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Part 1
Universe, Solar System, Earth
LEARNING SCIENCE
Part 1
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU CENTRE FOR ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, BANGALORE - 560 064.
Preface
Science has become a part of our lives. Applications of science have provided us many benefits, and a better quality of life. The world today uses a language which has a lot of science in it. Without knowing, we use many words and phrases derived from science. We are also becoming conscious of our environment as well as our economy. Science has much to do with both these aspects. It is, therefore, important to learn the language of science. Children and adults alike have to know the rudiments of science and must be able to use the language of science where necessary. They must be able to apply the lessons learnt from science in daily life. It is for this purpose that we have produced a book entitled Learning Science in four parts. The book has the following four parts: Part1: Part2: Part3: Part4: Universe, Solar System, Earth The world of physics and energy - Learning physical principles The world of chemistry: Of molecules and materials, Air around us, All about Water. Biology and life
It describes various aspects of science in simple language. It is hoped that this will be useful to school children as supplementary reading material and to all others who want to learn science and partake in the excitement of this experience. Bangalore 2005
CONTENTS
Preface 1. Understanding the Universe
Objectives What is the universe? Light-Year Stars Constellations
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Objectives
In this module, we get a brief introduction to the Universe. The iron in our blood, the carbon in sugar and the oxygen in water are all from the dust created in the explosion of stars millions of years ago. In a sense, we are all children of the heavens.
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You also see some familiar stars and constellations. The stars, however, remain unchanged.
Second stage of the journey, ~1.6 x 109 km into space. Now you can see Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars close to the sun. They look bigger than they actually are. The stars do not show any change in size or position.
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Deeper into space 1.6 x 1011 km into space. You are 25 times farther from the sun than Pluto, the planet farthest from the sun. You can see all the planets. The sun looks prominent and the earth looks small. You can see the Milky Way clearly.
Now you are very far into space. The distance from the earth can no longer be measured in kilometres. It has to be measured in light-years. One light-year = 9.41 x 10 10 kilometres. You are 16 lightyears into space. The Milky Way dominates your view. The sun and the planets look tiny. You can see some stars which are close to the sun shining brightly.
1.6 million light-years into intergalactic space. Our sun is just a speck. It is almost lost in the group of millions of other stars. You can see many new clusters of stars that you cannot see from the earth.
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As you continue on your imaginary journey through inter galactic space, the view from your spacecraft may look like this. All things from microscopic particles to the biggest galaxies are part of the universe.
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Hydrogen and helium formed gas pockets at random. In these pockets protogalaxies began to form. Between one and two billion years after the Big Bang, the proto-galaxies gave birth to galaxies, stars and other members of the universe.
However, towards the end of the 1920s, Edwin P. Hubble showed that, the galaxies were moving away from each other and moving in all directions. That is, the universe is expanding all the time in all directions.
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Hubble made his second major discovery - In 1927 - that the galaxies he observed were moving away from our galaxy. In 1929 - the universe was expanding. Hubble received many honours for his outstanding contributions to astronomy. The most advanced telescope to study intergalactic world is named after him.
Measuring distances
A B We can measure the distance between A and B in centimetres (or inches). We can measure the distance in metres (or feet) as in swimming or athletics.
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The distance between two cities or continents is measured in kilometres (or in miles). Each unit of measurement has a specific use. For example, we do not measure the distance between A and B in kilometres or the distance between New Delhi and London in centimetres.
To measure this distance, therefore, scientists have found a method of using light rays that come from the stars or any celestial object in the sky.
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~ 150,000,000 km
What is the distance covered by the light rays (from the sun) in a second?
What is a light-year?
A ray of light from any celestial object covers 9.41 x 1010 km in a year. This distance is called the light-year. The lightyear is the unit used to measure the distance between celestial objects in the sky and the earth. Proxima Centauri is the next nearest star from the earth. It is 4.2 light-years from us.
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Stars
This is how the night sky might look on a clear moonless night. Hundreds of stars twinkling in the night sky. If you observe carefully, you can see some bright objects not twinkling at all. These are the planets. Our earth is also a part of the starlit sky. If we were to look at the night sky from the moon or Mars, the earth would not be twinkling.
