EARTH SCIENCE REVIEWER

Earth
the third planet from the Sun and is the largest
of the terrestrial planets.
It is the only known planet to support life.

WATER
- Cyanobacteria
It used sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to produce biomass and oxygen, an essential component
of the atmosphere.

- Possible Sources:
⮚ released through volcanism and
⮚ from the icy meteors from the outer regions of the Solar System which bombarded Earth

HEAT
- Heat coming from Earth is caused by the radiogenic heat from the radioactive decay of materials in
the core and mantle and extruded via active tectonic activities, such as volcanism and plate
movement.
- Heat is also provided by the sun. As radiation from the sun enters Earth, some of the heat is trapped
by the atmosphere

Atmosphere
- The trapped heat by the atmosphere causes the greenhouse phenomenon needed by plants to carry
on with photosynthesis.
- Photosynthesis also ensures the right amount and flow of gases on Earth.
- Smaller presence of carbon dioxide on Earth is useful as it helps to moderate the planet's
temperature and is absorbed by plants during photosynthesis to produce oxygen.
- Earth's atmosphere is thick enough to prevent poisonous rays of radiation from getting through it.

CLIMATE
- There is a moderate amount of carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere.
- The temperature on Earth does not go from one extreme to the other either

Earth Subsystem
GEOSPHERE
- It is consist of three major layers:
 Core
- about 750 miles thick and made up primarily of iron (Inner Core)
- 1400 miles thick, it is a combination of iron, alloy, and nickel (Outer Core)
 Mantle
- accounts the big volume of the earth
- covers the core and lies beneath the crust
- Outermost mantle is cool, strong, and hard
- Innermost mantle is hot, rock is not stable, soft, plastic, and flows slowly
 Crust
- outermost layer
- a thin veneer below a layer is soil and beneath the ocean water
- composed almost entirely of solid rock

HYDROSPHERE
- It is the liquid water component of the earth which circulates among oceans, continents, glaciers, and the
atmosphere.
- Water makes up 71% of Earth and contains 97.5% saltwater and 2.5% freshwater.
- About 1.8 percent of
Earth’s water is frozen in glaciers.
- The glaciers cover about 10% of Earth’s land surface today
ATMOSPHERE
- The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and other gases (1%) that surrounds Earth.
- It supports life by regulating climate by acting as a blanket and filter, retaining heat at night and shielding us
from direct solar radiation during the day.
LAYERS OF ATMOSHPERE
 Troposphere
- 10 km. from the earth’s surface
- Formation of weather
- Jet stream
- Tropopause
 Stratosphere
- 30km – 50 km from Earth’s surface
- Ozone layer
 Mesosphere
- The “middle layer”
- 50km – 90 km above Earth’s surface
- Coldest region of the atmosphere
- The layer where most meteors burn up upon atmospheric entrance
- Mesopause
 Thermosphere
- Sun’s radiation strips off
- “Ionosphere”
- 90km – 400km above the Earth’s surface
- Occasionally seen is the aurora borealis and aurora australis
- Many satellites actually orbit the Earth within thermosphere
 Exosphere
- Topmost part of the atmosphere
- Composes of hydrogen and helium
- Thinnest region of the atmosphere
- 400km – 500km above Earth’s surface

BIOSPHERE
Biosphere, (from Greek bios =life, sphaira= sphere) is the layer of the planet Earth where life exists.
- The biosphere is all about life. All of the microbes, plants, and animals can be found somewhere in the
biosphere.
- The biosphere extends to the upper areas of the atmosphere where birds and insects can be found. It also
reaches to dark caves deep in the ground or to the bottom of the ocean at hydrothermal vents.

Ancient Astronomy
• The Greeks used basic geometry and trigonometry to measure the sizes and distances of the Sun and the
Moon.
• They believed that the Earth is at the center of the universe and it is sphere-shape. The moon, the sun,
and the planets are revolving around the earth.

Greek Philosophers
 Anaxagoras
• The moon is sphere-shape
• It shines by only half reflected sunlight at one time.
 Aristotle
• The earth is spherical
• It casts a curved shadow when it eclipses the moon.
 Aristarchus
• He professed the heliocentric
Helios – sun centric – centered
 Hipparchus
• He determined the location of almost 850 stars which he divided into six groups according to their
brightness
• He measured the length of the year to within minutes
• Predicted the times of lunar eclipses within a few hours.
 Claudius Ptolemy
• He presented the geocentric model that became known as the Ptolemaic system.
Modern Astronomy
 Nicolaus Copernicus
• He adapted the scientific theory of heliocentrism.
• The sun is at the center of the universe.
 Tycho Brahe
• He expressed the idea of stellar parallax
 Johannes Kepler
Three Basic Laws of Planetary Motion
•Law of Ellipses
- the path of the planets around the sun is elliptical in shape
•Law of Equal Areas
- an imaginary line drawn from the center of the sun to the center of the planet will sweep out equal
areas in equal intervals of time
•Law of Harmonies
- ratio of the squares of the periods of any two planets is equal to the ratio of the cubes of their average
distances from the sun
 Galileo Galilei
• greatest contribution was his first description of the moving objects
 Sir Isaac Newton
• Force of gravity
• Laws of Motion

