Earth and life science hand outs

Goldilocks zone

 Habitable zone

 The area around a star where it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the
surfaces of surrounding planets

 The range of distance with the right temperatures for water to remain liquid

Two types of planets

1. Terrestrial planets-rocky planet (mercury, venus, earth, mars)

2. Juvian plants- gaseous planets ( jupiter, saturn, neptune , uranus)

Planet earth

 Only habitable planet know in the solar system that can support life

Factors that can support life

1. Temperature

 Influences how quickly atoms and molecules move

 Allows liquid water to exist on the surface that is favorable to life

2. Water

 Dissolves and transports chemicals within, to and from all cells

 The existence of water in three phases is very essentials to our diverse ecosystem

3. Atmosphere
Traps heat, shields the surface from harmful radiation and provides chemicals needed for life
regulates the balance of water, oxygen and carbon dioxide
4. Energy from the sun/sunlight
Light or chemical energy is used by organisms to run their life processes such as the process of
photosynthesis
5. Nutrients

 Used to build and maintain an organisms body

THE EARTHS’ SUBSYSTEM

ATMOSPHERE

 THE THIN GASEOUS LAYER THAT ENVELOPES THE GEOSPHERE

  ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PROCESSES BY WHICH THE HEAT ON THE EARTHS’ SURFACE IS
REDISTRIBUTED THROUGH ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION (THE MOVEMENT OF AIR AROUND THE
PLANET)

 serves as the Earth’s blanket. Its name rooted from the Greek word atmos which means gas and
sphaira of gases in varying amount and its relative abundance is also crucial in different parts of
the earth.

 The air in the atmosphere is generally composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon and
the remaining 0.10% is made up of different trace gases and vapor.

 It serves as the Earth’s protection form harmful UV rays and keeps the planet warm through
greenhouse gasses. Atmosphere is affected by the Earth’s gravity, so this is the reason why as
the altitude increases the amount of gases in the atmosphere decreases. which means globe or
ball. It is composed

LAYERS OF THE ATMOSHERE

1. TROPOSPHERE- LOWERMOST ATMOSPHERIC LAYER

HOLDS THE AIR PLANTS AND ANIMALS NEED

EARTHS’ WEATHER OCCURS IN THIS LAYER

ATMOSPHERIC LAYER DUE TO COMPRESSION FROM UPPER LAYERS

2. STRATOSPHERE- LOWER STRATOSPHERE EXPERIENCES LESS TURBULENT AIR DUE TO REDUCED

CONVECTION

COMMERCIAL PASSENGER AIRCRAFT FLY

OZONE LAYER ABSORBS AND PROTECTS THE EARTH FROM UV RADIATION

3. MESOSPHERE- METEORS BURN UP WHEN THEY ENTER THIS LAYER DUE TO THE SPEED OF
TRAVEL AND THE INCREASED PRESENCE OF GAS CREATING FRICTION AND HEAT, COLDEST
ATMOSPHERIC LAYER

4. IONOSPHERE- WITHIN PARTS OF THE MESOPSHERE AND THERMOSPHERE ARE STRETCHES OF

ENERGY ELECTRONS AND IONIZED ATOMS, AURORAS ARE CREATED HERE

5. THERMOSPHERE- THIS LAYER IS VERY ACTIVE, SWELLING AND SHRINKING IN RESPONSE TO

VARYING LEVELS OF SOLAR RADIATION, HOME TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION AND
OTHER LOW-EARTH-ORBIT SATELLITES

6. EXOSPHERE- OUTERMOST LAYER WHERE MOST SATELLITES ORBIT

DENOTES THE END OF OUR ATMOSPHERE AND THE BEGINNING OF OUTERSPACE

 Rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals sometime with
nonmineral solid particles.

Classification of Rocks

Igneous rocks or magmatic rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification
of magma or lava. Igneous rock can be classified into:

Intrusive igneous rocks. This type of

igneous rock is formed from
solidification of magma below the
surface They have large crystals of
minerals that formed over time through
the slow process of crystallization in a
magma. Granite, diorite,
gabbro,
pegmatite, and peridotite are examples
of this type of rock.
Granite rock(own photo)

Extrusive igneous rocks. This type of

igneous rock is formed through a faster rate
of solidification of lava on the surface of
Earth. They can become glassy in appearance due to less crystallization or
vesicular like Scoria, due to the air that was trapped inside when they
solidified and formed on the surface of the earth. Other examples of this type
of rock are andesite, basalt, dacite, obsidian, pumice, Scoria (own
photo) rhyolite, and tuff.

Sedimentary rock is formed by the deposition and cementation of mineral or

organic particles on the floor of oceans and other bodies of water at the Earth’s
surface. Sedimentary rocks can be
classified into clastic, chemical, and
organic.

Clastic sedimentary rock. It is formed

Sandstone (own photo) from the mechanical weathering debris of
rocks. Examples are breccia, conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and
shale.

Chemical sedimentary rock. It is

formed when dissolved materials
precipitate from
the solution. Examples of these are rock
salt, iron ore, chert, flint, some dolomites.

Organic sedimentary rock. It is formed from the build-up of plant or

animal debris. Examples of this type are coal and fossiliferous limestone.

Metamorphic rock forms from existing rock types called “parent rock” in the
process called metamorphism, which means a change in form. The original rock
which can be an igneous, sedimentary, or another metamorphic rock is subjected
to heat and pressure, causing a profound chemical or physical change.
Metamorphic rocks can be classified into:

Foliated metamorphic rock. It is

formed through pressure due to
compression of rocks that create bands
called foliation. Examples are gneiss,
phyllite, schist, and slate.

Non-foliated metamorphic rocks. It

has no
foliation
or
Marble (own photo) bands.
Examples of this type are hornfels,
marble, quartzite, and novaculite.
Minerals are important component of the Earth’s lithosphere. They are naturally occurring materials
that play a significant role in human civilization. This module will give you clear understanding of the
physical and chemical properties of minerals.

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.

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. 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.

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).

Table 1

Moh’s Scale of Hardness

Scale Mineral

1 Talc

2 Gypsum

2.5 Fingernail

3 Calcite

3.5 Copper penny

4 Fluorite

5 Apatite

5.5 Steel knife blade/glass plate

6 Orthoclase feldspar
 7 Quartz

8 Topaz

9 Corundum (ruby)

10 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).
LAST TOPIC: STUDY

1.ENDOGENIC PROCESS
2. EXOGENIC PROCESS
3. WEATHERING
4. MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL WEATHERING
5. TYPES OF MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL WEATHERING
6. MASS WASTING
7. EROSION
8. AGGRADATION
9. DEGRADATION
10. AGENTS OF EROSION