Planets
Ancient sky-watchers or astronomers noticed that stars that did not twinkle wandered through the sky. They called these stars, wanderers or planets (Greek word).
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They named them after their gods - Venus, Jupiter, Mars. According to them, the sun and the moon were also planets! Now we know better. Planets shine steadily. They do not have light of their own. They merely reflect suns light. They do not twinkle, because their flat discs reflect a lot of light. We can view the surface of a planet through a telescope. On a cloudless new moon night, we can see a faint band of white light glimmering across the sky. This band consists of millions and millions of stars. The stars appear in groups or clusters. Group or clusters of stars are called galaxies. The white band of stars seen across the sky is the Milky Way galaxy. Our sun is in its outer arm.
Galaxies
Galaxies are systems or families containing millions of stars. In addition to stars, galaxies also contain cosmic dust and gases. Sir William Herschel, the famous 18th century astronomer, called them islands in the sky. There are millions of galaxies in the universe. Galaxies are millions of lightyears apart from each other. There is vast empty space between them.
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size and
number of stars.
Depending on the shape, galaxies are classified as: Spiral galaxy, Elliptical galaxy. The classification is called Hubble classification, named after the famous astronomer Hubble. Have you heard of the Hubble telescope?
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You must have wondered about the twinkling stars in the sky. Remember the nursery rhyme, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Remember the story of Dhruva? It is now known that stars are actually made up of hot gases - mostly hydrogen and helium. Hydrogen is being continuously changed to helium in the stars. The stars glow due to enormous heat and light energy produced by this reaction.
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Brightness of stars
Strike a match and hold it close to your eye. It blinds you as if you are looking at a powerful light. It is the same with the stars. The brightness of a star depends on its shape, temperature and most importantly its distance from the earth. The stars that appear merely as faint points of light may be actually bright, but appear faint because of the distance.
Colours of stars
All stars do not have the same colour. Some are reddish, some yellowish and some are whitish or bluish white. The colours indicate the temperature of the stars. When we heat a metal bar, it first turns red, then orange, then yellow and finally white. The range of colours of stars also follow the same pattern. Red stars are the coolest and bluish white stars are the hottest. Our sun is a yellow star.
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Do stars die?
Anything that is born has to die after completing its life cycle. Some insects die within a day of being born.
Redwood trees live for hundreds of years. An elephants average life span is about 70 years . Human life span is approximately 100 years. A star too has its own life cycle, but it spans billions of years. At the end of its life cycle, the beautiful twinkling star loses all its light and heat, and becomes a cold black dwarf in the sky. Our sun is a middle aged star.
Constellations
Some star groups form recognisable patterns. During the course of the night, they appear to change their positions in the sky. But the stars forming the pattern remain together. The star forming patterns in the sky are called constellations. There are altogether 88 constellations. Our ancestors were great sky-watchers. They noticed patterns in the sky and gave names to them. There is a group of stars occupying a fairly large patch of the sky. This is the well known constellation Ursa Major or the Great Bear. The Big Dipper is a part of this constellation.
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There are seven prominent stars forming the tail and the back of the Great Bear. Join these stars with imaginary lines. You can see the shape of a pan with a handle. This is called the Big dipper or the Plough . It is also called the Saptarishi or the Seven Sages. The last two stars in the pan of the Big Dipper are called the Pointers.
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The polestar
The polestar always appears in the same position in the night sky. Different stars have occupied the polestar position during different periods of time. The change of stars takes place once in ~ 2,400 years! The polestar now is Polaris. The next one will be Vega. The polestar is also known as Dhruva Nakshatra.
Orion
The constellation Orion has also been known to sky-watchers since prehistoric times. Orion has some of the brightest stars. Orion is called the Hunter with the unbreakable club. Orion is easily recognised with its belt of three bright stars and the bright stars of the Sword. Orion is visible clearly during winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
This constellation is visible more clearly in the southern sky. It occupies nearly one-fourth of the sky. It stretches from Gemini to the south of Virgo.
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It is long and winding. No wonder then, it looked like a serpent to our ancestors. January to February is the best time to view this constellation.
