Inside Earth-Chapter 1
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34 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 rotate | to move around an axis inside the object (internal axis); the axis can be real or imaginary |
| revolve | to move around an axis outside the object (external axis); the axis can be real or imaginary |
| Protoplanet Hypothesis | favored explanation for the formation of the solar system and our planet; rotating cloud of gas and dust, spins faster, 90% becomes Sun, 10 % becomes protoplanets, comets, meteors, and asteroids |
| crust | thinnest, outer layer of the Earth; broken up into plates; "floats" on the asthenosphere; oceanic crust is made of basalt; continental crust is made of mostly granite |
| mantle | below the crust; has 3 parts-upper, middle, and lower; largest layer; made of mostly silica, iron and magnesium |
| lithosphere | consists of the earth's crust and the upper mantle |
| asthenosphere | middle mantle; flows like hot asphalt; reason the crustal plates move (convection currents) |
| convection currents | the repeating cycle of the rising and falling of the hot material in the mantle (asthenosphere); contributes to the movement of the crustal plates; the movement of fluid, caused by differences in temperature, that transfers heat from one part of the fluid to another |
| outer core | the outer portion of the core of the Earth; in a liquid state; made of iron and nickel |
| inner core | the very deepest part of the Earth; in a solid state, due to pressure; made of iron and nickel |
| seismic waves | vibrations that travel through Earth carrying energy released during an earthquake |
| pressure | the force exerted on a surface divided by the area over which the force is exerted |
| basalt | a dark, dense, igneous rock with fine texture, found in oceanic crust |
| granite | a usually light-colored igneous rock that is found in continental crust |
| radiation | the transfer of energy through space |
| conduction | the transfer of heat within a material or between materials that are touching |
| convection | the transfer of heat by movement of a fluid |
| density | the amount of mass in a given space; mass per unit volume |
| continental drift | the hypothesis that the continents slowly move across Earth's surface |
| Pangaea | the name of the single land mass that broke apart 200 million years ago |
| fossil | a trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock |
| mid-ocean ridge | an undersea mountain chain where new ocean floor is produced; a divergent plate |
| sonar | a device that determines the distance of an object under water by recording echos of sound waves |
| sea-floor spreading | the process by which molten material adds new oceanic crust to the ocean floor |
| deep-ocean trench | a deep valley along the ocean floor beneath which oceanic crust slowly sinks toward the mantle |
| subduction | the process by which oceanic crust sinks beneath a deep ocean trench and back into the mantle at a converget plate boundary |
| plate | a section of the lithosphere that slowly moves over the asthenosphere, carry pieces of continental and oceanic crust |
| scientific theory | a well tested concept that explains a wide range of observations |
| plate tectonics | the theory that pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in constant motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle |
| fault | a break in the Earth's crust where masses of rock slip past one another |
| divergent boundary | a plate boundary where two plates move away from each other |
| rift valley | a deep valley that forms where two plates move apart |
| convergent boundary | a plate boundary where two plates move toward each other |
| transform boundary | a plate boundary where two plates move past each other in opposite directions |
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