earth-science-reviewer-draft.docx

**The Universe and Solar System** **THE RELIGIOUS ACCOUNTS OF CREATION** HINDUISM Hindus believe in a Great Power/ supreme God called Brahman. A lotus flower grew from Lord Vishnu's navel with Brahma sitting on it. Brahma separated the flower into three parts: The Heavens, the Earth and the Sky...

**The Universe and Solar System** **THE RELIGIOUS ACCOUNTS OF CREATION** HINDUISM Hindus believe in a Great Power/ supreme God called Brahman. A lotus flower grew from Lord Vishnu's navel with Brahma sitting on it. Brahma separated the flower into three parts: The Heavens, the Earth and the Sky. ISLAM Allah is eternal, and so not limited by time. Allah decided to create the universe and because of his unlimited power and authority he commanded things to come into being. Allah then made all living creatures, the angels, the planets and the rain to allow vegetation to grow. CHRISTIANITY The creation story begins with the opening chapter of the Bible and these words: \"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.\" (NIV) This sentence summarizes the drama that was about to unfold. We learn from the text that the earth was formless, empty, and dark, and God\'s Spirit moved over the waters preparing to perform God\'s creative Word. Then began the seven most creative days of all time as God spoke life into existence. A day by day account follows. **THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND ITS SCIENTIFIC CREATION** The solar system is a complex system of moving masses held together by gravitational forces. At the center of this system is a star called the Sun, which is the dominant mass. Revolving around the Sun are 8 major planets with more than 170 satellites (moons), and currently 4 dwarf planets Our planetary system is called "the solar system" because we use the word "solar" to describe things related to our star, after the Latin word for Sun, "sol" or \"solis.\" **DIFFERENT MODELS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM** The World Turtle, also called the Cosmic Turtle or the World-bearing Turtle, is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing the world. It occurs in Hindu mythology, Chinese mythology, and the mythologies of some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The geocentric model is a debunked theory that the Earth is the center of the universe, with the sun and planets revolving around it. It was Claudius Ptolemy (about 85--165 CE) who first said that the solar system and the universe as a whole is the Earth. Putting emphasis to faith. The Heliocentric Model the universe, and it persisted for some 18 centuries. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--1543), a Polish astronomer, developed the Sun-centered model, or heliocentric model, of the solar system. Although Copernicus did not prove that the Earth revolves around the Sun, he did provide elegant mathematical proofs that could be used to predict future positions of the planets. THE SUN AS A STAR The Sun is a yellow dwarf star which is generally which has a spectral color of G2V. G-type main-sequence star (G2V), informally called a yellow dwarf, though its light is actually white. **THE DISTANCE FROM THE EARTH TO THE SUN** 151.87 million km is the distance of the Earth from the Sun making the Earth in the "goldilocks' zone" but the light of the sun's corona can reach the Earth in 8 and 1/2 minutes. **THE FIRST FOUR PLANETS** The term planet originated with ancient observers of stars. These observers of the nighttime sky also viewed, with the unaided eye, star-like objects (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) that moved with respect to fixed stars. They called these objects planets, from the Greek word meaning "wanderer." **MERCURY** Named after the Roman god Mercury-a messenger god in Greek (also known as Hermes). It is the planet closest to the sun and the fastest orbiting planet. While at the same time, the smallest planet. Gravity is minimal in Mercury which is roughly 38% of Earth's gravity. **VENUS** Named after the Roman god Venus (Aphrodite in Greek). The brightest planet in our system. Also known as the evening star (March and April). Hottest planet and Earth's closest neighboring planet. It is also known as Earth's twin. - A day on Venus is longer than a year - Venus is hotter than Mercury -- despite being further away from the Sun - Venus spins clockwise on its axis - Venus is the second brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon - We tend to say 'Venusian' not 'Venerian' **EARTH** The name Earth is an English/German name which simply means the ground. It comes from the Old English words \'eor(th)e\' and \'ertha\'. In German it is \'erde\'. Also known as the Blue planet. It is the only planet that has life. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EARTH THAT MAKES IT HABITABLE  **THE UNIVERSE AND ITS SCIENTIFIC CREATION** **The Big Bang** The proponents of the theory were Alexander Friedman and Georges Lamaitre in 1920. All the matter and energy in the universe are crammed into a tiny compact point sometimes called singularity. The essential feature of the Big Bang theory is the notion that the universe appeared around 13.7 billion years ago a colossal exp SUPPORTING EVIDENCES FOR THE BIG BANG Galaxies moving away- 1924, Edwin Hubble found that stars are not uniformly distributed in space. Instead, they gather together, forming clusters called galaxies.  Presence of cosmic microwaves background (CMB)- 1960, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered a background radio emission coming from every direction in the sky Abundance of light elements - Elements like helium, hydrogen, with trace amounts of lithium and beryllium found in the observable universe agrees with the hypotheses of the big bang theory  **STEADY STATE THEORY** Proposed by Bondi, Gold, Hoyle in 1984. They proposed that the universe is unchanging in time space and direction. The Universe is expanding but maintaining it's own density. And matter is continously created while others also die. Perfect cosmological Principle- the universe is homogeneous and isotropic in space and time.  **INFLATION THEORY** Proposed by Alan Guth, Andrei Linde, Paul Steinhart and Andy Albrecht. This theory proposed a period of exponential expansion of the universe prior to the more gradual big bang expansion. **MINERALS AND ITS PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES** Minerals are present everywhere and some examples can be found at home. Example of these are: Hematite (hinges, handles, make-up color), Chromite (chrome plating, dyes), Copper (electric wiring), Quartz (clocks, mirrors), Gold (jewelries), Feldspar (porcelain, ceramics) and Fluoride (toothpaste). Because of its importance, we need to determine its physical and chemical properties. **PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS** Physical properties include habit, luster, cleavage and fracture, hardness, color, and streak. 