Legend of Hydra
According to Greek mythology, Hydra was a nineheaded sea monster serpent (much like Kalinga in the Hindu mythology?). It was dreaded as it had the unique power to grow back a severed head. In the end, Hercules killed Hydra with the help of Iolas. Iolas cauterised the neck of the severed head with a hot iron.
Southern Cross nestles at the feet of Centaurus. Sailors used the position of the Southern Cross to know their location.
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Objectives
In this module, we learn about the sun and the planets. In the entire solar system, it is only on earth we find diversity in life. The sun is responsible for the diversity and evolution of life. We depend so much on the sun, that it is important that we know something about the solar system.
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The sun is only one of the millions of stars moving through space. Yet, what makes this average star special?
It is the only star known to have a family of its own. Wherever the sun goes in the celestial sky, its family follows it.
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According to an earlier theory, astronomers believed that long ago, a star passed very close to our sun. The star and our sun nearly collided.
As a result, large quantities of various materials were thrown off into space. After a long time, these materials formed the planets. The sun held the planets in place. This theory has serious drawbacks. According to modern astronomy, the solar system was formed from a slowly spinning cloud of gas and dust. Gradually, the cloud began to spin faster and faster. This formed a large spinning disk about the size of the solar system - with a large spinning whirl at the centre and smaller whirls surrounding it at various distances.
The huge and heavy centre became hot enough to start the thermonuclear reaction. As a result, the centre began to glow and became our sun. Modern astronomers believe that everything in the solar system has the same source material.
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Planets or wanderers
The smaller whirls attracted more and more particles from the cloud of dust and gases and grew in size. They were like snowballs rolling down a snow-covered mountain. Finally, they formed the nine planets at varying distances from the sun.
The four planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are closer to the sun. They are called the inner planets and the other five planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are called the outer planets. The planets are independent of each other and they move in their own respective paths or orbits around the sun.
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The Moons
The moons are the natural satellites revolving around the planets in the solar system. Except Mercury and Venus, all the other planets have moons. While the Earth and Pluto have one moon each, Uranus has 15, Jupiter 16, and Saturn 18. The size and composition of the moons vary. Some moons are only a few kilometres in diameter, while others are larger than the planet Mercury. While the earths moon is rocky, Saturns Enceladus is ~ 50% ice. Satellites, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto of Jupiter are Galilean moons. They were discovered by Galileo in 1610.
Asteroids
Asteroids are too small and too far from the earth to be seen without a telescope, Even through a telescope, they look like faint stars. Guiseppe Piazzi, an Italian astronomer, discovered the first asteroid. He called it Ceres after the Roman goddess of agriculture. It is the biggest asteroid and yet it takes 5000 Cereses to balance the earth in a gigantic balance!
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A comet has no light of its own. Its light is entirely reflected sunlight. Comets do not streak across the sky. Even though they travel at great speed, they stay visible in the sky for weeks as they are far away from us. Comets return to view at regular intervals. Edmund Halley, of England was the first to observe this phenomenon. Halleys comet is the most famous comet. It visits the earth once in 76 years. Its most recent visit was in 1986. Halleys comet was first observed in 240 BC by Chinese astronomers. Hale-Bopp is the brightest comet that was seen in the 20th century. It was discovered in 1997 by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp of USA.
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Let go of the string. What do you notice? The stone flies off. As long as you were holding the string, the stone was moving in a circle.
by the suns gravitational force. This balance of forces keeps the members of the solar family in place. Sitting in the centre, the sun perhaps keeps an eye on them!
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Main sequence
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Based on the surface temperature of the sun, it is classified as a yellow star which is in the middle of its main sequence.
On earth, all the water in the oceans could evaporate and form giant clouds of vapour.
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itself loses all the heat and light to become a black dwarf. This is the last stage in the life cycle of the sun.
Galileo
Galileo discovered that the surface of the moon was not smooth. that the Milky Way consisted of millions of stars. that Venus also had phases. the rotation of the sun. the sunspots covering the face of the sun. the moons of Jupiter. Galileo was the first to actually see the moons of Jupiter when he focussed his telescope on Jupiter in 1610. He also saw the rings around Saturn. He discovered all these by looking through his telescope night after night!!
