Earth as a Planet – Pretest Questions

Answer all 8 questions in short answer form.  Use your book, notes, each other and me to make sure you are answering correctly.

On Monday you will bring your “rough draft” answers ONLY with you to class.  I will choose FOUR of the original EIGHT questions.  Write your answers to the chosen questions and turn in as your test.

1. How does the density of a planet reflect its distance from the Sun in the Solar System?  Is there a relationship between a planet’s density and its size?  How or how not?
2. Why is the inner core solid even though it is hotter than the outer liquid core?
3. How do the two layers of Earth’s core function to create and maintain the magnetic field?
4. Using the layers of the Earth as example, explain how the process of differentiation works in planet construction.
5. Explain how convection currents in the Earth’s mantle contribute to the movement of tectonic plates.
6. As with many things in life, the universe and everything, the Greenhouse Effect has both positive and negative consequences for Earth and its atmosphere.  What are these consequences, and what happens via the Greenhouse Effect when there’s too much or too little of it?
7. If you fill a VERY large bathtub with water and let the water drain out, you will notice that the water turns clockwise.  What kind of motion is this an example of?  How does this motion affect the waters and air currents of earth?
8. How does the earth’s magnetic field help protect us from the Sun’s excess radiation?  What are some of the lovely examples of this protection called and how are they generated?

EARTH’S MAGNETIC POLES – ARGUMENT AND EVIDENCE.

Oh no!  Your crazy cousin is at it again.  (He never was too bright.)  He’s telling everyone he knows that the magnetic poles of the Earth will reverse and all life as we know it will END!  He’s got the whole family in an uproar!  What an idiot.

Fortunately, you have solid evidence – in the form of the articles you have read, and your textbook - that your crazy cousin is wrong, wrong, wrong!  

Your assignment is to write a one-to-two page letter to your crazy cousin and tell him that although he’s correct that Earth’s magnetic poles do reverse, he’s got all the details mixed up.  

Cover in your letter -
- Earth’s history of magnetic pole reversal.
- Evidence we have that pole reversals occur and how often.
- Who tracks the movement of the magnetic North Pole and why.
- Where the pole may end up in the next few decades.
- What happens at Earth’s core to create our magnetic field?
- How long these reversals take and what happens during them.
- Why we don’t have to worry, we’re really quite safe!