Earth and Space Sciences

Earth and Space Sciences

1. Famous Scientists

   • Mary Anning
     • She was a scientist who collected fossils and would make skeletal puzzles.
   • Charles David Keeling
     • He was an oceanographer and atmospheric scientist. He monitored levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

2. How Earth and Space Sciences Began

   • Geology is what started earth and space science.
   • It is relatively new to the k-12 curriculum.
   • Was mostly used for discovering and understanding natural resources.
   • Earth System
     • Biosphere
       • All of the living organisms on earth.
     • Atmosphere
       • Gases that surround the Earth.
     • Lithosphere
       • The surface and interior of the Earth.
     • Hydrosphere
       • Earth's water systems.
   • Space System

3. Measuring and Estimating Earth and Space Science

   • Ability to understand concepts of distance, time, and scale.
     • Must understand how to use estimation when measuring these.

4. The Cosmos

   • Scales sizes can challenge students understanding of the solar system, based on how they precieve the size of it.
   • Science develops over time and is advancing faster through technology.

5. Star Power

   • Stars appear differently to everyone.
   • Stars glow because of nuclear fusion.
     • Hydrogen atoms fuse to become Helium and creates a lot of energy.
       • This energy comes from the sun as light and heat which gives the Earth energy.

6. Astronomy

   • Celestial objects move to create patterns that tell us time , day and night, seasons, and years.
   • Shows different phases of the moon.
   • Seasons have been explained by theories over culture and time.
   • Shadows have been caused by celestial bodies, and have helped prove from using the sundial that the sun rotates on an axis.

7. Restless Earth

   • Earth's surface is explained by convention currents.
     • The Earth's crust is constant.
       • Plate tectonics are the reason the Earth's crust moves. Shapes of continents, certain fossils and rock formations help support this theory.
         • Plate tectonics have also been theorized in the sea floor spreading. Plates also meet at convergent boundaries and create volcanoes, and mountains.
         • Earthquakes occur at plate boundaries and are called faults.

8. Rocks and Minerals

   • Earth has rocks that are made of tectonic force, and chemical and physical processes.
     • Some of these rocks have minerals that form crystals.
       • There are many ways to classify rocks and minerals.
         • Minerals are natural solid that has a definite chemical formula.
           • Soils help plants and animals to survive. Is not dirt.

9. Earth Cycles

   • The Earth system includes cycles of matter and energy.
     • One cycle involves water.
       • Aquifers purify drinking water but can sometimes still get polluted.
     • Rocks are always forming, breaking down, and reforming.
       • Igneous are rocks that form a lava and magma cool.
         • Heat, pressure, and time can change igneous rocks to metamorphic rocks.
           • Igneous and metamorphic rocks erode and create sediments that make sedimentary rock.
     • The unequal heating and cooling of land and water is our atmosphere.
       • Different temperatures make differences in air pressure, which causes certain types of weather, wind, and cloud formation.

10. Weather and Climate

    • The water cycle, the atmospheric cycle, and rock cycles affect weather and climate.
      • Weather is events on a daily basis, while climate is large patterns of weather over time.
        • The people who study both climate and weather are called Meteorologists.
          • Wind is a part of weather that can cause hurricanes, typhones, and floods.
            • Different types of weater and climate make ecosystems like rainforests.

11. Atmosphere

    • The atmosphere is made up of mixtures of gasses like oxygen, and ozone, which help us live.
      • The Greenhouse Effect is caused by the atmosphere. We want to keep temperatures on the surface the same , but increases in carbon dioxide increase the greenhouse affect, making climates change.
        • Clouds are in the atmosphere and the reflection and absorption of light determines what color they are.
          • Our atmosphere can be polluted. One popular pollution is smog, which is smoke and fog combined. When chemicals from cars and other industrial sources react with the sun and form ozone that's how smog is created. It can cause medical problems.

12. Water and Oceans

    • Earth's surface is covered 72% by oceans.
      • All of the oceans are connected.
        • There is the Antarctic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean.
        • Oceans affect weather and climate because their currents send energy to the poles from the equator.
        • As water comes onto land it has small amounts of mineral salts.
          • Evaporation and ice formation happens when fresh water leaves the ocean.
          • Oceans are made up of an average of 3.5% salt which is 35 parts per thousand.
        • Satellites are what must be used to explore the ocean floor.
          • Oil spills can cause pollution in the ocean.