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Sunspots
Sunspots are the dark patches of different sizes and shapes that are seen on the photosphere of the sun. Galileo was one of the first to observe the sunspots through his telescope in the 17th century. The sunspots have two distinct parts the umbra or the dark core and the surrounding penumbra.
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Suns motions
Ask your friend, `Does the sun have motion? Your friend is likely to laugh and reply `Have you not seen the sun move across the sky from sunrise to sunset? The sun has two motions. They are: Rotation on its axis and Circular movement among its neighbouring stars and constellations. Its rotation period at its equator is 25 earth days and at its poles, it is 35 earth days. (1 earth day = 24 hours) The sun seems to be in a hurry to visit its friends, for, it travels at 250 km per sec. The sun does not move across the sky from sunrise to sunset.
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Sun
Jupiter
Pluto
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Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are relatively close to the sun. They are grouped together as terrestrial planets.
Mercury
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. It is difficult to spot mercury in the night sky as it is very close to the sun. Mercury is a small planet. Its mass is 0.055 (Earth = 1). Its surface temperature ranges from very cold to very hot (-1800C to 4300C). Mercury revolves fastest around the sun (47.9 km/s). It rotates slowly (58.65 earth days to complete one rotation). Its surface is scarred by craters. It has a huge iron core.
Terrestrial planets
Terrestrial means earth-like. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars - the terrestrial planets, are also called inner planets. Venus and Earth are about the same size. They are also called twin planets.
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They are so far away from the sun that they retain most of the volatile elements from the original cosmic cloud. Water seems to be frozen on their rocky cores.
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A day on a planet
A day is the time taken by a planet to complete one rotation Earth on its axis. Duration of a day is not the same on all planets. A day is shortest on Jupiter. It is a 10 hour day on Jupiter. It is difficult to know the duration Venus of a day on Venus because of its dense atmosphere. The smaller planets closer to the sun have longer days.
Jupiter
Each planet has its own day i.e. the time taken to complete one rotation. Still `a day of any planet is expressed in terms of the earth day (24 hour period). A day in a planet Planet Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto Duration of a day 88 earth days around 30 earth days 24 hours 15 m less than 10 hrs 10 hours 15 m 11 hours 16 hours 6 days and 9 hours
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Some lack an atmosphere while others are covered by an atmosphere that has little life-supporting gases. Life supporting soil and water (in liquid state) are not available in other planets.
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The distance of a planet from the sun: If the planet is too close to the sun, chemical compounds cannot remain stable. If it is too far from the sun, water will be frozen and chemical reactions cannot take place there. The size of a planet: If the planet is too small, its gravitational pull will not be enough to hold the atmosphere.
If the planet is too big, its gravitational pull holds a very thick layer of atmosphere. This dense atmosphere will not let solar energy reach the planet. Only the earth is at the ideal distance from the sun and has the ideal size to support life.
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You can either shout or clap your hands. As these sounds do not blend with the other sounds in the crowded room, you can catch your friends attention. Likewise, a signal from an alien from another world may be a sound that is different from any other earth sound or may be, he/she will send a photo image! digital of course.
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But according to knowledge available then, there was no planet in the position of 24 and 192. Later, astronomers found asteroids in the position of 24 and in 1781, they discovered Uranus in the position of 192. Only Neptune and Plutos distances did not conform to Bodes law. Even though modern astronomers may consider Bodes law as a coincidence, this law is one of the profound statements about the laws of nature.
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The eccentricity of the orbit of Pluto is the greatest. (It is elliptical.) In the solar system, the orbits of comets are most eccentric.
Density of planets
The main difference between the gaseous giant planets and the inner planets is in their densities. Density of a substance tells us how tightly the matter in a body is packed.
mass of the substance volume of the substance Density of water is taken as the standard to measure the density of a substance. Density of a substance = Mercury Venus Earth Mars 5.4 5.2 5.5 3.9 Density of planets Jupiter 1.3 (mass = 318e) Saturn 0.7 (mass = 95e) Uranus 1.3 (mass = 14.5e) Neptune 1.8 (mass = 17.2e) Density of Pluto = 2.1(?)