Universe
- It is an enormous empty space that holds small particle to the biggest galaxy.

Solar System
- group of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets

Origin of the Universe

Big Bang Theory
• About 13.8 billion years ago, all current and past matter in the universe came into existence.
• All matter were compacted into a very small ball with infinite density and intense heat known as Singularity
• George Lemaitre

Nebular Hypothesis
• hydrogen and other gases swirled around and condensed into our sun and its planets

Fission Theory
• proposed by George Darwin
• the sun burst open and planets and moons went to their respective places and started orbiting the sun as
the moon began orbiting the planets

Capture Theory
• planets and moons were flying around, and some were captured by our sun and began circling

Accretion Theory
• a pile of space dust and rock chunks pushed together into our planet, and another pile pushed itself into
our moon
• the moon got close enough and began encircling the Earth

Planetary Collision Theory

• our world collided with small planet, and the explosion threw off rocks which became the moon, and then it
began orbiting us

Stellar Collision Theory

• our planets, moons, and suns spuns off from the collision between stars

Gas Cloud Theory

• gas clouds were captured by our sun but instead of being drawn into it, they began whirling and pushing
themselves into planets and moons
PLANETS
Terrestrial planets
• rock, metals
• high densities
• slow in rotation
• weak magnetic field
• absence of rings (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars)

Jovian planets
• gases
• low densities
• fast rotation
• strong magnetic field
• many rings (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune)

SUN
- It is the star at the center of the solar system.
 Photosphere – interior surface
• sunspot
• granulation
• faculae
• pores
 Chromosphere – middle layer
• prominences
• flares
 Atmosphere or corona – outermost layer
- composed of carbon, iron and rocky materials
• coronal hole

ASTEROID BELT
- group of rocks that appears to have never joined to form the planet

COMET
dirty snowballs of dust and rock in methane, ammonia, and ice.

ASTRONOMY
It is a natural science of celestial body, processes, physics, chemistry, and evolution of such objects and all
phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of the Earth.
 Three Branches:
• Astrophysics – physical nature of celestial bodies
• Celestial Mechanics – calculation of motion of celestial objects
• Cosmology – origin and development of universe

TELESCOPE
- optical instrument that helps magnifies distant object
- collects and focuses light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation
Types:
• Refracting
- invented by Galileo
- provides view by looking through a lens or series of lenses that focus on one eyepiece
• Reflecting
- invented by Sir Isaac Newton
- provides view by focusing light through a concave mirror

MINERALS
- building blocks of rocks
PROPERTIES OF MINERALS
 CRYSTAL FORM
• it describes the growth pattern of the crystals of the mineral.
 LUSTER
• Refers to the quantity and quality of light which is reflected from the surface of the mineral.
TYPES:
• METALLIC LUSTER - are minerals that “shine” when exposed to light.
• NON METALLIC LUSTER – are dull, silky, vitreous and resinous.
• SUBMETALLIC LUSTER – are minerals that has somewhat metallic luster.
 COLOR
• Is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans.
 STREAK
• Is the color which the mineral display when it has been in its powdered form. It is considered to be
much reliable indication of color.
 HARDNESS
• Is the resistance of the mineral from being scratched. To measure the hardness of the minerals it
involves the use of mohs’ scale invented by frederick mohs.
 CLEAVAGE
• Is the splitting of crystals along the smooth plane. Cleavage is the natural tendency of minerals to
break along definite seams of weak bonding.
 FRACTURE
• Takes place when a mineral splits
In a direction possessing difficult indistinct cleavage.
• Conchoidal fracture
- results in a series of smoothly curved concentric rings about the stressed point, generating a shell-like
appearance
• B. Irregular fracture
- results in a rugged or rough surface
 SPECIFIC GRAVITY
• Refers to the ratio of the weight of a mineral to the weight of an equal water.

SPECIAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS

• MAGNETISM – ability to attract other minerals. Ex. Magnetite
• ELECTRICAL PROPERTY – some Minerals become electrically charged when rubbed like Sulfur or
when subjected to pressure like quartz, or when heated the opposite ends become electrically charged like
tourmaline.
• MALLEABILITY – ability of minerals to be hammered into desired shapes. Ex. Silver and gold
• DUCTILITY – ability of minerals to be drawn into fine wires. Ex. Copper and platinum
• RADIOACTIVE – ability of some minerals to emit radiation. Ex. Radium, thorium, uranium and cobalt

ORE
Refers to the type of rock that contains useful metallic minerals, that can be mined for a profit, as well as
some nonmetallic, such as fluorite and sulfur.

TYPES OF ROCKS
1. IGNEOUS ROCKS (“IGNIS” – FIRE)
- Forms from magma/lava that cools and solidifies.
TYPES:
• INTRUSIVE IGNEOUS ROCKS OR PLUTONIC ROCKS
- Forms when magma cools slowly below the earth's surface.
- Most intrusive rocks have large, well-formed crystals
• EXTRUSIVE IGNEOUS ROCKS OR VOLCANIC ROCKS
- Forms when magma reaches the earth's surface a volcano and cools quickly.
- Most extrusive (volcanic) rocks have small crystals.

MAGMA
Is a mixture of molten rocks and primarily elements are silicon, oxygen, aluminum, iron calcium, sodium,
potassium and magnesium.
TYPES:
• BASALTIC
- low silica content, low viscosity
• ANDESETIC
- a medium level of silica content, intermediate viscosity
• RHYOLITIC
- high silica content, high viscosity

2. SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
• Formed from small particles of rocks that have been lithified.
• Weathering is the physical and chemical breakdown of rocks. Small particles of rocks from the
weathering are called sediments.
CLASSIFICATION OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
 DETRITUS / DETRITAL SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
- is particles of rock derived from pre-existing rock through processes of weathering and erosion.
 CHEMICAL SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
- form by precipitation of minerals from water

3. Metamorphic Rocks
• Rocks that chemically changed in form, structure and composition under the process of
metamorphism.
• More cystalline, harder and denser than the rocks they originated.

TYPES OF METAMORPHISM
• CONTACT METAMORPHISM – when magma intrudes into existing rocks.
• REGIONAL METAMORPHISM – formed during mountain building process that occurs over a large area.

• Magma – refers to the volatiles and solid materials found beneath the surface of the earth
• Weathering – the breaking down of rocks at the earth’s surface due to biological activity
• sediments – particles and dissolved substances
• lithification – compaction of converting sediments to solid rocks
• crystallization – a chemical s0lid- liquid separation technique in which mass transfer occurs from the liquid
solution to a solid crystalline phase
• weathering – the breaking down of rocks at the earth’s surface due to biological activity

(The earth's crust is made of 64.7% igneous, 7.9% sedimentary and 27.4% metamorphic rocks)

Biomass
- is a renewable energy source that is derived from living or recently living organisms.
- energy derived from biomass is mostly used to generate electricity or to produce heat
- can be chemically and biochemically treated to convert it to a energy-rich fuel

Combustion
Combustion is the simplest method by which biomass can be used for energy, and has been used for
millennia to provide heat. This heat can be used in a number of ways:
• Space heating
• Water (or other fluid) heating for central or district heating or process heat
• Steam rising for electricity generation or motive force.

Gasification
- is a partial oxidation process whereby a carbon source such as coal, natural gas or biomass, is broken
down into carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2 ), plus carbon dioxide (CO2). This is achieved by
reacting the material at high temperatures (>700°C) without combustion with a controlled amount of oxygen
and/or steam. The resulting gas mixture is called syngas.

Pyrolysis
is the precursor to gasification, and takes place as part of both gasification and combustion . It consists of
thermal decomposition in the absence of oxygen. It is essentially based on a long established process,
being the basis of charcoal burning.
Fermentation
is the process used in brewing and wine making for the conversion of sugars to alcohol (ethanol). The same
process, followed by distillation, can be used to obtain pure ethanol (bioethanol) for use as a transport
biofuel.

Anaerobic Digestion
is the process whereby bacteria break down organic material in the absence of air, yielding a biogas
containing methane.

