Name ______________________________________Date _____________
ENERGY IN EARTH SYSTEMS – STUDY GUIDE 1
Read Pages 3-5 and answer the following questions.
1. In your own words, describe a solar nebula. (p. 3)
An enormous rotating cloud. It is made up mostly of___________ and
___________________, with a small percentage of heavier elements.
2. Why were the inner planets unable to hold onto light gases such as hydrogen and
helium? (p. 5)
They had ________________ temperatures and weak fields of ___________________.
3. Which gases were the inner planets able to hold on to? (p. 5) [circle]
boron carbon dioxide
iron
nickel
water vapor
4. What two factors produced melting of the interior of the earth? (p. 5)
1.
2. Heat released by colliding particles
5. Which elements make up the earth’s center? (p. 5) [circle]
carbon dioxide
iron
water vapor hydrogen
helium
nickel
copper
gold
silver
Read page 19 (Earth as a System) and answer the following questions.
6. What external processes does the sun’s energy drive? (p. 19)
Processes that occur in the atmosphere and hydrosphere, including
______________
_______________________________________.
7. What processes does the energy from earth’s interior drive? (p. 19)
The movement of plates, which also impacts ___________________,
_____________________,
and mountain building.
8. How might a volcanic eruption alter the energy earth receives from the sun? (p. 19)
Read pages 38-39 and answer the following questions.
9. Atoms of the same element always have the same number of ________________.
The number of _______________may vary, however. (p. 38)
10.What is an isotope? (p. 38)
An atom with the same number of _______________ but different numbers of
__________________.
11. What is meant by the mass number of an element? (p. 38)
12. Using the Periodic Table, how many protons does uranium have?_________ How
many neutrons does the isotope U-235 have ___________? (p. 36-37)
13.What is radioactive decay? Why does it happen? (p. 38-39)
Radioactive decay happens when ______________ disintegrate. This happens
because the forces that hold the ______________ together
are not strong
enough.
14. Skip this question
15. What is “radiated” during radioactive decay? (p. 39)
16. Why is radioactive decay important to earth’s processes? [Hint: what does
radioactive decay power?] (p. 39)
Read page 486-487 and answer the following questions.
17. Describe, in detail, five things that can happen to solar radiation as it enters the
atmosphere. (Figure 12 on p. 486)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
18.How are reflected radiation and incident radiation similar? (p. 486, figure 13)
Incident radiation is the same thing as incoming solar radiation. When these
wavelengths are reflected back, they are reflected back with the
_________________ (greater/same/lesser) intensity.
19. How does scattering affect incoming solar radiation? Do the rays become
stronger? (p. 486)
20.Contrast reflection and scattering. (p. 486)
Reflection happens when __________________ bounces off an object. The reflected
radiation has the _______________ intensity as the ____________________
(incoming) radiation.
Scattering produces a larger number of _____________ rays that travel in
different directions.
21. Why is it that the moon and mars have large areas of pitch-black shadows,
whereas on earth, sunlight seems to penetrate around corners and under trees?
(p. 486) [Hint: what does Earth have that other planets do not have?]
22. How much of the solar radiation absorbed at earth’s surface is due to scattering?
(p. 487)
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
23. Why are the radio wavelengths emitted from earth much longer than the incoming
solar radiation? (p. 487)
24.Describe in 1-3 sentences what is meant by the greenhouse effect. (p. 487)
Gas molecules in the Earth's atmosphere, such as _________________ and
______________ absorb light waves. This energy is transformed into molecular
motion that can be detected as a rise in ______________________. These gases
may radiate some energy away. Some energy travels toward the ______, where it
can be reabsorbed by other gas molecules. The remainder travels toward Earth,
and is again absorbed. When the radiation is absorbed, the temperature
increases.