The Core

Name: ___________________________________ Period: ______Date: _________

EQ: How does the earth‟s magnetic field protect the planet from the harmful effects of radiation?

1. At what time did the man’s watch stop? ____________________________________

2. What also happened right around that time? List at least 2 things.
a._______________________________________________________________
b._______________________________________________________________
3. What did every person who died at 10:30 am have in common?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What do Serge and Dr. Keys think caused all the deaths?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. What happened in Trafalgar Square, London?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. How do birds navigate over long distances?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. What happened in mission control just before the Space Shuttle Endeavor was supposed to land?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
8. When the shuttle reappeared on Radar, what was the problem?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
9. Why does the shuttle look like it is burning up as it moves through the atmosphere?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
10. What was Rebecca worried about while she was waiting to be called in to her meeting? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
11. What does the man Rebecca is talking to think is going to happen to her career with the Air Force?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
12. The Aurora Borealis is caused by high altitude static discharge, (fromcharged particles given off by the sun), what
color are the Aurora Borealis lights in the sky?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
13 .What is the bad news that Dr. Keys and Dr. Zimsky have to give the government officials?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
14. What does the Earth’s magnetic field protect us from? _________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
15.The Earth’s rotating core and magnetic field gives us our _____________________ and __________________ poles.
16. What fruit does Dr. Keys use to illustrate the Earth’s layers?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
17. Describe the two parts of the Earth’s core. Use the words solid, liquid, iron, nickel, swirling, spinning, pressure, heat.
a. Inner Core - ______________________________________________________________________________________
b. Outer Core - _____________________________________________________________________________________
18. Why is the Earth’s magnetic field collapsing? __________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
19. According to Dr. Keys, what are some of the consequences of the magnetic field collapsing?
a. ___________________________________________ will start falling from the sky.
b. Hundreds of ______________________________________ will be released by super magnetic storms.
c. All electronics will be ______________________________________________________________.
d. _____________________________________________________ radiation will come in and ‘cook’ our planet.
20. How could the magnetic field be repaired? ____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
21. Why does Dr. Keys think that doing this repair is impossible? _____________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
22. About what planet is the same size as our planet’s core?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
23. Instead of astronauts, what will the crew of this ship be called? Why is this an appropriate name?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
24. .Why do YOU think the crew keeps failing on the simulator?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
25. What do YOU think this quote means: “Being a leader is not about ability, it’sabout responsibility…. You’re not really
a leader until you’ve lost.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Science Movie Worksheets – http://www.NewYorkScienceTeacher.com/movies 4

What causes the Earth's magnetic field?

Our planet’s magnetic field is believed to be generated deep down in the Earth’s core. Nobody has ever taken the
mythical journey to the center of the Earth, but by studying the way shockwaves or seismic waves from earthquakes
travel through the planet, physicists have been able to work out its likely structure. Right at the heart of the Earth is a
solid inner core, two thirds of the size of the Moon and composed primarily of iron. At a hellish 5,700°C, this iron is as
hot as the Sun’s surface, but the crushing pressure caused by gravity prevents it from becoming liquid.

Surrounding this is the outer core, a 2,000 km thick layer of iron, nickel, and small quantities of other metals. Lower
pressure than the inner core means the metal here is liquid.

Differences in temperature, pressure and composition within the outer core cause convection currents in the molten
metal as cool, dense matter sinks whilst warm, less dense matter rises. The Coriolis force, resulting from the Earth’s
spin, also causes swirling whirlpools of liquid iron.

This flow of liquid iron generates electric currents, which in turn produce magnetic fields. Charged metals passing
through these fields go on to create electric currents of their own, and so the cycle continues. This self-sustaining loop is
known as the geodynamo. The spiralling caused by the Coriolis force means that separate magnetic fields created are
roughly aligned in the same direction, their combined effect adding up to produce one vast magnetic field engulfing the
planet. Earth's Magnetic field is important for preventing the Atmosphere from being destroyed by solar wind by
deflecting dangerous particles from impacting the Earth. It protects us from the radiation that comes from the Sun and
space. Without Earth’s magnetic field life will not be possible.

