P1 Earth + the

Universe
Revision Notes
Earth + Space
 Universe 14000myo
 Galaxies – star collections
(Milky Way)
 Solar system 5000myo
 Created when dust and gas
pulled together by gravity
making clumps….
 Sun is a star;
 Made of hot gases
Dating the Earth

 Rocks change very slowly due to erosion

and weathering.
 Deeper the rock the older it is.
 Radioactive dating;
 Estimating the age of something like a rock by
measuring its radioactivity.
 Also used on fossils (stony remains of an animal or

plant that lived millions of years ago).

Continental
Drift

 Originally described in 1915 by Alfred

Wegener (a meteorologist).
 Idea that crust consists of a number of
tectonic plates which constantly move
 Either away from, against or alongside each other.
 Move between 2 and 20cm a year.

 Now measured using satellites.

Wegener’s Theory
 In favour;
 Fossils and rocks  Against;
identical in Africa and
 You cannot see or feel
South America.
 Continents fit like a continents moving.
jigsaw.  Land bridge could
 Land bridge; have joined Africa and
 Rocks lightest at the top S America.
cannot sink into heavier
rocks.  Wegener not a
geologist (rock expert).
Seafloor Spreading

 Theory now accepted after initial criticism.

 Proved by mapping major oceans. Ridges
(mountain chains) down the centre of oceans
emit molten lava which cools to make new rock
(Constructive margin).
 This is constantly pushed along to make way for
newer rock. Shown by magnetic stripes of the
Earths field direction of the time.
 Discovered by scientist Fred Vine (1963).
Geohazards
 Occur at plate boundaries;
 Earthquakes, Volcanoes
 Landslides, Floods, Tsunami’s

 Government Actions;
 Geohazard prediction technology
 Educate people in what to do.

 Building regulations (reduce chance of buildings

collapsing).
 Emergency plans/staff training.
Collision!

 A few times during Earth’s history a massive

asteroid (dwarf rocky planet) or comet (ball of
frozen gases and water) has struck.
 Meteorites (tiny dust grains) regularly hit.
 Craters seen on Moon and not Earth because
Earth is covered in land and sea.
 No rocks found from meteorites, the Earth, Moon
or Mars have been older than 5000myo.
Dinosaur
Extinction

 Dinosaurs were thought to be dying out anyway but most

accepted theory is a massive asteroid striking the Gulf of
Mexico (65mya).
 Impact partly vapourised the ground, wind carried the
material around the world, and it settled into layer of dust
(contains iridium found in meteorites).
 Another theory; huge floods of molten basalt rock from
frequent eruptions (India, Siberia especially).
 Not all flood basalt events have caused a mass extinction
though as happened with the dinosaurs.
What are we
made of?

 Earth made from just 92 different atoms.

 Observations of sunlight spectrum found the
same 92 atoms only.
 Heat of stars estimated using colour (white-hot
warmer than red-hot).
 Stars are mainly hydrogen which fuses to form
helium (nuclear fusion) making energy. If a star
was just a fire-ball it would use up oxygen quick.
 Eventually stars use up hydrogen and start to
die out and give out less and less energy.
Life of a Star
 Nebula
 Protostar
 Main Sequence
Star (the Sun)
 Red Giant
 White Dwarf
 Black Dwarf
Are we
alone?

 Parallax;
 The shift of an object against a more distant background.
Further away the less it shifts. Used to measure distance to
stars.
 Brightness;
 Nearer an object (star) the brighter it is.
 Light-year;
 Distance that light travels in a year.
 Exoplanets;
 A planet of any star apart from the Sun. Around 130 at the
moment – could they sustain life?
Formation of the
Universe

 Telescopes work better away from sea level (less

light pollution such as streetlamps).
 Used to work out distances between galaxies which
shows that they are moving away from each other.
 Big Bang Theory;
 That the Universe burst into existence from nothing with incredible
heat. Some evidence for this comes from microwaves.