Review for First Exam Important Topics and Concepts 2010

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Review for First Exam Important Topics and Concepts 2010"

Bennett McKenzie
5 years ago
Views:

1 Review for First Exam Important Topics and Concepts 2010 This summary differs from the summaries of the slide presentations in that it includes topics introduced from discussion, rather than simply an outline of the slide show. Many of the ideas listed here may well be the basis for a question or two on the exam. Hint. History of Ocean Exploration One definition of culture : a society s solutions to life s problems ways to make a living and maintain group cohesion example: the sea-faring culture of the Phoenicians the Phoenician culture was not defined by a geographic home as much as a way of life Relationship between technology and society a technological breakthrough can be a thing, an idea, or a better way of doing something examples: Viking vessels long boats for coastal warfare, and closed ships for long-distance transport of people, livestock, and materials (necessary for migration) Ptolemy (Greek geographer, ~ 150 BC) developed a grid system for maps, which became latitude and longitude; also portrayed the Earth surface as curved (not flat) Interactions between society, government, religion, and science contrast advanced understanding of science and math by the Greeks (~ BC), with the retraction of scientific knowledge during the European Medieval Dark Ages The Western Europeans were not the only ocean explorers as typically taught in History courses: exploration by the Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and later by the English, French, and Dutch, which led to global trade and European Colonial Empires HOWEVER, prior to the s, there was extensive ocean exploration by the: Vikings across the North Atlantic Basques to the Grand Banks off Nova Scotia Arabs throughout the Indian and into the Pacific Ocean Chinese Pacific, Indian, and probably into the Atlantic Ocean and truly remarkable migration across large expanses of the open Pacific Ocean by the Polynesians, probably starting about 2500 BC, with several major expansions from about 1000 BC up through colonization of Hawaii around 500 AD Early Scientific Exploration One class period: Navigation as a Technology refer to Appendix III in your textbook using the stars for navigation since the time of the Phoenicians and Greeks constellations of the Zodiac mark the seasons (understand where these are in space relative to Earth, and why there are twelve)

2 important concept: the plane of the ecliptic (all the planets and the zodiacal constellations) coastal landmarks Vikings traveling to Iceland turn and sail due west, importance of Polaris, the North Star short video from Master and Commander (accuracy of the naval history used in this film well worth watching this movie) how to determine latitude based on observations using a sextant to find the angle of the Sun relative to the horizon at noon seasonal changes, tilt of the Earth s spin axis (23.5 degrees), and key positions on the globe Equator (reference for latitude, 0 by definition) Tropic of Cancer 23.5 North Arctic Circle = 66.5 N Tropic of Capricorn 23.5 South Antarctic Circle = 66.5 S Important point: Longitude was much harder to determine than latitude importance of a chronometer (who developed? when?) discussed the geometry of Time Zones (each represents 1 hour of Earth rotation = 15 of long. ) defined point of reference 0 longitude: the Prime Meridian or Greenwich Mean through the British Royal Naval Observatory, in Greenwich, a coastal suburb of London need to know how good, accurate watches help a ship captain determine distance east or west Colonial Empires and Competition during the 1700s and 1800s, England and France were competing in all things: warfare, economics, science, technology, government, merchant trade and vying for world domination the British in particular recognized the importance of broad and accurate information about the geography and physical conditions of the oceans as specific examples, think about the most important strategic locations for naval combat and maritime commerce, such as the Straits of Gibraltar, Suez Canal, Sunda Strait James Cook s three global expeditions combined military, scientific and commercial purposes consider the importance of governments and scientific organizations the Royal Society in Britain and the French Academy of Sciences in promoting, supporting, and advancing exploration and scientific discovery the French Academy of Sciences developed the Système Internationale (the Metric System) the British Royal Society supported the five-year voyage of the HMS Challenger Really important: Voyage of the HMS Challenger discussion in class and more information in your textbook answered fundamental questions about the World Ocean