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If it did not move at this great speed, the tremendous gravitational attraction of the sun would have pulled the planet towards its centre. What would have happened?
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It gives this warning to us: If we do not mend our irresponsible ways, our planet also will hurtle towards the same fate.
Oxygen
CO2
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The red spot is actually a huge storm between two rising belts. It gets its red colour from a chemical in the lower atmosphere. This chemical rises with the rising air currents and turns red in sunlight. The red spot rotates in an anticlockwise direction. Its period of rotation is six earth days. How many hours does it take to complete one rotation?
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Jupiter
318 1,316 30,0000K 100 million earth atmospheres
Volume
(Earth as standard)
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However, unlike the sun, Jupiter and Saturn do not give heat and light to their satellites. The sun is the source of heat and light of these satellites also.
Astronomers give many explanations to the strange inclination of Uranuss axis. According to one of the explanations, when Uranus was being formed, a round object, an intruder from space, hit the young planet near one of its poles. The force of this collision turned Uranus on its side and the intruding object broke into pieces of rock and ice. The pieces of rocks, clouds of steam and gases began to orbit around the plane of Uranuss equator. Gradually, these became the planets, rings and satellites.
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Astronomers believe that after the main planets were formed, the remaining small bits came together and became moons. They became the satellite of the planets which held them by their gravitational attraction. All moons are not the same. Let us look at some unusual moons.
Io
Europa
Callisto
Gyanmede
The Galilean moons of Jupiter are Io, Europa, Callisto and Gyanmede. There are at least 10 volcanoes on Io. The volcanoes on Io spew out liquid sulfur and silicate rocks. What is the difference between volcanic eruption on the earth and on Io?
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Titan is the biggest satellite of Saturn. There is atmosphere only in this satellite in the entire solar system. Its atmosphere consists mostly of nitrogen and traces of methane. As the satellite is far away from the sun, methane is in liquid form.
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Objectives
What is unique about our planet? forms the theme of this module. The rock and minerals, the motions of the earth and the seasons are explored in this module.
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Yet, this is the only member of the vast universe to have life.
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The ancient Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Indians and the Chinese had their own ideas about the shape of the earth.
The turtle, the elephants and the serpent: The Indian idea of the earth
According to one idea, the earth was held up by elephants. The elephants stood on a turtle. The turtle was one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, the supreme God. The turtle rested on a cobra with its tail in its mouth. As the cobra symbolised water, the earth was surrounded by water. Whenever the elephants shifted their legs, earthquakes took place.
The circular disc, the mountain and the travelling sun - the Chinese idea
The earth was a circular disc with the ocean surrounding it. There was a great mountain in the centre of the circular disc (the earth). Once a day, the sun went round the mountain going behind the western side of the mountain in the evening. After travelling behind the mountain throughout the night, the sun came out on the eastern side in the morning.
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Vanguard I in 1958 confirmed that the earths bulge is: not uniform. not exactly at the equator. slightly more at some places in the southern hemisphere and at the north pole Nearly 4.6 billion years after the earth was formed, we finally know the shape of the earth.
radius 5 cm, 35 cm and 110 cm on the paper. Compare the curvatures of the arcs of the three circles. What can you conclude? The biggest arc is curved least. It is for the same reason that the round earth appears flat. If you want to draw the arc of the earths surface, you will need a string ~6400 km long!
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Gravitational force
Do you know the story of Newton and falling apple? London was hit by the plague epidemic. So, Newton went to a quiet village. While sitting under a apple tree, an apple fell on his head. He wondered why the apple fell down? Working on this problem, Newton gave the Law of gravitation . Gravitational force is the force of attraction between objects. All things big and small, including the tiniest dust particle or atom in the universe, experience this force. The strength of this force depends upon the weight of the object- the heavier the object, the stronger is the force.
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Why dont we fall off the sides and bottom of a round earth?
The reasons for us not falling off the round earth into space are: there is no top or bottom or sides of the earth. Everything that we see on earth is on its outside, or the surface. all objects on the surface are attracted towards the inside or the centre of the earth. this force, or the earths gravity, holds all things on the outside or on the surface of the earth, and prevents them from falling off.
