Honors Earth and Space – Flashcards
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The 20th Century is known as this:
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Era of Space Exploration
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What theory is used to describe what happened to the continents that were all once joined together, but are now separate?
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Continental Drift
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What is being described when early geologists thought that a few catastrophic events such as the Great Global Flood, formed most of the rocks and the landscape features on Earth?
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Catastrophism
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What is the force that exists between any two objects that have a mass and that pulls on the objects together?
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Gravity
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According to what theory did the Universe originate at a single point?
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Big Bang Theory
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In what galaxy is our solar system found?
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Milky Way
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What is being described in "the present is the key to the past"?
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Uniformitarianism
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The study of planets as whole systems:
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Astronomy
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The study of Earth's landforms:
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Geography
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The study of Earthquake waves:
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Seismology
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The study of rocks:
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Petrology
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The study of Earth's celestial objects:
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Astronomy
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The study of physics of Earth's structures and processes:
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Geology
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The study of physics in the Universe:
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Astrophysics
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The study of Earth's history:
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Geophysics
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The study of Earth's physical environments:
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Geology
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The study of physical and chemical characteristics of ocean environments:
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Oceanography
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The study of Earth's physical structure and processes:
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Paleontology
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Which major technological development helped advance the study of earth's history by allowing paleontologists the ability to date events with greater certainty:
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Radiometric Dating
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The study of earths physical environments:
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Geography
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Who developed the laws of planetary motion?
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Kepler
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The developed the laws of gravity:
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Newton
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Who developed the idea of the sea floor spreading and plate tectonics?
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Hess
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Who developed the idea of the continental drift theory:
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Wegener
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Who discovered Jupiter and 4 of it's moons, also work on heliocentric model. Developed universal laws of acceleration:
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Galileo
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Who is responsible for the Heliocentric Model?
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Copernicus
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Who is responsible for expanding the universe theory:
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Hubble
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Who is responsible for developing astronomical instruments. Also known for measuring and fixing the position of stars:
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Brahe
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The centuries after the scientific revolution are known as what?
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The age of Exploration
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How long does it take for earth to revolve around the sun?
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365.25 days
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How often does a leap year occur?
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4 years
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What two things does size of gravity force depend on?
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Mass and Distance
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The elongated circle is called what?
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Ellipse
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What is the tilt of the earth?
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23.5 degrees
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What is a natural satellite called?
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A moon
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What was the name of the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth? Who launched it and when?
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Sputnik
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What is currently the largest satellite operating in space?
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International S.S
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What is the position when earth is at it's closest point to the sun:
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Perihelion
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What is the position when earth is at it's farthest point from the sun:
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Aphelion
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When does earth reach its farthest point from the sun?
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July
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When does an autumnal equinox take place?
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September 22/23
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When does a vernal equinox take place?
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March 20/21
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What is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere?
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June 20/21
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What is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere?
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December 21/22
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Where is the sun located when it is summer in the northern hemisphere?
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Tropic of Cancer
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Where is the sun located when it is winter in the northern hemisphere?
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Tropic of Capricorn
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What causes seasons?
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Tilt
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Where does the moon get its light?
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The reflection off the sun
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How long does it take for the moon to revolve around earth?
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28 days
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The EM spectrum is typically organized from what?
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Longest wavelength to the shortest wavelength
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What are the colors of the visible spectrum in the order listed in the previous question?
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The longest wavelength is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and finally purple.
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Light that can be seen with the unaided eye is called what?
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Visible Light
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What tool is used to separate while light into waves of different wavelengths?
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A Prism
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The brightness of a star as it appears from earth, regardless of distance, is called what?
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Apparent Magnitude
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The brightness of a star would have from the same distance is called what?
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Absolute Magnitude
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Prolonged exposure to this type of rays can result in sunburns and skin cancer?
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UV rays
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The average distance between Earth and the Sun is called an:
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Astronomical Unit
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The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year is called what?
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A light year
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The International Astronomical Union recognizes how many constellations:
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88 constellations
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48 of the total number of the constellations are associated with what group of people?
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Greeks
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Does the earth follow a direct or a retrograde orbit?
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Direct
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The point about 4600 km from the very center of the earth is what?
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Barycenter
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What is meant by the Goldilocks Zone?
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The habitable zone
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When the sun is directly over the equator, this is called a what?
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Equinox
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What type of EM waves have the longest wavelength?
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Radial
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What type of EM waves have the shortest wavelength?
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Gama
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What is the approximate age of the universe?
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13.5 Billion years
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What are the two most comment elements in the universe?
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Hydrogen and Helium
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What is the approximate age of the Earth?
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4.6 Billion years
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What process fuels stars?
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Nuclear Fission
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True/False? Stars last forever?
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False
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What is the most massive object in our solar system?
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The sun
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Which planets are terrestrial?
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
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What elements make up the cores of the inner planets?
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Iron and Nickel
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Where is the asteroid belt found?
