Study Guide for Unit 1: Chapters 1 & 2
Chapter 1
 Understand the Branches of Science:
o Social vs. Natural
o Biology, Physics, Chemistry
o 4 Branches of Earth Science
 Be able to apply each to a science undertaking/expedition (remember the Mars Rovers
example)
o Earth Science and Ecology (2 things each)
 Understand the Scientific Method
o Know the 5 steps
o Be able to come up with your own example
o Be able to apply the scientific method to a given problem
 Meteorite Impact Hypothesis
o What is it?
o What is the evidence (at least 2 things…)?
 Experimentation
o What is it?
o What are needed in an experiment (variable, control, hypothesis)
 Hypothesis vs. Theory vs. Law
o What are the differences?
o What is an example of each?
 Doppler Effect
o What is it in relation to waves, sound, light?
o Be able to identify what is happening to wavelength, frequency, and pitch/colorchange when a wave
emitting source is moving towards/away from you.
o What is redshift/blueshift?
o How does this relate the movement of objects within our Universe?
 Electromagnetic Spectrum
o What is it?
o List the waves in order from longest to shortest (don’t need to know the length numbers themselves!)
o Know the color spectrum (wavelength ranges in nanometers!)
 The Big Bang
o Two major pieces of evidence that support the Big Bang!!!
o Understand the basics of what happened.
 Be able to discuss velocity of objects is space
 How far they travel over time
 YOU SHOULD KNOW EVERY TERM ON PAGE 18!!!!!!
Chapter 2
 Movements of Earth
o Revolution vs. Rotation
o The Seasons (Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring)
 What causes the seasons? What is the Earth’s Position (tilt) during each?
 What are the Summer/Winter Solstice? What are the Autumnal/Vernal Equinox?
o What is Precession?
o Time Zones
 Why are their 24 time zones? How is noon determined in each?
***Graphing
 Be able to set up a simple scatter plot with x-axis, y-axis, RELEVANT titles, labels, units, and data points!