Exam 2 Review
This “review sheet” has a list of questions that you can ask yourself to get a feel for your own
comfort level on the different topics that we’ve covered in class. As with the second exam, you
should be comfortable with reading/writing numbers in scientific notation & using your own
scientific calculator to perform calculations.
Key Terms to Know
The following is a list of terms that you should be comfortable with for the upcoming exam. This
list should be used as a guide and might not include every term that was covered in class. For
completeness, you should refer to the notes you took in class or the notes that are posted on the
web page, as well as Chapters 4 & 5 of the textbook.
Star/Planet Formation
Accretion
Differentiation
Habitable Zone
Interstellar Medium
Jovian Planet
Outgassing
Planetesimals
Proto-planet
Proto-planetary Disk
Proto-Sun
Solar Nebula Theory
Terrestrial Planet
Are you familiar with the composition of the gas and dust that make up the interstellar medium
(ISM)?
Describe the process by which stars and planets form?
What observations about the solar system suggest that the solar nebula theory is correct?
Why did terrestrial planets form near the Sun while Jovian planets form farther away?
What is the process of differentiation and how does it relate to the current interior structure of the
Earth?
What factors/processes are believed to have been responsible for the production of Earth’s first
(permanent) atmosphere?
Explain the process that is believed to have formed the Moon.
Life on Earth
Alpha, Beta, Gamma Decay
Fission
Fossil Record
Half-Life
Igneous Rock (Intrusive & Extrusive)
Metamorphic Rock
Rock Record
Sedimentary Rock
Do you know the six (6) necessary conditions for living organisms and which two (2) are
sufficient conditions when defining something as being ‘alive’?
What are the three types of rocks? Describe the process by which each is formed.
Describe how a typical fossil is formed.
What information does interpreting the rock record and the fossil record reveal?
How is sedimentary strata used to determine the relative ages of rock layers and fossils? How is
radiometric dating used to determine the specific ages of fossils? Be able to use the radiometric
formula to determine the age of a sample fossil.
Geologic History
Greenhouse Effect
Heavy Bombardment Period
Impact Sterilization
Miller-Urey Experiment
Do you know the properties of the Earth’s interior structure? What are the different geologic
processes responsible for reshaping the Earth’s surface over the course of its history?
What is the present composition of Earth’s atmosphere? Can you describe how the Earth’s
surface is kept at a life-sustaining temperature by the greenhouse effect?
Describe how the carbon dioxide cycle acts as a temperature regulation system for the Earth.
Evolution
Anaerobic
Archaea
Bacteria
Cambrian Explosion
Cyanobacteria
Eukaryotic Cell
Extremophile
Genes
Miller-Urey Experiment
Mutation
Natural Selection
Prokaryotic Cell
What are the differences between a prokaryotic cell and a eukaryotic cell?
How long ago do scientists believe that life began? Where do scientists believe life first formed?
What factors/processes are believed to have contributed to the formation of life on Earth?
What changes in the atmosphere contributed to the evolution of life?
Can you describe the basic evolution of life on Earth from the simplistic pre-cell to multi-celled
eukaryotes?