SYSTEM

&
EARTH
SYSTEM
EARTH & LIFE SCIENCE
EARTH SCIENCE
 OBJECTIVES
WHEN YOU COMPLETE THIS LESSON, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
A. IDENTIFY PROPERTIES OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AS A WHOLE;
B. ENUMERATE THE DIFFERENT SUBSYSTEMS OF THE EARH; &
C. DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN CLOSED AND OPEN SYSTEMS.
 REVIEW OF LESSONS
PASS IS PASS GAME
THE CLASS WILL BE ASKED TO FORM A BIG CIRCLE AND
THEY WILL BE MAKING A DRILL(HAND GESTURES )
WHICH WILL BE PASS AMONG THE MEMBERS). THE
PERSON WHO WILL COMMIT THE WRONG HAND
PATTERN OR GESTURES WILL BE GIVEN
CONSEQUENCES.
 OVERVIEW OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

A.The solar system is located in the Milky Way galaxy- a huge disc-
and spiral-shaped aggregation of about at least 100 billion stars
and other bodies;
B.Its spiral arms rotate around a globular cluster or bulge of many,
many stars, at the center of which lies a supermassive blackhole;
C. This galaxy is about 100 million light years across (1 light year =
9.4607 × 1012 km;
 OVERVIEW OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

D. The solar system revolves around the galactic center once in about
240 million years;
E. The Milky Way is part of the so-called Local Group of galaxies, which
in turn is part of the Virgo supercluster of galaxies;
F. Based on the assumption that they are remnants of the materials
from which they were formed, radioactive dating of meteorites,
suggests that the Earth and solar system are 4.6 billion years old on
the assumption that they are remnants of the materials from which
they were formed.
THE MILKY WAY
 REVOLUTION AND ROTATION

• The word revolve and rotate refer to the different types of motion.
• A planet revolves around the sun but rotates on its own axis.
• There is a preferred direction in motion in the solar system
counterclockwise. With the exception of Venus and Uranus, all the
planets also rotate on their axes in that direction.
• Furthermore, nearly all the moons in the solar system, including
Earth’s moon, orbit around their respective planets in that same
direction.
FEATURES OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
 Large Scale Features of the Solar System
1. Much of the mass of the Solar System is concentrated at the
center (Sun) while angular momentum is held by the outer
planets.
2. Orbits of the planets elliptical and are on the same plane.
3. All planets revolve around the sun.
4. The periods of revolution of the planets increase with
increasing distance from the Sun; the innermost planet moves
fastest, the outermost, the slowest;
5. All planets are located at regular intervals from the Sun.
 Small Scale features of the Solar System

1. Most planets rotate prograde.

Prograde - counterclockwise when viewed from above the Earth's North Pole.
2. Inner terrestrial planets are made of materials with high melting points such
as silicates, iron , and nickel. They rotate slower, have thin or no atmosphere,
higher densities, and lower contents of volatiles - hydrogen, helium, and noble
gases.
3. The outer four planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are called "gas
giants" because of the dominance of gases and their larger size. They rotate
faster, have thick atmosphere, lower densities, and fluid interiors rich in
hydrogen, helium and ices (water, ammonia, methane).
 ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
RIVAL THEORIES
Nebular Hypothesis- In the 1700s Emanuel Swedenborg,
Immanuel Kant, and Pierre-Simon Laplace independently
thought of a rotating gaseous cloud that cools and contracts
in the middle to form the sun and the rest into a disc that
become the planets. This nebular theory failed to account
for the distribution of angular momentum in the solar
system.
 RIVAL THEORIES

Encounter Hypotheses
A. Buffon’s (1749) Sun-comet encounter that sent matter to form planet;
B. James Jeans’ (1917) sun-star encounter that would have drawn from the sun
matter that would condense to planets,
C. T.C. Chamberlain and F. R. Moulton’s (1904) planetesimal hypothesis involving a
star much bigger than the Sun passing by the Sun and draws gaseous filaments from
both out which planetisimals were formed;
D. Ray Lyttleton’s(1940) sun’s companion star colliding with another to form a
proto-planet that breaks up to form Jupiter and Saturn.
E. Otto Schmidt’s accretion theory proposed that the Sun passed through a dense
interstellar cloud and emerged with a dusty, gaseous envelope that eventually
became the planets. However, it cannot explain how the planets and satellites were
formed. The time required to form the planets exceeds the age of the solar system.
 RIVAL THEORIES