3 the equivalent impact today would be a manned mission to Mars that discovered life Modern Oceanography important links between development of technologies for warfare that were then applied to scientific investigation of the oceans examples: sonar and fathometer (depth finder) magnetometer marine seismics (can see layers of sediment and rock beneath the seafloor) submarines and submersibles satellite sensors and the Global Positioning System (GPS) ROVs remotely operated vehicles much of modern oceanography is driven by advances in technology that allow scientists to make faster, better, more accurate, more detailed, more continuous measurements Atlas of the Universe the main point of including this topic in Oceanography is to have you understand better our position in the larger picture of space and time AND to understand that science is based on observations, confirmation, and constant revision of interpretations and it includes a LOT of imagination for the exam, review the PowerPoint presentation on the Universe and visit the Atlas of the Universe website; follow the Star Watcher s List that was handed out to develop a personal understanding of the scale of features from our own solar system to the Milky Way Galaxy and the broader Universe Math, the Metric System, and Problem Solving we devoted part of a class period to a quick review of the powers of ten (scientific notation), the metric system, and the proper use of units when setting up equations two of the take-home exercises emphasized these principles of math and problem solving Important points: know the basic structure of the metric system refer to Appendix I in your textbook that is, from the fundamental unit of length, the meter getting larger getting smaller deka meter deci meter hekta meter centi meter kilo meter milli meter micro meter in science and engineering, we typically count in exponents of 10 3 that is: kilo 10 3 mega 10 6 giga 10 9 tera for mass, the same set of prefixes applied to the gram

4 by definition: one gram of mass is one cubic centimeter of pure H 2 O know the definition of density = mass per unit volume understand the related idea of density stratification, which happens in fluids this concept will appear many times during the course And you will hear me say this several more times: when setting up the equation to solve a problem, always, always include the units what you are given and what you need to find after canceling mathematically, if the units on one side of the equation equal the units on the other side, you probably set up the equation correctly review the rules of math with scientific notation, how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide with values in the form of 1.0 x 10 x *** get in the habit of checking your calculations by working backwards from the answer *** Evolution of the Solar System Important points a star is a nuclear reactor fusion, four protons (hydrogen nuclei) fuse to form helium and release a tremendous amount of energy a star produces new elements for a standard star, all elements up to iron which includes the components necessary to build a planet: Fe, Mg, O, Si (material that forms the rock of the mantle) a supernova, an exploding star forms the heavier elements up to uranium pictures of nebulae that are remnants of supernova explosions producing material (star guts) that will be used in the next cycle of building a solar system and planets important graph: the relation between the amount of iron inside a star and the likelihood of having planets Forming a new solar system the pizza-dough model: gravity pulls together and concentrates particles of gas and dust as the mass moves toward the center, the rate of spinning increases (conservation of angular momentum), which flattens out the material into a protoplanetary disk the family-reunion model: if you took pictures of everyone attending a family reunion, could you make a reasonable interpretation of the course of development of a human being from birth to old age? how do we know how a solar system develops? ** direct observations ** and application of the family-reunion model something like 99.99% of the mass of a solar system is contained in the star in the middle

5 Building planets LOTS of debris in that protoplanetary disk, and every particle has gravitational attraction to every other particle the process of accretion starting at the scale of dust and sand grains, building progressively larger bodies up to the size of planetesimals, asteroids, moons, and planets the gravitational fields of the larger bodies vacuum up materials in the orbital path the flip side of this process is intense bombardment by space rocks during the early phase of planetary development just look at the Moon lots of pock marks; why is the Earth surface relatively free of craters? the Earth probably suffered more impacts than the Moon (because of stronger gravity) the craters on the Earth surface have been smoothed off, by wind, water, ice, and life fundamental difference in our solar system between the four inner planets small and rocky and the gas giants in the outer solar system Why? solar wind pushed the volatiles (small and light particles, such as gas) to the outer regions of the solar system The Earth and Moon how did the Earth get such a large companion Moon? NOT by gravitational capture (which does happen with other, larger planets) most likely formed by a huge collision, producing two hot blobs in space Differentiation of the Earth Interior Important point: concept of density stratification the three fundamental layers of the Earth interior are the result of dense materials migrating to the center (to form the core), light materials floating to the surface (to form the continental blocks), and the remaining rocky material staying in the middle to form the mantle density stratification requires a liquid (molten) state for the materials to flow and segregate Interior layers version I moving down (inward) from the Earth surface crust mantle core composition inferred from the behavior of seismic waves (earthquake energy) moving through the body of the planet another important point: heat from the core drives internal Earth processes, including plate tectonics, and that heat is produced by the radioactive decay of heavy elements in the core such as uranium and thorium although the core is thicker, the mantle has the greater volume (the donut and the donut hole)

Formation of the Universe The organization of Space

February 21, 2014 Formation of the Universe The organization of Space Theory: A theory is An example is cell Cell Theory Cell Theory states 1. All living organisms are composed of one or more cells 2.