Why do things weigh a little more at the poles than at the equator?
Gravitational force decreases as the distance from the centre of gravity increases. Remember! Weight of a body = mass x acceleration due to gravity; W=mxg The earth is not a perfect sphere. It is slightly flattened at the poles. Therefore, the poles are slightly closer to the centre of the earth. As a result, a person weighs slightly more at the poles. Armstrong, the first man to land on the moon, weighed on the moon 1/6th his weight on earth. Why? Can we escape from the grip of earths gravity? We can do this, provided we are prepared to live in a spaceship beyond the reach of earths gravity. Why are the astronauts attached to the spaceship by a long rope when they carry out repairs outside the spaceship?
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It is strange but true that we know little about what lies beneath our feet.
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layers of the earth to its centre and get samples. It is, therefore, not possible to get direct evidence. We can only have indirect evidence.
What is an earthquake?
An earthquake is the shaking of the ground under your feet. This is caused by the sudden release of energy stored in the rocks. This energy is released in the form of waves. They are called seismic waves. The place where an earthquake originates is called the focus and the point directly above the focus (on the earths surface) is called the epicentre. An earthquake can be felt when it occurs just a few kilometres below the earths surface. Ground surface Epicentre
Focus
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S wave or the secondary wave - This wave can travel only through solids. Their speed is approximately half the speed of the P waves. L waves or the surface waves - These waves move only on the surface. They are slower than the P and S waves. The earthquake waves start from the focus of the earthquake and reach the earths surface.
L - waves
S - waves
P - waves
S - waves
Tsunami
Tsunami literally means harbour wave in Japanese language. It is also called seismic sea wave. This is one of the most catastrophic natural disasters. It is caused by an underwater earthquake occurring less than 50 kilometres below the seafloor. This takes place due to two tectonic plates either converging or one plate slipping under another plate. The magnitude of the earthquake has to be greater than 5.5 on the Richter scale for the tsunami waves to be generated. Coastal or underwater landslide or underwater volcanic eruption may also cause a tsunami.
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Tsunami is a more catastrophic disaster as its destructive force can be felt in coastal regions thousands of kilometres away from the epicentre of the underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption. Immediately after the earthquake, a train of waves travel over great distances at the ocean surface in ever- widening circles. This can be compared to the waves produced by a pebble thrown into a shallow pool of water. As the tsunami waves approach the continental coasts or coasts of islands, increasingly shallow seafloor reduces the velocity of the waves. This in turn makes the coastal water rise as high as 30 m in 10 to 15 minutes and giant waves come crashing inland. The effects of the tsunami waves depends upon the bottom topography near the shore and nature of the coast. As result, their effects vary widely from place to place. Often, the first sign of the arrival of a tsunami at a coast is the water receding and exposing the shallow seafloor. Lisbon, Portugal witnessed such a phenomenon on November 1, 1755. This unusual event attracted many curious people to the bay; many were swept away by the tsunami wave that arrived only minutes later. Tsunami that struck Awa in Japan killed more than 100,000. As tsunamis are common in the Pacific Ocean, a tsunami early warning system has been put in place there. The most catastrophic tsunami occurred on the morning of 26 December 2004. This was caused by an underwater earthquake measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Within minutes it devastated Aceh, Sumatra, and moved with great speed and hit Thailand, Car Nicobar, Nicobar and Andaman Islands, India in the Bay of Bengal, southern part of the Tamil Nadu coast on the mainland and eastern and southern coasts of Sri Lanka. More than 220,000 people died in Indonesia alone. India and Sri Lanka also suffered casualties in tens of thousands. Tsunami was not known to strike the coasts in the Indian Ocean and The Bay of Bengal. Here
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also, as in Lisbon, many paid with their lives when curiosity drew them to the beaches. The tsunami of 26 December 2004 is perhaps the greatest human tragedy as it killed nearly 300,000 people and destroyed the coastal regions of the affected countries.
The earth has four layers. The crust is the topmost layer. It is found both under the continents and the oceans. The mantle is found between the crust Outer core and the core. It stretches from ~40 km to Inner core ~2900 km. The outer core is in a molten state. This contains mostly iron and nickel. The inner core stretches from a depth of ~5200 km to ~6400 km.
