NS Study Notes

NS STUDY NOTES
THE EARTH AS A SYSTEM

Sphere of the Earth
 The lithosphere consists of solid rock and soil
 The hydrosphere consists of water in all its forms
 The atmosphere is a layer of gases around the earth
 The biosphere consists of all living plant and animals and their
interactions with rocks, soil, air, and water
LITHOSPHERE (lith means rock)
CONSISTS OF FOUR CONCENTRIC LAYERS
 Inner core
 Outer core
 Mantle
 Crust
HAS THREE LAYERS
 The solid outermost art of the mantle
 The crust
 The soil
NB Different combinations of element and compounds form the minerals we
mine from the earth
________________________________________________________________
THE ROCK CYCLE
 Natural continuous process in which rock form, broken down, and
reformed over long period of time
THREE TYPES OF ROCK
 Igneous
 Sedimentary
 Metamorphic
THE ROCK CYCLE CAN BE EXPLAINED IN THE FOLOWING STEPS:
1. magma pushes up through crust
2. Magma cools down slowly in crust, forms igneous rocks, like granite
3. This magma cools quickly to form igneous rocks like pumice stone
 Rocks on surface of earth are weathered by heat, cold, wind and water
forms smaller particles
 Wind and water transport these particles to flood plains and the sea by
erosion
STRATOSPHERE
 Layers extends from about 10 km to about 50 km above earth’s surface
 Air in stratosphere is very thin compared to air in the troposphere
 Stratosphere includes a band of ozone gas (O3), absorbs ultraviolet
radiation from sun
 Absorption of ultraviolet radiation increases temperature of
stratosphere – result, further away from earth, warmer air becomes
 Too much ultraviolet radiation interferes with on earth
MESOSPHERE
 Extends from about 50 – 80 km above earth surface
 Air extremely thin
 Still enough air in this layer to burn up small rocks and dust entering
form space
THERMOSPHERE
 Starts above 80 km from earth (slowly diminishes at about 350 km)
 Lowest part of thermosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation and
dangerous x ray from sun
THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT
 Natural phenomenon – its warms the atmosphere sufficiently to sustain
life
 Greenhouses gases trap the ultraviolet radiation, warms the air closest
to the surface of the earth ( like inside of the greenhouse)
MOST COMMON GREENHOUSE GASES
 Carbon dioxide
 Water vapour
 Methane
NB!!The more greenhouse gases lead to global warm
THE ROCK CYCLE
 Pressure of many layers turn lower layers into sedimentary rock like
sandstone
 Hot magma heats surrounding rock and changes its chemical structure
to from metamorphic rock like slate from shale or marble from
limestone
THE ATMOSPHERE
 Mixture of gases held around earth by gravity
THIS MIXTURE IS KNOWN AS AIR AND CONSISTS OF
 Nitrogen (78%)
 Oxygen (21%)
 Carbon dioxide (less than 1%), and
 Other gases, including water vapour
Density of gas particles decreases as the distance from the earth increases (the
further away from the earth, the thinner the air)/ the particle decreases as it
goes up
THE ATMOSPHERE
HAS FOUR LAYERS
 Troposphere
 Stratosphere
 Mesosphere
 Thermosphere
Each layer has a different temperature gradient how much the temperature
changes with height above sea level (altitude)
TROPOSPHERE
 Extends from sea level to about 10 km above surface of earth
 Contains more than 70% of the mass of the atmosphere( particles are
closer) has the greatest density
 The temperature decreases as the distance from the surface increases (
the further away from the earth, the colder the air)
 Weather happens in this layer
 All animals and plants live in this layer
THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT
 Climate change
 Rising sea levels
 Food shortages
 Mass extinctions
MINING
EXTRACTING ORE
 Extracting valuable minerals from lithosphere.
 Rock contains high concentrations of a valuable minerals, called an ore.
 The ore removed from crust by mining
 Some minerals used in their natural form, like sand. Potash, diamonds
TWO TYPES OF MINING
 Shaft
 Open cast
REFINING MINERALS
 Some other minerals require a chemical or physical process to extract
the required
 Iron from iron ore( chemical) or gold from golf ore (physical)
 Iron ore was heated with charcoal to make lumps of iron
 Modern processes mix coke (a form of carbon made from coal) and
other metals with iron to produce steel.
MINING IN SOUTH AFRICA
 There are large scale mining activity in South Africa
 Significant environmental impacts like
 Creation of mine dumps
 Pollution of water resources
 Damage to places with high tourist or cultural heritage value
 Loos of farming and wild life environment
THE STARS
THE BIRTH OF A STAR
 Exist for a finite period of time
 Stars from inside huge clouds of gases and dust called nebulae
 These nebulae( huge amounts of dust and gas) are pulled together by
gravity and slowly collapse
 As they contract they heat up
 Once temperature is high enough a nuclear fusion reaction begins, that
changes hydrogen to helium
 This reaction radiates large amounts of energy into space
LIFE OF A STAR
 Stars that look blue are hotter and usually younger than stars appear red
 Our Sun is about half way through its life cycle – it is a medium – sized
yellow star with a lifespan of about 9 billion years
 Stars change hydrogen( endure) and helium( cession)
DEATH OF A STAR
 Some point the nuclear reaction runs out of fuel
 For stars like the Sun, called a white dwarf
 For stars like the Sun., the outer gases of the star are ejected into space,
where they form an expanding cloud around the white dwarf called a
planetary nebulae.

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THE EARTH AS A SYSTEM

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