Earth and the Earth Systems PDF

Earth and the Earth Systems Prepared by: Ms. Ma. Ruszeth S. Belandres, LPT, Med – Natural Science Most Essential Learning Competency (MELC) Recognize the uniqueness of the Earth, being the only planet in the solar system with properties necessary to support life. OBJECTIVES:...

Earth and the Earth Systems Prepared by: Ms. Ma. Ruszeth S. Belandres, LPT, Med – Natural Science Most Essential Learning Competency (MELC) Recognize the uniqueness of the Earth, being the only planet in the solar system with properties necessary to support life. OBJECTIVES: 1. Identify the characteristics of the Earth that supports life; and 2. Expound how the characteristics of the Earth sustain the needs of a living organism.  Planet earth's orbit around the sun How did earth form? What sets Earth apart from Planet Earth: other planets in the solar system? Everything What are the characteristics you need to needed to support life? What makes our planet know uniquely suitable to host life? Why is it vital to preserve our planet? Planet earth's orbit around the sun While Earth orbits the sun, the planet is simultaneously spinning around an imaginary line called an axis that runs through the core, from the North Pole to the South Pole. It takes Earth 23.934 hours to complete a rotation on its axis and 365.26 days to complete an orbit around the sun — our days and years on Earth are defined by these gyrations. Earth happens to orbit the sun within the so-called "Goldilocks zone," where temperatures are just right to maintain liquid water on our planet's surface. How did earth form? Scientists think Earth was formed at roughly the same time as the sun and other planets some 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system coalesced from a giant, rotating cloud of gas and dust known as the solar nebula. As the nebula collapsed under the force of its own gravity, it spun faster and flattened into a disk. Most of the material in that disk was then pulled toward the center to form the sun. Other particles within the disk collided and stuck together to form ever-larger bodies, including Earth. Scientists think Earth started off as a waterless mass of rock. Radioactive materials in the rock and increasing pressure deep within the Earth generated enough heat to melt the planet's interior, causing some chemicals to rise to the surface and form water, while others became the gases of the atmosphere. Recent evidence suggests that Earth's crust and oceans may have formed within about 200 million years after the planet took shape.  Earth is also the only planet in the solar system with active plate tectonics, where What sets Earth the surface of the planet is divided into apart from other rigid plates that collide and move apart, causing earthquakes, mountain building, planets in the solar and volcanism. Sites of volcanism along system? Earth's submarine plate boundaries are considered to be potential environments where life could have first emerged. What are the characteristics needed to support life? What are the factors that make a planet habitable?  A special planet: the habitable Earth It is the right distance from the Sun, it is protected from harmful solar radiation by its magnetic field, it is What makes our kept warm by an insulating atmosphere, and it has the planet uniquely right chemical ingredients for life, including water and carbon. The processes that shape the Earth and its suitable to host life? environment constantly cycle elements through the planet. This cycling sustains life and leads to the formation of the mineral and energy resources that are the foundation of modern technological society. Why is it vital to preserve our planet? Earth observation from space provides objective coverage across both space and time. The same space-based sensor gathers data from sites across the world, including places too remote or otherwise inaccessible for ground-based data acquisition. And because Earth observation satellites remain in place for long periods of time, they can highlight environmental changes occurring gradually. In the long term, this monitoring of the Earth's environment will enable a reliable assessment of the global impact of human activity and the likely future extent of climate change. Why is it vital to preserve our planet? The scientific evidence of global climate change is irrefutable. The consequences of a warming climate are far- reaching — affecting freshwater resources, global food production, and sea level and triggering an increase in extreme weather events. To tackle climate change, scientists and decision-makers need reliable data to understand how our planet is changing. Earth is the only naturally habitable planet for complex (e.g., human) life in the solar system. The consequences of a warming climate are far-reaching and are already threatening some people's ways of life and damaging wider biodiversity. If Earth becomes uninhabitable, we have nowhere else to go. Colonizing the Moon and Mars is no substitute for preserving Earth. The Moon and Mars cannot sustain Earth's population of humans and other organisms. Answer Me! 1. What are the characteristics of the Earth that supports life; 2. How the characteristics of the Earth sustain the needs of a living organism. Most Essential Learning Competency (MELC) Explain that the Earth consists of four subsystems, across whose boundaries matter and energy flow. OBJECTIVES: 1. Determine the four subsystems of the Earth; 2. Describe the characteristics of each system; 3. Trace the flow of matter and energy in the Earth’s subsystem; and 4. Express one’s internalized role as steward of the four subsystems concerning the flow of matter and energy.  Earth is made up of erratic, complex and interactive systems that make it a constantly changing planet. Earth Air, water, land, and life are the four major systems of the Earth. Each helps shape the structure of the planet. A system is defined as a group of independent parts that work together as a whole.  The Earth’s subsystem The biophysical components of the Earth subsystem are often referred to as spheres and are subdivided into four: geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC These four regulate the different functions on Earth such as the climate system, ecological services generated by the living biosphere, including food production, and natural resources like fossil fuels and minerals. Geosphere From the Latin name “Geo” which means ground. Makes up the solid portion of the Earth, its structure and land. The planet’s inner core which extends to the crust, is predominantly classified as the lithosphere (the area that mostly affects the earth system). Includes nonliving land features. Solid rock does not mean that geosphere is till because it is constantly moving.  