Comparative distribution of the elements in the earth as a whole and in the earths crust
Percentage of minerals in the whole of the solid earth Iron Oxygen Silicon Magnesium Nickel * 13% 2.4% Others 35% 30% 15% * Sulfur 1.9% Calcium 1.1% Aluminium 1.1% Rest < 1%
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Percentage of minerals in the earths crust Al Iron Mg * Oxygen Silicon 8% 6% 4% Others 46% 28% * Calcium 2.4% Potassium 2.3% Sodium 2.1% Rest < 1% ~ 82 % of the crust is made up of just three elements - oxygen, silicon and aluminium. Oxygen occurs only in combination with other elements in the solid part of the earth. Most of the 35% of iron is found in the core. Evolution of the earth is the result of the internal and the external heat engines simultaneously driving the earth.
Water cycle
Weathering
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Earths atmosphere, oceans and the continents evolved as result of the effects of the external heat and the internal heat acting upon the primitive earth.
Atmosphere
Most earth scientists believe that the atmosphere was also formed when the primitive earth began to cool. As the molten rocky mass of the infant earth cooled, the lightest and the most volatile substances escaped as gases from the earths interior. These gases formed the atmosphere. The composition of the early or primitive atmosphere was very different from the composition of the atmosphere now. Sunlight and plants were mainly responsible for the change in the composition of gases in the earths atmosphere.
Formation of continents
Scientists believe that the formation of the continents started when the magma started coming to the earths surface. On reaching the earths surface, the molten rock material slowly cooled and solidified and formed the earths crust. Here also, the heavier materials sank to the bottom and lighter materials floated to the top. The lighter crust was decomposed and broken into fragments by forces of nature. These fragments were deposited in layers at various sites to form different landforms of the primitive continents.
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As the earth cooled, steam escaped from the interior and entered the atmosphere. Gradually, it cooled and formed clouds. At first, the clouds brought incessant rains. The rain water filled the basins for tens of thousands of years and eventually a super ocean was formed.
Crustal plates
Earths crust is made up of many smaller pieces called crustal plates. These are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The crustal plates ride or float over the soft layer of the mantle. The crustal plates are in constant motion. They come together (convergent movement), move apart (divergent movement) and slide under (subsidence). Movement of the crustal plates (or plate tectonics) result in many natural phenomena.
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The main rock-forming minerals are the silicates, carbonates and sulfides. There may be only one mineral in some rocks (Limestone often consists only of calcite). There may be more than one mineral in some other rocks. (Granite contains quartz, feldspar and at least one other mineral.)
Identification of minerals
Minerals are generally identified on the basis of the following properties.
Colour
Transparency
Lustre
Streak
Crystal form
Cleavage
Hardness
Uses of minerals
Man has used minerals in a variety of ways throughout history and in all civilizations. Minerals have been used in the following ways:
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for making rock shelters. for making weapons. as mineral fuels. as gemstones.
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Rocks
What are rocks?
Rocks make up the crust of the earth we live in, are aggregates of minerals, are generally porous but all porous rocks are not permeable. They are necessary for soil formation and are the key for understanding the evolution of the physical earth through geologic time.
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Classification of rocks
Just as we can prepare different things using the same ingredients but by using different processes, rocks differ when they are formed by different processes. Rocks are classified into three major groups. They are: Igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks. Type of rock
Igneous rock
Sedimentary rock
Metamorphic rock
Sedimentary rock
Igneous rock
Igneous rock
Igneous rock
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Distribution of the three groups of rocks is different in the horizontal and vertical planes of the earths lithosphere. Horizontal Crust plane of the Upper mantle earths crust and the upper Continental mantle. crust
Oceanic crust
On the horizontal plane of the crust and the upper mantle sedimentary rocks make up 75% of the rocks found. The continents and the ocean floors are made up of sedimentary rocks upto 75%. Distribution of rocks in the vertical plane In the vertical plane, as one goes down from the crust to the upper mantle, igneous and metamorphic rocks make up 95% of the volume of the rocks.