Sun - Star interaction

Nobel Prize winner Harold Urey’s compositional studies on meteorites in the 1950s
and other scientists’ work on these objects led to the conclusion that meteorite
constituents have changed very little since the solar system’s early history and can
give clues about their formation. The currently accepted theory on the origin of
the solar system relies much on information from meteorites.
 RIVAL THEORIES

Protoplanet Hypothesis - Current Hypothesis

A. About 4.6 billion years ago, in the Orion arm of the Milky Way galaxy, a slowly-
rotating gas and dust cloud dominated by hydrogen and helium starts to contract
due to gravity
B. As most of the mass move to the center to eventually become a proto-Sun, the
remaining materials form a disc that will eventually become the planets and
momentum is transferred outwards.
C. Due to collisions, fragments of dust and solid matter begin sticking to each other
to form larger and larger bodies from meter to kilometer in size. These proto-planets
are accretions of frozen water, ammonia, methane, silicon, aluminum, iron, and
other metals in rock and mineral grains enveloped in hydrogen and helium.
D. High-speed collisions with large objects destroys much of the mantle of Mercury,
puts Venus in retrograde rotation.
E. Collision of the Earth with large object produces the moon. This is supported by
the composition of the moon very similar to the Earth's Mantle
EARTH SYSTEMS
 BASIC FACTS

‘El Niño’ is a coined term that means a decrease in fish catch off the
coast of Peru near Christmas time.
El Niño is not limited to atmospheric conditions. It is the result of
hydrosphere (ocean)-atmosphere interaction.
The subsystems of the Earth (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere,
and lithosphere) interact with each other.
 EARTH SYSTEM

SYSTEM
A set of interconnected components that are interacting to form a unified whole.
Our planetary environment, the Earth system, relies on the interactions among a
vast combination of factors that enable it to support life.
 EARTH SYSTEM
The term “Earth system" refers to Earth´s interacting physical,
chemical, and biological processes.
The system consists of the land, oceans, atmosphere and poles. It
includes the planet's natural cycles — the carbon, water, nitrogen,
phosphorus, sulfur and other cycles — and deep Earth processes.
Life too is an integral part of the Earth system. Life affects the carbon,
nitrogen, water, oxygen and many other cycles and processes.

The Earth system now includes human society, Our social and
economic systems are now embedded within the Earth system. In
many cases, the human systems are now the main drivers of change in
the Earth system.
EARTH’S MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS
 EARTH’S MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS

HYDROSPHERE
The hydrosphere contains all the solid, liquid and gaseous water of
the planet. Approximately 97% of the earth’s water is salty and only a
small portion (about 3%) is non-salty. The saltwater gets collected
along the earth’s surface in deep valleys. This sphere ranges from 10
to 20 kilometers in thickness. It stretches all the way from the earth’s
surface down numerous miles into the lithosphere and high above the
crust into the atmosphere.
 EARTH’S MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS

BIOSPHERE
The biosphere of earth includes all living things on planet Earth like
animals, plants and microorganisms. Most of this life exists no
deeper than about 10 feet into the ground or approximately 600 feet
above it. There are different ecological communities divided in six
main biomes which are desert, aquatic, forest, grassland, tundra and
chaparral. It is the biggest one of all four spheres of earth.
 EARTH’S MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS

LITHOSPHERE
The lithosphere can be defined as the outer boundary layer of solid
earth and discontinuity within the mantle. It is a crustal system
composed of various layers which are core, mantle and outer crust.
It is also known as geosphere. The actual thickness of this sphere
varies considerably and can range from roughly 40 kilometer to 280
kilometer.
 EARTH’S MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS

ATMOSPHERE
The atmosphere is a complex fluid system of gases and suspended particles.
This fluid system forms a gaseous envelope around the earth with no defined
boundaries. The total volume of atmosphere is made up of gases like nitrogen,
argon, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour etc.
HOW SYSTEMS WORK
 BASIC FACTS
• The earth and its subsystems “work” by the movement (or transfer) of mater
and energy and the processes involved with theses transfer.
• Most Earth subsystems are open system because both energy and matter
move freely across subsystem as inputs and outputs. Typical example of this is
a stream in which matter and energy in the form of soil particles, rock
fragments, solar energy, and precipitation enter the stream and water and
sediments leave the stream where it empties into the ocean or some other
body of water.
• A closed system is one in which no substantial amount of matter crosses its
boundaries although energy can go in and out. Planet earth is essentially a
closed system.
 EQUILIBRIUM IN EARTH SYSTEMS

If the inputs entering the system are balanced by outputs, the system is said to
have reached a state of equilibrium.