Energy Resources
Natural resources are resources that occurs naturally in the environment undisturbed by mankind.
(1) renewable, which means that they can be replenished over relatively short time spans, and
(2) nonrenewable that can be replenished in longer span of time.
- once used up they are gone (take millions of years to replenish)

Fossil Fuels
1. Formed millions of years Ago
2. Made from dead, compressed plant and animal remains
3. Heat and pressure combines the remains with mud, sand and clay
4. Provide 90% of light and heat used to run homes and cars

Coal
- Coal is formed over millions of years by decay of land vegetation. When layers are compacted and
heated over time, deposits turned into coal.
- Generates electricity
• Four Types
1. Peat (soft, smokes, doesn’t burn well)
2. Lignite- brown, woody, not much energy
3. Bituminous- dark brown, common, found deep in Earth
4. Anthracite- black, hard, brittle, uncommon

Oil
- Liquid form
- AKA Petroleum
- Found in areas once covered with oceans
- Found where animal and plant remains layered, and were changed into oil by heat and
- Found where animal and plant remains layered, and were changed into oil by heat and pressure
- Found by drilling wells into rock deposits
- Drill where oil seeps to surface or where top rocks test positive for carbon
- Transportation - Heat - Building Materials
- Road asphalt - Plastics
- Fabrics - Medicines

Natural Gas
- Liquid form
- Found near oil- rises to top of oil because its less dense
- Transportation
- Heating homes
- Least expensive, cleanest

• Geothermal energy
- energy that comes from the ground; power extracted from heat stored in the earth
– Geo: earth
– Thermal: heat
• Used for bathing in Paleolithic times
• Ancient Romans used it as a central heating system for bathing and heating homes and floors
DIFFERENT GEOTHERMAL ENERGY SOURCES
• Hot Water Reservoirs: As the name implies these are reservoirs of hot underground water.
There is a large amount of them in the US, but they are more suited for space heating than for
electricity production.
• Natural Steam Reservoirs: In this case a hole dug into the ground can cause steam to come to
the surface.
• Geopressured Reservoirs: In this type of reserve, brine completely saturated with natural gas
in stored under pressure from the weight of overlying rock. This type of resource can be used for both
heat and for natural gas.

TYPE OF GEOTHERMAL POWERPLANT

• Dry Steam Powerplants
- These were the first type of powerplants created. They use underground steam to directly turn the turbines.
- This type of power plant is not common since natural hydrothermal reservoirs dry steam are very rare.
• Flash Steam Powerplants: These are the most common type of powerplants. These systems
pull deep, high pressured hot water that reaches temperatures of 3600F or more to the surface. This
water is transported to low pressure chambers, and the resulting steam drives the turbines. The
remaining water and steam are then injected back into the source from which they were taken.
• Binary Cycle Plants: This system passes moderately hot geothermal water past a liquid, usually
an organic fluid, that has a lower boiling point. The resulting steam from the organic liquid drives the
turbines. This process does not produce any emissions and the water temperature needed for the
water is lower than that needed in the Flash Steam Plants (2500F – 3600F).
• Binary Cycle Plants: This system passes moderately hot geothermal water past a liquid, usually
an organic fluid, that has a lower boiling point. The resulting steam from the organic liquid drives the
turbines. This process does not produce any emissions and the water temperature needed for the
water is lower than that needed in the Flash Steam Plants (2500F – 3600F).

 The Bac-Man Geothermal Production Field, also known as the BacMan Geothermal Power Plant, is
one of the geothermal power stations operated byEnergy Development Corporation in the provinces
of Albay and Sorsogon in the Philippines. It is named for its location in the municipalities of Bacon and
Manito.

 The Geysers is the world's largest geothermal field, containing a complex of 22 geothermal power
plants, drawing steam from more than 350 wells, located in the Mayacamas Mountains approximately
72 miles (116 km) north of San Francisco, California.

HYDROPOWER
• Hydropower (hydroelectric power) is electricity generated using the energy of moving water.
• It depends on rivers, falls and streams for generation.
• It provides more than 97% of all electricity generated by renewable sources worldwide.
• About 20% of all electricity is generated by hydropower.

HISTORY OF HYDROPOWER
• Ancient Greeks used water wheels to grind wheat into flour.
• A water wheel picks up flowing river water in buckets located around the wheel.
• Kinetic energy of flowing river turns the wheel and is converted into mechanical energy that runs the mill.
• In late 19th century, hydropower became a source for generating electricity.
• The first hydroelectric power plant was built at Niagara falls in 1879.

HYDROPOWER PLANT
- It captures the energy of falling water to generate electricity.
TYPES OF HYDROPOWER PLANT
Impoundment/Dam
• most common type of hydroelectric power plant
• uses dam to store water in a reservoir
• Water may be released either to meet changing electricity needs or to maintain constant reservoir level

Diversion/Run of River
• channels a portion of a river through a canal or penstock
• divert water away from a river and use it to run a turbine before returning it to the river
Pumped Storage
• stores energy by pumping water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir when demand for electricity is
low
• water is released back to lower reservoir to generate electricity during periods of high electrical demand

Wolrd’s Largest Hydropower Plant

Three Gorges Dam
It is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling District,
Yichang, Hubei province, China. It has a generating capacity of 22,500 megawatts (MW).

