorphism?
a. compaction, cementation and heat
b. heat, pressure, and hydrothermal solutions
c. heat, pressure, and erosion
d. heat, weathering, and erosion
_____12. A fossiliferous limestone would be classified as a
a. clastic sedimentary rock
b. biochemical sedimentary rock
c. chemical metamorphic rock
d. biochemical igneous rock
_____13. Heat from the Earth’s interior provides energy for processes that form
a. igneous and metamorphic rocks.
b. igneous and sedimentary rocks.
c. metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.
d. sandstones and conglomerates.
_____14. A sedimentary rock formed from pieces of other rocks is called a(n)
a. organic rock.
b. chemical rock.
c. clastic rock.
d. compacted rock.
_____15. The rock cycle begins with
a. igneous rock
c. sedimentary rock
b. metamorphic rock
d. any of the types of rock
Essay Question: Choose one of the following.
a. Name your two favorite geologists. Compare and contrast their lives and
contributions to geology. Which one do you think was most important? Why?
b. Compare and contrast the study of astronomy and the study of geology. (How
long have they been studied, major breakthroughs in the fields, etc.) Which science
do you feel is more important to our lives? Why?