1\. Crystal Habit -- refers to the overall shape or growth pattern of the mineral. It can be described as equant, elongate and platy. Equant -- three dimensions of the mineral have about the same length, like that of a cube or sphere. (ei. garnet) Elongate -- forms prismatic or prism-like crystals that are thicker than the needle as in a pencil. (ei. Indicolite) Platy -- looks like a flattened and thin crystal (like plate). (ei. Wulfenite) 2\. Luster - describes the appearance of a mineral when light is reflected from its surface. It can be described as opaque, transparent, dull, or shiny. *Metallic luster* is opaque and very reflective like gold and silver. *Nonmetallic luster* is dull, silky, greasy, and pearly like silicates. 3\. Cleavage and Fracture -- Cleavage refers to the tendency of minerals to break along very smooth, flat and shiny surfaces. It can be described as one, two, three, four or all direction. Types of cleavage: Perfect - Produces smooth surfaces (often seen as parallel sets of straight lines), e.g. mica; Imperfect - Produces planes that are not smooth, e.g. pyroxene; Poor- Less Regular Non-existent A mineral fracture may break along random, irregular surfaces. It can be classified as conchoidal, uneven, hackly, splintery, and earthy. Some minerals break only by fracturing, while others both cleave and fracture. Biotite and mica have one direction, orthoclase has two directions, galena has three directions and fluorite has four directions. Quartz has a conchoidal fracture while asbestos has a splintery fracture. Types of fracture Conchoidal - Fracture surface is a smooth curve, bowl-shaped (common in glass); Hackly -Fracture surface has sharp, jagged edges; Uneven - Fracture surface is rough and irregular; Fibrous - Fracture surface shows fibres or splinters. 4\. Hardness -- is a measure of the mineral's resistance to scratching. Harder minerals will scratch softer minerals. Friedrich Mohs in 1812 ranked minerals according to hardness as shown in Table 1. He selected ten minerals of distinctly different hardness that ranged from a very soft mineral (talc) to a very hard mineral (diamond). 5\. Color - is one of the most obvious properties of a mineral but not reliable alone. Some minerals come in just one color, while others come in many colors and varieties. Quartz varies widely in color, due to minor (parts per billion) impurities and even defects in its crystalline structure. 6\. Streak - refers to the color of the mineral in its powdered form, which may or may not be the same color as the mineral. According to Bayo-ang (2016) streak is obtained by scratching the mineral on an unpolished piece of white porcelain called a streak plate. When the excess powder is blown away, what remains is the color of the streak. Streak is a more reliable property than color as streak shows the true color of minerals. It does not vary even if color does. Additional Properties There are other properties of minerals. (https://fac.ksu.edu.sa/sites/default/files/geo\_221-unit-2\_0.pdf ) Magnetism - Some minerals are attracted to a hand magnet. To test a mineral for magnetism, just put the magnet and mineral together and see if they are attracted. Magnetite is the only common mineral that is always strongly magnetic. Striations -presence of very thin, parallel grooves. The grooves are present in only one of the two sets of cleavages and are best seen with a hand lens. They may not be visible on all parts of a cleavage surface. Before you decide if there are no striations, look at all parts of all visible cleavage surfaces, moving the sample around as you look wherein light is reflected from these surfaces at different angles. Specific Gravity - is the weight of that mineral divided by the weight of an equal volume of water. The specific gravity of water equals 1.0. Most silicate, or rock-forming, minerals have specific gravities of 2.6 to 3.4; the ore minerals are usually heavier, with specific gravities of 5 to 8. For most minerals, specific gravity is not a particularly noteworthy feature, but for some, high specific gravity is distinctive (examples are barite and galena). Taste, Odor, Feel -- Some minerals have distinctive taste (halite is salt, and tastes like it). Some give off a distinctive odor (the powder of some sulfide minerals, such as sphalerite, a zinc sulfide, smells like rotten eggs), and some have a distinctive feel (talc feels slippery). **A. Chemical Properties** Chemical properties of minerals show the presence and arrangement of atoms in minerals. Using their chemical properties, minerals are identified by how they react to certain substances. Some minerals, especially carbonate minerals, react visibly with acid. (Usually, a dilute hydrochloric acid \[HCl\] is used.) When a drop of dilute hydrochloric acid is placed on calcite, it readily bubbles or effervesces, releasing carbon dioxide. Some are toxic like cinnabar and soluble in water like halite. Metallic sulfide minerals form into sulfuric acid when exposed to air and water. Uranium and thorium containing minerals like Autunite (hydrated calcium uranium phosphate) and Thorianite (thorium dioxide) are radioactive. Metals like magnesium are flammable. Furthermore, Cuarto (2016) classified minerals according to their chemical composition using Dana System which divides minerals into eight basic classes. The classes are native elements, silicates, oxides, sulfides, sulfates, halides, carbonates, phosphates, and mineraloids. This classification shows the chemical composition of minerals. +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | | EXAMPLE | DESCRIPTION | +=======================+=======================+=======================+ | Native Elements | (Silver) | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Silicates |  | | | | | | | | (feldspar) | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Oxides | | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Sulfides | | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Sulfates |  | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Halides | | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Carbonates | | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Phosphates | | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Mineraloid | | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+