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Between Mars and Jupiter
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What planets are considered "Gas Giants"?
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Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus
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Earth and all other objects in our solar system are located within what part of the Milky Way?
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Orion Arm
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What does our solar system resolve around?
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Center of the Milky way galaxy
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What is the term used to describe the planets of our solar system other than our own?
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Exoplanets
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What is one of the oldest sciences in human history?
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Astronomy
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What holds all the objects in the solar system in orbit?
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Gravity
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What unit is used to measure distances in the solar system?
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Astronomical Unit
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What planet was downgraded to a "dwarf planet" in 2006?
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Pluto
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How many moons does Mercury have?
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None (Zero)
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How long does it take Mercury to orbit the sun?
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88 Earth Days
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What planet has been called Earth's sister planet?
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Venus
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How long does it take Venus to orbit the sun?
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225 Earth Days
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How many moons does Venus have?
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None (Zero)
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How many moons does Mars have?
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Two
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Mars is home to the solar systems largest what?
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Volcanoes
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What was the latest mission to get data from Mercury?
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Messenger
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What is the largest planet in our solar system?
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Jupiter
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What are the four largest moons of Jupiter?
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Lo, Castillo, Ganymede, Europa
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Saturn is best known for what?
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It's system of rings.
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True/False? Saturn is the only planet to have rings?
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False
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What is different about Uranus' tilt?
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ITs parallel to the ecliptic
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Which of the gas giants is the densest?
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Neptune
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What are the dark spots that appear on Neptune's surface?
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Massive Storms
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True/False? Asteroids have the same make-up as planets?
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True
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True/False? Meteoroids collide with earth everyday.
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True
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Short period comets take how long to orbit the sun?
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200 years or less
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Long period comets take how long to orbit the sun?
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200 years or more
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Which of Jupiter's moons has over 400 active volcanoes?
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Lo
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What moon of Jupiter could possibly be a place where extraterrestrial life could develop?
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Europa
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What is different about Triton's orbit?
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It is parallel to the ecliptic.
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What is the largest moon of Neptune?
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Triton
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What of Saturn's moons is the 2nd largest in the solar system?
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Titan
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What does the Giant Impact hypothesis state?
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The moon was formed by a collision
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When was the idea that the moon was formed by an impact proposed?
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Mid 1940's
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What conditions make earth unique enough to sustain life?
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Cycling Matter, and Flowing of Energy
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What are three classifications of asteroids?
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carbonaceous, metallic, siliceous
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What are three types of meteoroids?
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Stony, Stony-Iron, and Iron
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Most common meteoroid?
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Stony
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What two planets deflect of absorb most of the comets as they pass gas giants?
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Jupiter and Saturn
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What is the current Eon, Era, Epoch, and Period?
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Phanerozoic, cenozoic, quaternary, and holocene
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What many years ago did the dinosaurs appear?
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65 Ma
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Which time is longer, Geologic or human time?
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Geologic
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When was the end of the last major ice age?
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10 Ka
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What are the divisions of time from longest to shortest?
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Eon, Era, Period, Epoch
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How much of earths history is taken up by Hadeon, Archean, and Proterozoic eon?
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90%/First 4 Billion Years
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Which eon began with the formation of earth?
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Hadeon
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What was responsible for the oxygenated atmosphere?
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Photosynthetic Bacteria
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In which Eon and Era did the Cambrian Explosion begin in?
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Phanerozoic, anf Paleozoic
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What marks the boundaries between some geologic eras and periods?
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Mass Extinction
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In what period did most part of the major animal groups that still exist today begin to evolve?
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Cambrian Period
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During which ERA did the dinosaurs dominate?
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Mesozoic
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What period was "a time of recovery"?
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Triassic
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What period did the reptile dominate the air?
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Jurassic
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During which period did many of the modern animals develop?
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Cretaceous
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What period is known as "the age of humans"?
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Neogene
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During which PERIODS did major extinctions take place?
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Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic, Cretaceous
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What principle states "sedimentary rock formations were originally formed in horizontal layers"?
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Original Horizontality
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What occurs when rock laters are uplifted unevenly, causing the layers to no longer be horizontal?
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Tilt
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"Before the Colorado River carved out the Grand Canyon, the rock laters on either side were laterally continuous" is an example of what?
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Lateral Continuity
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What is meant by superposition?
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Younger sediment is laid on top of older sediment
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In the principle of "Inclusion", which rock is older?
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The Inclusion
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What principle states "rock formations that have been subdivided since their formation can be assumed to have originally been laterally continuous"?
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Lateral Continuity
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In superposition, which rock is the youngest?
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On top
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In which period did the asteroid hit the earth and kill off a huge amount of dinosaurs?
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Cretaceous
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In which period were the Appalachian Mountains formed?
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Devonian
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What does Ga stand for in years?
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Hundreds
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What does Ma stand for in years?
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Million
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What does Ka stand for in years?
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Thousand
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