HYDROPOWER PLANT IN THE PHILIPPINES

Plant Name: Kalayaan Plant Name: Angat
Location: Kalayaan, Laguna Location: Norzagaray, Bulacan
Capacity: 684.6 MW Capacity: 246 MW
Type: Pump Storage/NPC-IPP Type: Dam

. Solar Energy
- It is a free energy supply. - It is a non-polluting energy
• energy generated from the heat of the sun
• renewable
• widely available and clean
• provides enough energy to meet the world’s annual consumption needs every 50 minutes
TWO MAJOR SOLAR TECHNOLOGIES:
1. Photovoltaic solar technology
• directly converts sunlight into electricity using panels made of semiconductor (silicon) cells.
• solar cells are usually found in powering devices such as watches, sunglasses and backpacks, as well as
providing power in remote areas

2. Solar Thermal Technology

• large-scale by comparison
• heat from the sun's rays is collected and used to heat a fluid
• the steam produced from the heated fluid powers a generator that produces electricity
• captures the sun’s heat. which is used directly or converted into mechanical energy and in turn electricity,
known as concentrated solar power

WIND
• Wind is caused by air flowing from high pressure to low pressure.
• Wind is one way that the atmosphere moves excess heat away from the surface of the Earth or from warm
regions(tropics) to cooler regions.

WHAT IS WIND POWER

• Wind power is produced by using wind generators to harness the kinetic energy of wind.
• It is gaining worldwide popularity as a large scale energy source, although it still only provides less than
one percent of global energy consumption.

HISTORY OF WIND POWER

• Wind power has been utilized for thousands of years, starting with the invention of sail boats as the first
and most obvious example of making use of wind energy.
• The earliest known wind powered grain mills and water pumps were used by the Persians in A.D. 500-
900 and by the Chinese in A.D. 1200.

WIND TURBINE
• used to generate electricity from the kinetic power of the wind
• used to generate large amounts of electricity in wind farms both onshore and offshore

WIND FARM
• group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity

WIND FARM IN THE PHILIPPINES

Burgos Wind Farm
Capacity: 150 MW
Location: San Lorenzo, Guimaras
Year Commissioned: 2014
“Largest Wind Farm in Southeast Asia”

Waste
- substances or objects which are disposed or intended to be disposed and required to be disposed by
the provisions of the law. aka rubbish, trash, junk or garbage.
Disposal
- means any operation which may lead to resource recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct re-use or
alternative uses.
Waste Management
- is the collection, transport, processing or disposal, managing and monitoring of waste materials. The
term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken
to reduce their effect on health.

Types of Waste Disposal

a. Landfill
- is the most popularly used method of waste disposal used today. This process of waste disposal
focuses attention on burying the waste in land. There is a process used that eliminates the odors and
dangers of waste before it placed in the ground. Disadvantages of this is that there is already a lack
of space available and the strong presence of methane and other landfill gases that can cause
numerous contamination problems.

b. Incineration/Combustion
- is a type of disposal method in which municipal solid wastes are burned at high temperatures so as to
convert them into residue and gaseous products. The advantage of this type is that it can reduce the
volume of solid waste to 20 to 30 percent of the original volume, decreases the space they take up
and reduce the stress on landfills. Disadvantage of this method is the production of air pollution that
could add up in the problems of greenhouse effects.

c. Recovery and Recycling

- is the process of converting waste products to prevent energy usage and consumption of fresh raw
materials. Recycling is the third component of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle waste hierarchy.
Advantages of this is to reduce energy usage, reduce volume of landfills, reduce air and water
pollution, reduce greenhouse gas and preserve natural resource for future use.

d. Waste to Energy (Recovery Energy)

- Involves converting of non-recyclable waste items into useable heat, electricity, or fuel through a
variety of processes. This type of source of energy is a renewable energy source as non-recyclable
waste can be used over and over again to create energy. Waste- to-energy, also widely recognized by
its acronym WtE is the generation of energy in the form of heat or electricity from waste.

e. Avoidance/Waste Minimization
- is the easiest method of waste management. Waste reduction can be done through recycling old
materials like jar, bags, repairing broken items instead of buying new one, avoiding use of disposable
products like plastic bags, reusing second hand items, and buying items that uses less designing.