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EARTH

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introduction

  • It is the 3rd planet from the Sun

  • Only has one satellite called moon

  • It orbits around the Sun in 365.265 days in a period known as "SIDEREAL YEAR"

  • tilted at 23 degrees from its axis

four spheres of the earth:

GEOSPHERE

  • Comes from the Greek word for "Ground"
  • Acts as the skeleton of our planet
  • Made up of rocks, minerals and all other land forms
  • Consists of only non-living things

BIOSPHERE

  • Comes from the Greek word for "Life"
  • Made up of many different biomes (tundra or desert)
  • Consists of only living things

HYDROSPHERE

  • Comes from the Greek word for "Water"
  • Made up of all water on Earth including oceans, lakes, rivers and glaciers

ATMOSPHERE

  • Comes from the Greek word for "Air"
  • Contains all the gases on our planet
  • Composed of five protecting layers

GEOSPHERE

INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH

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core

It consists mostly of iron where the outer part is molten (outer core), the inner core which is solid​

MANTLE

It is the largest zone and is mainly made up of iron, magnesium, silicon and oxygen combined in varying proportions 

crust

OCEANIC CRUST. Forms the seafloor and has a composition somewhat like that of a mantle but more on silicon
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CONTINENTAL CRUST. It thicker and less dense compared to oceanic crust. It rises above the oceans and contains more light minerals rich in calcium, sodium, potassium and aluminum.
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THE LITHOSPHERE

  • composed of crust and upper mantle
  • it is strong and rigid
  • it supports all life on Earth
  • cracks into different size and shapes called Plates
  • separated from Asthenosphere by 1300 degree Celsius

3 TYPES OF PLATES

CONVERGENT PLATES

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Two plates collide

divergent plates

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Two plates move apart from each other

transform PLATES

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Two plates slide with each other

EARTHQUAKES

Generally represent a release of built-up stress in the lithosphere. They occur along the faults (crack in the plates).
CAUSE: tectonics and faults
MAGNITUDE: energy and intensity
EARTHQUAKE GEOGRAPHY
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SEISMIC HAZARDS: shaking, etc.  
RECURRENCE: frequency and regularity
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LOCATING THE EPICENTER

  • can be located using seismic body waves 
  • surface and body waves can both be detected using Seismograph

do it by hand!

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magnitude

It is the amount of energy released during an earthquake. Richter Magnitude Scale is used to determine the magnitude.

intensity

It is the measure of the earthquake's effects on humans and on surface features.

HYDROSPHERE

THE EARTH'S WATER

  • 70% of the Earth's surface is covered in water and 30% is land
  • In that 70%, 97.2% is found in the oceans and leaves only 2.8% of the Earth's water as fresh water.
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TYPES OF WATER IN HYDROSPHERE

salt water

-contains 97% of all water on Earth; also responsible for weather, redistribution of energy

fresh water

-includes polar ice caps, glaciers, lakes, streams, ground water and soil water

Brackish water

--water whose salinity is intermediate between that of fresh water and salt water

THE WATER CYCLE

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accumulation

-the process in which water pools in large bodies like oceans, seas, and lakes 

condensation

-the process in which water vapor in the air turns into liquid water and forms clouds in the sky

run off

-the draining away of water (substances carried in it) from the surface of an area

accumulation

-the process in which a liquid water becomes water vapor from the surfaces of oceans, land and melts in snow fields

condensation

-the process in which water (in the form of rain, snow, sleet or hail) falls from the clouds in the sky

transpiration

-the process in which some water within plants evaporates into the atmosphere

extra facts!

HYDROSPHERE DISTRIBUTION

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biosphere

LIVING & NON-LIVING COMPONENTS

BIOTIC FACTORS

  • living components in the biosphere
  • biotic means "relating or resulting from living things"
  • examples: plants, fungi, protists and bacteria 

aBIOTIC FACTORS

  • non-living components in the biosphere
  • examples: environmental factors such as habitat and weather such as temperature, cloud cover, rain, snow, hurricane, etc.

INTERACTION OF LIVING & NON-LIVING THINGS

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  • Biotic and abiotic factors combine to create an ecosystem.
  • Ecosystem is a community of living and non-living things
  • The hydrosphere is important to biosphere to sustain all life
  • SUN is the ultimate source of light and heat necessary to maintain all life on Earth, the source of energy
  • If a single factor is changed, the whole system could be altered
  • Example:  human can alter environments through farming or irrigating

FOOD CHAIN AND FOOD WEB

FOOD CHAIN

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FOOD CHAIN. It only follows one path as animals find food. For example, a hawk eats a snake which has eaten a frog, which has eaten a grasshopper, which has eaten a grass.

food web

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FOOD WEB. It consists of many food chains. 

TYPES OF CONSUMERS

primary producers

These are organisms that make their own food from sunlight or chemical energy from deep sea vents. They are also called as AUTOTROPHS. 

primary CONSUMERS

These are animals that eat primary producers and are often called HERBIVORES.

SECONDARY CONSUMERS

These organisms eat primary consumers and are often called as CARNIVORES (meat-eaters) and as OMNIVORES (eat both animals and plants)

tertiary consumers

These organisms eat secondary consumers. Examples of these organisms are the whales and dolphines.

Quaternary consumers

These organisms eat tertiary consumers. Food chains end with top predators, animals that have little or no natural enemies.
When an organism dies, it is eventually eaten by detrivores (vultures, worms and crabs) and are broken down by decomposers (bacteria and fungi), and the exchange of energy continues.

atmosphere

WHAT IS ATMOSPHERE?

  • mixture of gases that surrounds the Earth
  • contains the oxygen we need
  • protects us from the sun's UV rays
  • constantly changing
  • held around the Earth by gravity

WHAT IS IN ATMOSPHERE?

  • Liquid water (droplets)
  • Solid water (snow and ice)
  • Water vapor

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE

  • Gravity pulls gas molecules towards the surface of the earth causing air pressure
  • Air pressure is the measure of force with which air molecules push on a surface
  • Air temperature changes as altitude increases
  • Temperature changes as different gases absorb solar energy more than others.

LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

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TROPOSPHERE

It is the closest layer to Earth and is more dense. It contains almost all of the carbon dioxide, water vapor, air pollution and life forms. The different air temperatures and density causes gases to mix continuously.

stratOSPHERE

The gases are layered and do not mix very well. The air is very thin and contains little moisture. Temperature rises as the altitude increases because the ozone absorbs UV radiation from the Sun.

mesOSPHERE

The middle layer and the coldest layer. Here, the temperature decreases as altitude increases.

thermoSPHERE

Particles do not often collide in this layer since it is less dense. Temperature rises as altitude increases. It includes the ionosphere, which contains electrically charged ions that radiates energy in the polar regions as shimmering lights called Auroras.

exoSPHERE

The very thin layer where atoms and molecules "escape or exit" into space.
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