EARTH & LIFE SCIENCE

ACTIVITY NO.3
Direction: Answer the following questions.
1.) What is the shape of Earth? What caused it shape?
The Earth is not a perfect sphere; it is an oblate spheroid, and has a smaller
radius at the poles than at the equator. The rotation of the earth causes the earth to
swell more at the equator, compared to at the poles. When the earth rotates, there is a
strong outward force on the earth matter near the equator. This force causes the
swelling, and gives the earth the oblate spheroid shape.

2.) What could happen if there were more oxygen in the atmosphere than nitrogen?

With increased oxygen levels, the air density in the atmosphere would also increase.
This, in turn, would enable airplanes, gliders, parachutes and birds to fly higher up in
the sky and stay in flight for longer periods. A higher oxygen concentration would lead
to a thicker atmosphere, which would scatter more sunlight, make the sky look bluer
and lower the air temperature. In the event of doubling the oxygen levels on Earth, the
most significant changes would be the speeding up of processes like respiration and
combustion. With the presence of more fuel, i.e., oxygen, forest fires would become
more massive and devastating. Wet vegetation would not provide protection either.
Anything and everything would burn more easily.

3.) Explain how auroras form?

. Even though auroras are best seen at night, they are actually caused by the sun.
Auroras happen when particles from the Sun interact with gases in our atmosphere,
causing beautiful displays of light in the sky. The sun sends us more than heat and
light; it sends lots of other energy and small particles our way. The protective magnetic
field around Earth shields us from most of the energy and particles, and we don’t even
notice them. But the sun doesn’t send the same amount of energy all the time. There
is a constant streaming solar wind and there are also solar storms. During one kind of
solar storm called a coronal mass ejection, the sun burps out a huge bubble of
electrified gas that can travel through space at high speeds. When a solar storm comes
toward us, some of the energy and small particles can travel down the magnetic field
lines at the north and south poles into Earth’s atmosphere. There, the particles
interact with gases in our atmosphere resulting in beautiful displays of light in the
sky. Oxygen gives off green and red light. Nitrogen glows blue and purple.