KRIZIA MAE J.
SANTOS
10-EINSTEIN
ASSIGNMENT #1
1. Define Earth Science
Earth sciences, the fields of study concerned with the solid Earth, its waters, and
the air that envelops it. Included are the geologic, hydrologic, and atmospheric
sciences.
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2. Branches of Earth Science
Geology- study of the Earth’s solid material and structures and the processes that
create them.
Oceanography- study of everything in the ocean environment
Climatology and Meteorology- includes the study of weather patterns, clouds,
hurricanes, and tornadoes. Can help us better understand how and why climate
changes.
Environmental Science- study the effects people have on their environment, including
the landscape, atmosphere, water, and living things
Astronomy- study of everything in the universe beyond Earth's atmosphere.
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branches/
3. News Updates
NEWS #1
- Comet impacts formed continents when Solar System entered arms of Milky
Way
Date:
August 24, 2022
Source:
Curtin University
Summary:
New research has found evidence that Earth's early continents resulted from being
hit by comets as our Solar System passed into and out of the spiral arms of the
Milky Way Galaxy, turning traditional thinking about our planet's formation on its
head.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220824102928.htm
NEWS #2
- Simple method destroys dangerous 'forever chemicals,' making water
safeUsing common reagents in heated water, chemists can 'behead' and break
down PFAS, leaving only harmless compounds
Date:
August 18, 2022
Source:
University of California - Los Angeles
Summary:
If you're despairing at recent reports that Earth's water sources have been
thoroughly infested with hazardous human-made chemicals called PFAS that can
last for thousands of years, making even rainwater unsafe to drink, there's a spot of
good news. Chemists have developed a simple way to break down almost a dozen
types of these nearly indestructible 'forever chemicals' at relatively low
temperatures with no harmful byproducts.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220818163721.htm
4. Trivia and Facts
1. Earth is not actually a sphere
- Contrary to what most people may think, the Earth is not actually a perfect sphere.
It is actually a shape called an oblate spheroid.
2. The Earth is made mostly of just four elements
- If you could grind down, melt, and filter the entire mass of Earth, most of the stuff
you'd get would consist of just four different elements. These are, in order of
concentration, iron (32.1%), oxygen (30.1%), silicon (15.1%), and magnesium
(13.9%). The remaining 8.8% is everything else.
3. A day isn't quite 24 hours
- Also, contrary to what most of us have come to believe, a day on Earth isn't quite
24 hours. In fact, at present, the Earth rotates completely around its axis once
every 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds.
4. And a year isn't 365 days, either
- Since we are on the subject of the passage of time on Earth, you might be
surprised to learn that a year isn't actually 365 days. In fact, the Earth completes
one full orbit of the Sun every 365.2564 days.
5. The vast majority of fresh water on Earth is frozen
- Despite 70% of the Earth's surface being covered with water, only about 2.5% is
freshwater. Of course, that is still a lot of water, but even all of that isn't freely
accessible to life on Earth. Of that 2.5%, something like 70% is locked up in ice,
with another 7% contained in soil moisture and the atmosphere. The rest, almost a
rounding error on the grander scale, is free for life to consume.
6. The Earth's largest living thing
- Known as the honey mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae), one single example of this
fungus covers 2,384 acres in Oregon's Blue Mountains.
7. The driest place on Earth sits adjacent to the biggest body of water.
- The Atacama Desert in Chile is known as the driest place in the world, but despite
it being dry-to-the-bone, the desert is actually right next to the biggest body of
water on Earth—the Pacific Ocean. Though it's hot in the Atacama Desert, its
temps average at about 63°F.
8. Days on Earth are increasing.
- Yup—they're getting longer. At its inception 4.54 billion years ago, a day on Earth
would have registered as six hours long. Nowadays, we all know that a day lasts
24 hours, but that's ever-changing. In fact, the days increase by 1.7 milliseconds
every century.
9. Earth used to be purple
- Some experts—like Shil DasSarma—believe that Earth may have been purple at
one point in time. Fueling that fire is the fact that ancient microbes may have
relied on a different molecule other than the green chlorophyll to grab the sun's
rays. Instead, that molecule—retinal—could have made things we know as green
today look more purple.
10. The Moon is moving away from the Earth
- This is imperceptible to us on Earth, but the Moon actually moves away from us at
around 1.48 inches (3.78 cm) per year. This means that a month was much shorter
in the past and will be longer in the future. The Moon will also break free of
Earth's gravitational influence in around 15 billion years.
https://interestingengineering.com/science/40-facts-about-planet-earth
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