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Earth & Space
LAYERS OF THE SUN
Inner Layers:

Core (site of nuclear fusion)

Radiative Zone

Convection Zone

Outer Layers:

Photosphere (what we see)

Chromosphere (like the crust of the photosphere)

Corona (light rays)

ACTIVITIES ON THE SUN

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 solar wind - stream of high-energy
particles sent into space; causes the light
displays aurora borealis (if seen from
the Northern Hemisphere) and aurora
australis (Southern Hemisphere)

prominences - storms that look like huge arches;

may last several days

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 solar flares - more intense than
prominences; lasts only about 15 minutes

sunspots - cool black storm areas

Diameter
compared to Notes
Earth’s

average size and

temperature;
energy comes
sun more than 100x
from nuclear fusion
of hydrogen into
helium

Mercury 2/5x rocky

rocky; hottest;
“Morning star”
(brightest before
Venus slightly shorter
sunrise and after
sunset); rotates
from east to west

rocky; slightly
Earth 1x
bigger than Venus

same period of
rotation as period
moon 1/4x
of revolution;
causes tides

Mars 1/2x rocky; “Red Planet’

asteroids “minor planets’

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 Jupiter 11x gaseous

Saturn 9½x gaseous

icy; rotates
Uranus 4x
counter-clockwise

Neptune 3½x icy

coldest; tilted and

elongated orbit; no
Pluto 1/5x
longer classified as
a planet

The Solar System

MOON PHASES

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 comets - “dirty snowballs”; heads of ice and
rock, tails of dust and gases forced from the
head by solar radiation; tail always points away
from the sun.

meteoroid - chunk of rock or metal smaller than an asteroid

meteor - a meteoroid as it burns up in the atmosphere; “shooting star”

meteorite - a meteoroid that does not completely burn up

KINDS OF TIDES
spring tides - strongest tides; when the sun, Earth, and moon are in a straight line; the
sun’s and the moon’s gravities add up; highest and lowest tides

neap tides - weakest tides; when the sun, Earth, and moon form a right angle; the sun’s
and the moon’s gravities cancel out one another; moderate tides

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 COMMON STARS & CONSTELLATIONS

Polaris - North Star; tip of the Little Alpha Centauri - closest star to Earth but
Dipper’s “handle” its too small to be seen in the night sky
Sirius - brightest star in the night sky; Alpha Centauri - closest star to Earth that
“Dog Star” is visible in the night sky

Ursa Major - Big Bear; contains the Little Pegasus - The Winged Horse
Dipper
OTHER TERMS:
Ursa Minor - Little Bear; contains the light year - the distance that light travels
Little Dipper in one year
Canis Major - Big Dog; contains Sirius
Milky Way - the galaxy where the solar
Canis Minor - Little Dog system is

Orion - The Hunter supernova - the explosion of a big star

Proxima Centauri - closest star to Earth black hole - remains of a supernova

but is too small to be seen in the night explosion with very strong gravity from
sky which nothing can escape

LAYERS OF THE EARTH

Crust/Ocean

Mantle

Core (Inner Core, Mantle

Core)

lithosphere - from the crust to

the rigid upper mantle

PLATE BOUNDARIES

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 Divergent - plates move away from one
another, forming mid-ocean ridges
Convergent - plates move toward each
other
oceanic-oceanic - one of the two
oceanic plates is subducted into
the mantle, magma rises, forming
volcanoes, also creates trenches
(forms volcanoes and trenches)
FAULTS
normal dip-slip
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oceanic-continental - the oceanic
plate is subducted into the mantle,
magma rises, forming mountain
ranges usually containing volcanoes
(forms mountain ranges that
contain volcanoes)
continental-continental - neither
plate is fully subducted; the plates
are forced into one another, forming
tall mountains (no subduction
happens, only forms tall
mountains)
*note: subduction happens because one
of the two plates converging is more
dense
Transform - plates slide past one
another, causing earthquakes
EARTHQUAKES
magnitude - “size” of an earthquake, or
energy released, measured using:
Ritcher scale (1 to 10, wherein
magnitude 2 is ten times stronger
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 than magnitude 1, and so on) or;

Moment Magnitude scale (now

more commonly used because of
higher precision)

intensity - amount of damage; measured

using the Mercalli scale (1 to 12)

focus - an earthquake’s point of origin

epicenter - the point on the earth’s
reverse dip-slip/thrust fault surface directly above the focus

strike-slip

TYPES OF ROCKS
igneous - from lava; e.g. granite, basalt
metamorphic - from other rocks that were changed due to intense heat and pressure;
e.g. marble, slate

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 sedimentary - from sediments which were eroded to lower places; forms fossils; e.g.
sandstone, shale

clay —> silt —> sand —> pebbles —> gravel

*increasing particle size

*decreasing water-holding capacity

THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT - by Alfred Wegener (1912), the theory of the

movement of the continents relative to each other; some evidences are:

fossils in Africa and South America

positions of mountain ranges

glacial striations - scratches in rock caused by movement of glaciers

tillites - glacial sediments buried in rock

THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS - theory that tectonic plates move; explains

continental drift

Pangaea - the “supercontinent” that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras;
broke up into Laurasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the south during the Mesozoic
era

Laurasia - started breaking up into Asia, Europe, and North America during the
Cenozoic era
Gondwanaland - started breaking up into Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and South
America during the Mesozoic era

renewable energy sources - will not run out due to continuous use (e.g. solar,
hydroelectric, and geothermal)
non-renewable energy sources - in danger of running out (e.g fossil fuels)
fossil fuels - energy sources that were formed by nature for hundreds of millions of
years but which people are exploiting and may run out in just a few years (e.g.
petroleum, coal, natural gas)

GLOBAL WARMING - the heating up of WEATHER INSTRUMENTS

the earth’s surface due to a build-up of barometer - air pressure

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 greenhouse gases (e.g carbon dioxide) in anemometer - wind speed
the atmosphere hygrometer - humidity
EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING wind vane - wind direction
melting of polar ice caps, causing rain gauge - amount of rainfall
excessive flooding and even loss of
low-lying land
KIND OF STORMS
climate change, e.g. increase in the
number and intensity of typhoons and thunderstorms - clouds become
a shortening of the wet season electrically charged, producing lightning
and thunder
WHAT TO DO TO STOP GLOBAL
WARMING tropical depression - up to 63 km/hr
winds
Plant more trees and ban logging.
typhoons - Pacific Ocean origin
Conserve electricity.
hurricane - Atlantic Ocean origin
Use only fuel-efficient vehicles.
cyclone - Indian Ocean origin
Do not burn garbage.
tornadoes - small but about 500 km/hr
Minimize the use of non-
STRONGEST PH STORM - Super
biodegradable, non-recyclable (e.g
Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda
plastic, styrofoam) materials. These
materials, which require electricity to
manufacture, are useful to us only for
a very short time but will give us
garbage problems for a long time.

LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE SEASONS

Troposphere (life forms, weather,

densest layer)

Stratosphere (ozone layer,

airplanes)

Mesosphere (coldest, meteors burn

up)

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 Thermosphere (ionosphere, hottest) SUMMER Solstice - June 21 (direct rays
fall on northern hemisphere)
Exosphere (man-made satellites)
WINTER Solstice - December 22 (direct
SHADOWS rays fall on southern hemisphere)
mornings - west SPRING Equinox - March 21 (direct rays
afternoons - east fall on equator)

noon - shortest FALL Equinox - September 23 (direct

rays fall on equator)
early morning/late afternoon - longest

early morning - long and points west

late afternoon - long and points east

noon - short and points east

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