Sedimentary rocks
Sedimentary rocks
123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 Igneous and 123456789 123456789 metamorphic 123456789 123456789 rocks 123456789
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Rock cycle
heat & pressure cooling melting heat and pressure
Like most natural phenomena in our physical world, the formation of different types of rocks also follows a cyclic pattern. Rock cycle is the result of certain geological processes that have been going on for millions of years on our planet. As result of these processes, the three types of rocks are continuously changing from one type of rock to either of the other two types of rocks. In the rock cycle, igneous rock is considered as the primary rock or the starting block.
> 7000C
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All igneous rocks are formed by the cooling of magma or rock melt whether the rocks are formed inside the lithosphere (intrusive igneous rocks) or on the outer surface of the earth (extrusive igneous rocks). Intrusive igneous rocks are formed when the magma is squeezed into the subsurface space, cools slowly and eventually solidifies. Intrusive rocks form typical structures called plutons. Intrusive igneous rocks have granular structures with larger crystals. Granite is a typical example of intrusive igneous rock. Extrusive igneous rocks are formed when molten magma is squeezed onto the surface of the earth through a vent and the molten magma or lava spreads and cools rapidly. Extrusive igneous rocks have smooth texture and very fine crystals. Basalt is a typical extrusive igneous rock.
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These environments also provide dissolved chemical salts for the formation of chemically formed sedimentary rocks. Sorting of the raw materials of mechanically formed sedimentary rocks Pebbles, sand and silt form the raw Sorting in the ocean materials of mechanically formed sedimentary rocks. They get sorted out continental shelf and are buried in layers on land and at pebbles the bottom of water bodies. Typically, sands pebbles get deposited first. This is silt and clay followed by sand. Finally silt and clay settle down as sediments. Sedimentary rocks are the only rocks that are formed by the raw materials from the earths surface and the geological processes taking place there.
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Soil
What is soil? Soil is the uppermost thin layer on the earths surface. It takes hundreds of years to form a centimetre of soil! Most importantly, it is the layer that supports plant life. Some interesting facts about soil: soil is carried by wind. takes a long, long time to form. goes with the flowing water. has many colours and textures. Also, the sun dries it, rain makes it slushy and children and some animals love to play in it.
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sand
to form
humus
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The earths journey around the sun or the apparent annual migration of the sun
The earth like all the others planets, does not rotate at the same place in space. It must pay its respects to the sun by going round it not once or any fixed number of times but eternally. The revolution of the earth around the sun is commonly expressed as the annual journey of Earths orbit the sun! The path along which the earth goes around the sun is called the orbit. The orbit or the path is like an ellipse. The sun is slightly off centre.
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Earth Year
The earth travels around the sun along a fixed track or orbit. The track is 960,000,000 km long (600,000,000 miles). It always runs from west to east. The earth completes one lap around the sun in 365.25 days or approximately 105,600 km a day (66,000 miles)! This lap of the earth is called a Year.
~ 150,000,000 km
Some rays from the sun reach the earths surface as direct rays and some as slanting rays. The direct rays provide more heat than the slanting rays.
Slanting rays
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Duration of seasons
Each of the seasons, winter, spring, summer and autumn last for three months. The calender months of the four seasons in the northern hemisphere are as shown in the picture. What are the calendar months for the four seasons in Australia? Seasons in India
June July August
In most parts of India, we have only a mild winter season, a hot summer season and the rainy season. Importance of seasons Seasons greatly determine the way we dress and perhaps what we eat. It is said seasons affect even the moods of people. Seasons and plants Even the plants respond to seasons. Some plants flower only in summer and some in the cool winter. The trees in hot countries shed their leaves in summer and the trees in cooler climates shed their leaves in winter.
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Hibernation
Hibernate means pass the winter in sleep! As winter approaches, days become shorter and colder. During winter, in Sweden, for some days there is no sun for 24 hours! Animals know that winter is approaching and food will become scarce. Squirrels, bears and other animals eat a lot so that they can get layers of fat. In winter, they go into deep sleep to save energy (hibernation). Bears hide in caves, squirrels in nests. They are woken up by the arrival of spring season.