Students Make Layers of the Earth With Modeling Clay

Our class learned about the depth of each of the layers of the Earth last week.  We made the layers with modeling clay.  Each layer was to depict the size it is compared to the sizes of the other layers.  Students placed the inner core in the center, then the outer core, mantle, and crust.  The crust showed the oceans/lakes/ponds/rivers that make up 3/4 of the surface of the Earth plus the seven continents that make up the other 1/4.

Chapter 1 Test Scheduled for Thursday, September 28----Study Guide Below

Study Guide

Earth Science

Chapter 1

Describe the inner core.

Answer:    The inner core occupies the center of the Earth.  It is iron and nickel and is also extremely hot.  However, pressure within the inner core is so great that it remains a solid.

Describe the outer core.

Answer:  The outer core is hot, molten iron and nickel under extreme pressure.  Convection currents cause movements in the liquid outer core.  Scientists hypothesize (assume or guess) that these movements cause Earth’s magnetic field.  The outer core surrounds the inner core, which occupies the center of the Earth.

Explain why a topographical map has a key.

Answer:  The key lists the symbols used on the map and their meanings.  Symbols are used to show features on Earth’s surface.  Without the key, a person does not know what the symbols on the map stand for.  An important part of the key on a topographic map is the statement of the map’s contour interval.  The contour interval enables the map user to determine elevation, relief, and slope based on the contour lines.

Compare and contrast maps and globes.

Answer:  Maps and globes both show the shape, size, and position of the features on Earth’s surface.  Both are drawn to scale and use symbols to represent topography and other features.  A globe is a sphere that represents Earth’s entire surface.  A map is a flat model of all or part of Earth’s surface as seen from above.  Maps distort the shape or size of features because they are projections of Earth’s curved surface onto a flat surface.

Explain how heat is transferred inside Earth through convection currents.

Answer:  Large amounts of heat are transferred to Earth’s mantle from Earth’s core and the mantle itself.  Heat and pressure inside the mantle cause solid mantle rock to warm and slowly rise toward the lithosphere.  When the rising rock cools, it becomes denser (packed tightly together) and sinks back through the mantle.

Which layer of the Earth is made up partly of crust and partly of mantle material?

Answer:  the lithosphere

Holes drilled several kilometers into Earth’s crust provide DIRECT EVIDENCE about the Earth’s interior in the form of rock samples.

Starting from the surface, what is the correct order of Earth’s layers?

Answer:  crust, mantle, outer core, inner core

What is the transfer of energy through empty space called (like the sun transferring light and heat through the air)?

Answer:  radiation

It would always be easy to walk up a slope represented by contour lines that are?

Answer:  far apart

What units do scientists use to locate positions on the Earth’s surface?

Answer:  degrees

The feature of a map that relates a distance on the map to a distance on Earth’s surface is called?

Answer:  scale

Using one or more of your senses to gather information, such as examining a rock to see what minerals it contains, is called what?

Answer:  observing

Which part of the Earth contains plates?

Answer:  lithosphere

What term describes the difference in elevation between the highest and lowest parts of an area?

Answer:  relief

Other than using rock samples through direct evidence, how do geologists learn about Earth’s interiors through INDIRECT EVIDENCE?

Answer:  seismic waves

What is the diverse way scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence they gather called?

Answer:  scientific inquiry

What is the latitude of the North Pole?

Answer:  90 degrees north

What is a spherical model of Earth’s entire surface called?

Answer:  a globe

An area’s topography is determined by?

Answer:  the area’s elevation, relief, and landforms

Suggestions:

·       Study your definitions in your science folder. 

·       Review elevation, relief, and landforms.  Pages 22-23

·       Review latitude and longitude, and how the equator and Prime Meridian determine locations. Pages 34 and 35

·       Review contour lines, index contour, and contour intervals.  Page 37

·       Remember, too, that a depression on a map is marked with a closed loop with dashes inside.  This means there is a hollow in the ground (low ground area).  Page 39