26. Has anyone seen the inside of earth? Why? Think! (clues: high pressure, intense heat )
Yes No _________________________________________________________________________________________
27. How do scientists know the inside of earth?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
28. What can be found at the heart (center) of earth? _____________________________________________________
29. Describe the inner core.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
30. What is preventing the inner core ( solid) from melting?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
31. Why is the outer core liquid?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
32. What causes the convection currents in the outer core?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
33. How does Earth produce its magnetic field?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
34. Why is Earth’s magnetic field important?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
35. What will happen if the outer core stops swirling or convecting?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
R.Angat
Fact vs. Fiction, and other Nonsense in the movie
A. Pacemakers would not be affected that severely by EMR. If they were, people would die from
them during solar flares, and anytime they came in contact with high pulses of EMR.
B. Some birds do use magnetic fields to navigate, but we do not understand yet how they do it.
Even if the Earth’s magnetic fields disappeared, it wouldn’t cause the birds to become blind and
run into buildings and other objects. Even when birds do hit glass, it rarely breaks the glass – if it
did, skyscrapers couldn’t have all those glass windows, or they would be replacing windows
every day!
C. When the Space Shuttle re-enters the atmosphere, it has about 20-25 minutes before it lands, not
3. It *is* a glider, though, and cannot simply fly elsewhere to land.
D. The Space Shuttle cannot maneuver that quickly. Also, no sonic boom would be heard while the
shuttle is flying at a low altitude, because the atmosphere is too thick at low altitudes for the
shuttle to move faster than sound. An object must be moving faster than the speed of sound to
make a sonic boom („break the sound barrier‟).
E. Cosmic waves are deflected by earth‟s magnetic field, and can interfere with electronics and
cause auroras. Microwaves are NOT actually deflected by earth‟s magnetic field because they
are not charged particles. Microwaves could „cook‟ the planet since they do heat things up like
metal and foods; however very few microwaves reach the Earth since the Sun only emits a small
amount of microwave radiation.
F. IF the magnetic field did stop (and it won‟t), it would not stop planes from flying, it would not
cause major lightning storms, and it would not cook the Earth. To stop Earth‟s magnetic field,
the core does not need to completely stop spinning, and it is highly unlikely that anything could
cause the core to stop spinning. However, if the spin became chaotic, the magnetic field could
be disrupted. In fact, Earth‟s magnetic field changes its direction every 700,00 years or so.
G. “Unobtainium” is supposedly made from tungsten and titanium, yet it was given a name that
indicated that it is an element. Compounds are not elements!
H. The Marianas Trench is not where the thinnest crust is – but it is the deepest place on the ocean
floor.
I. Earthquakes underwater would be barely noticeable to a ship above it.
J. Ocean currents are not whirpools underwater.
K. If the navigation system can see through lead, why can‟t it see through gas? It doesn‟t make
sense.
L. The 800,000 lbs/square inch of pressure would have prevented a gas bubble from forming, so a
geode is impossible at that depth. If the bodysuits can withstand that pressure, though, how does
a falling rock get through his helmet?
M. The human body is less dense than water, and water is less dense than magma, so when someone
dies and falls into lava they will NOT sink. A human body will float on magma until it melts or
burns up.
N. Microwaves don‟t melt metal.
O. Waves will amplify when combined properly, but that doesn‟t increase the amount of ENERGY
released.

a. _____airplanes______________________________________ will start falling from the sky.

b. Hundreds of ________lightnings______________________________ will be released by super magnetic
storms.
c. All electronics will be __________Fried____________________________________________________.
d. _______________Cosmic/microwave_____________________________________ radiation will come in and
‘cook’ our planet.

http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=64