Layers of the Geosphere - Crust Our planet’s surface is covered by a thin later called crust. The earth’s crust has a thin layer measuring 40km deep composed of solid rocks and minerals with temperature of 22◦C. The crust is made up of large rocks. It is divided into two forms: Oceanic and Continental Crust. Oceanic crust is composed of the elements This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA iron, oxygen, magnesium, and aluminum. The thin oceanic crust that lies beneath the oceanic floors is about 5 to 10 km thick. The thicker continental crust that makes up the continents is about 15 to 70 km thick, is made up of granite, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. Layers of the Geosphere - Mantle The mantle, which lies just below the crust, is made mostly of silicate rocks rich in magnesium and iron. It is about 2900 km thick. It has increasing temperatures at increasing depths. For instance, the layer with the lowest temperature is the one right beneath the crust. This layer, which is soft enough to flow, causes the plates of the crust to move. On the other hand, the layer with the highest temperature is found in contact with the heat-producing core. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY Layers of the Geosphere - Core The core, which has a radius of 3400 km, is the innermost layer of the Earth. It is made up of iron and nickel. It is the source of internal heat because it contains radioactive materials that release energy as they decay into more stable substances. Hydrosphere Hydro is a Greek root which means water. Composed of all the waters on or near the Earth surface (including water on the surface like oceans, rivers, and lakes). It may also be water in the underground, in wells and aquifers and may exist even as moisture in the air which is visible as clouds and fogs. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA Hydrosphere Hydrosphere can be in any form: water vapor, liquid water, and ice. It is comprised of 97.5% saltwater and 2.5% freshwater. Three quarters of this freshwater is solid and exists in the ice sheets. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA  The word atmosphere comes from the Greek roots atmos which means gas, and sphaira which means globe or ball. It makes up of all Atmosphere the gases on Earth. It extends outward about 10 000 km from the surface of the Earth. It is composed of 78.1% nitrogen, 20.9% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 350 ppm carbon dioxide, and other components. Atmosphere The Earth’s atmosphere is not just merely the air that we but also a blanket if gas that surrounds our planet up to the edge of space. This thin layer of gas that envelopes our planet is necessary to sustain life because it contains gases essential for humans and animals to breathe. It includes air, precipitation, and aerosols. Layers of the Atmosphere 1. TROPOSPHERE starts at the Earth’s surface and extends 8 to 14.5 km high, considered as the densest, and almost all-weather types are in this region. 2. STRATOSPHERE extends up to 50 km high, where we can find the ozone layer (which absorbs and scatters the solar UV radiation). 3. MESOSPHERE extends to 85 km, where meteors usually burned up as they approach our planet. 4. THERMOSPHERE extends up to 600 km, where aurora and satellites occur. 5. EXOSPHERE upper limit of our atmosphere, it extends up to 10, 000 km, and It is the first layer to shield the Earth from meteors, asteroids, and cosmic rays. The temperature of the exosphere varies dramatically.  Bio is a Greek root that means life. Termed as the “zone of life”, it is comprised of all living things. It includes all microbes, plants, and animals. It extends to the Biosphere upper areas of the atmosphere where insects and birds can be found. It also reaches the deep parts of the oceans where marine organisms can still survive. Biosphere As oxygen interplays with the biosphere, complexity of life forms started. Variety of plants and other photosynthetic species evolved. Animals, which consume plants and other animals started to evolve. Also, bacteria and other organisms evolved to break down dead animals and plants. With this chain of food and energy exchange, the biosphere benefits because it makes the system self – supporting and self – regulating.  Organisms interact with the other spheres to survive. Many organisms need oxygen and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to carry Biosphere out life processes. Water, which comprises the hydrosphere, is also important to organisms. Finally, the rocks, soil, and minerals constitute the geosphere also support life. How the Earth’s Subsystems Interact? Matter and energy move and cycle between the four different subsystems. These cycles make life on Earth possible. An example of these cycles is the water cycle. Water moves between the different spheres. It absorbs, releases, and transports energy around the world in its different forms. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND What will happen if matter or energy does not change from one form to another? For example, what if water vapor does not fall back to the Earth as rain? Then the bodies of water will be drained, and no life on Earth will exist. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA Interaction between the 4 Spheres Although the four systems have their individual identities, there is important interaction between them. Environmental scientists study the effects of events in one sphere on the other spheres. Interaction between the 4 Spheres Volcano > > lithosphere > > atmosphere > > hydrosphere > > biosphere Volcanoes (an event in the lithosphere) release a large amount of particulate matter into the atmosphere. These particles serve as nuclei for the formation of water droplets (hydrosphere). Rainfall (hydrosphere) often increases following an eruption, stimulating plant growth (biosphere). Particulate matter in the air (atmosphere) falls out, initially smothering plants (biosphere), but ultimately enriching the soil (lithosphere) and thereby stimulating plant growth (biosphere). Interaction between the Spheres Volcano > > lithosphere > > hydrosphere > > biosphere Volcanoes may release a substantial amount of hot lava, which causes mountain glaciers to melt. Mudflows and flooding may occur downstream from volcanoes and may inundate streamside communities. Interaction between the Spheres Acidic water leaches nutrients from the soil into the water table, making the soil less fertile for plants, and the subterranean water supply less potable for humans. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND Interaction between the Spheres Humans built a dam out of rock materials. Water in the lake seeps into the cliff walls behind the dam, becoming groundwater, or evaporating into the air. Humans harness energy from the water by having it spin turbines to produce electricity. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA TELL ME! 1. Determine the four subsystems of the Earth; 2. Describe the characteristics of each system; 3. Trace the flow of matter and energy in the Earth’s subsystem; and 4. Express one’s internalized role as steward of the four subsystems concerning the flow of matter and energy. SOURCES https://www.space.com/54-earth-history-composition-and- atmosphere.html https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/what-makes-a- planet-habitable https://gml.noaa.gov/outreach/info_activities/pdfs/Teacher_PSA_sph ere_interactions.pdf http://www.cotf.edu/ete/ESS/ESSmain.html End of Presentation This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC