Geology 1 Power Point Notes

Intro to Physical Geology

The Scientific Method Slide

- Making observations: Questions of the why and how of something based on
observation
-Construct hypothesis: The question based on the observations made.
- Use an experiment: To determine if the hypothesis is true
- hypothesis is amended depending if the results disprove the hypothesis or
not
- You must report the results, advancement of knowledge comes by revealing
these results
whether its disproven or not. Others can use your results to further
the science
in your field.
- "Proving" is used loosely, because you cant really prove anything, you can
only fail to
disprove it. New data can reinvent your understanding of the thing in
question.
Nothing is set in stone.
-Good testing is necessary so good data is a result

Time-Tested Hypothese become Theories*****

Well known theories
-Germ Theory of Disease: we accept disease is caused by microorganisms
-Theory of Plate Tectonics: Source theory of geology - explaining processes
of landmasses
- Theory of Evolution: foundation of biology

Only the most robust hypotheses become THEORIES

It is not a diminishing claim to say "it's just a theory"
It really is hundred of peopel working methodically for decades on a question
to
come up with an answer that most approximates the truth.

"Conspiracy theory" would be more accurate to say "conspiracy hypothesis" because

of the
erroneous way we colloquially use "theory"

Some hypotheses, and subsequent theories, have withstood so much scrutiny over so
many experiements
and time become laws. There is no available evidence to disprove them.
BIG theories that continue to hold true under rigorous testing become LAWS
-They are very rare
-Most of the laws are in the realm of physics
-Newton's Law of motion
-Laws of Gravity
-Laws of Thermodynamics

Cosmology Slide
- Ancient Greeks used a geocentric model, Earth as the center of the
universe.
- This model persisted until the Reformation, it was a leading model for a
long time.
- Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model, the sun as the center. He
rebelled against hte
church, the church was the holder of knowledge after the fall of rome.
-and Galileo further confirmed this model and the progression of knowledge
continues.
- this is how science builds on the hypotheses and theories that come before.

- By showing the JUpiter had moons, proved that not everything revolved
around the earth.
- He also explained the phases of Earths moon as resulting from the
heliocentric hypothesis

FUN FACT- All stars look to be about the same size... Why is that? We know they
vary in size and distance
Basically our eyes can pinpoint that light as being present, but its a
phantom light
the cone of light of the actual star is too far to truly see.

- We realized stars are other suns, galaxies were other families of stars.
- New telescopes allowed us to recognize red shift and blue shift,
The doppler effect - when ambulance sounds different moving from behind
us
and when its going away from us in front produces
this
effect, which applied to the universe allows us to
measure
how galaxies are expanding outward, some moving
closer to some
many moving further away.
- Everythnig out there is moving away from us. The further away the galaxy it
is, the faster
it is moving away. Dark Energy is 75% of the universe, the component that
is pushing things
away. The observable universe is all we can know. Space is
expanding faster than
the speed of light, faster than we can observe.
- reverse the expansion 13.7 billion years and everything would be condensed
into a single point
this is the source of the big bang theory.
- Where is that big bang point? It is everywhere you look. The size of the
universe is relative
prior to the big bang. There is no space outside of space itself.
- There may be evidence of ripples of other big bangs, may lend to the idea
that everything
will collapse on itself again into a singularity.

The Heart of the Big Bang Theory ----

- Best estimate is 13.7 billion years ago, there is room for error, and could
be anywhere between
12 and 14 billion yrs ago.
- it wasnt an explosion per se, it was the expansion of space. It expanded
ridiculosly fast
then it slowed down, and now it's expanding faster again.
- Density of the singulairty is impossibly high, energy so extreme we can't
accurately
create a model to postulate the conditions. 10 to the 28th degrees at
the earliest time

NUCLEOSYNTHESIS (IMPORTANT)
-Fusion and Fission are both nucleosynthesis.
-its the process of starting with one atom and it becoming another.
-Hydrogen is the simplest of atoms, 1 proton and 1 electron, if you take two
of these together
and squeeze them together hard enough it will create a new nucleus with more
protons.
The positive and negative nature of the protons and protons will repel each
other like a magnet
it takes a strong force to get these to merge... so two hydrogen atoms become
helium, and this
accounts for most of the fusion that occurs in the universe. The nuclear
force is what holds
them together btw. The majority of the hydrogen and helium in the universe
was created in the
big bang.
- All other elements were formed in stars, gravity was a useful force in
combining atoms.
- When you jump, you actually pull with equal force, the earth towards you as
it pulls you
back down to the ground. But the energy will be so diffuse because it
is spread across
the entire earth and everything on it, as opposed to your small body
which will
obviously see and feel the force being pulled back down.
- THe more mass something has, the more gravity it has, every particle has
some gravity lending
to its weight or mass. Bigger things like the sun, the amount of stuff
there allows
gravity to attract and collapse things towards the center.
If you are a star, the force of gravity can push an atom into another
creating FUSION.
The sun is constantly imploding, but also exploding with all the
nuclear bombs going off
due to fusion. The implosion is equal to the explosion which is why
the sun remains
the same size.
-99 percent of the atoms in the sun is hydrogen.
- atoms become building blocks by continually combining atoms and with
more and more
protons.

Star FUEL - Small stars might convert hydrogen to helium, but no more. Usually not

dense enough to fuse heavier elements.

- Massive stars might fuse hydrogen to helium, to oxygen, to iron...
- nuclear reactions in stars continue as long as the fuel in the center lasts
- once a star runs out of hydrogen, it will take too much energy to fuse,
lessening explosion
and the star starts to collapse and implode.
- the energy increases at this point, and it fuses things beyond what it
usually could to create
heavier elements. Supernovae are the result.
- that explosive energy creates elements heavier than iron, it took a
supernova to create
everything heavier than iron.
- our solar system was a result of the collapse of a portion of a supernova
- On the periodic table, only elements 1 and 2, hydrogen and helium were
produced in the bigbang
- Everything else on the periodic table were produced in stars/supernovae
-
The formation of the solar system
- gaseous and dusty clouds of mostly hydrogen and helium coalesced eventually
became other stars
and other heavier elements, 4.5 billion years ago,
(SOLAR NEBULA MODEL/ STANDARD MODEL) = the cloud flattens into a disk
shape, spinning,
and heating up into a nebula
heat and gravity start to condense shaped bodies of gas, every atom has
gravity, eventually
they attract enough of each other to form bodies.
The star in the solar system is born after it condenses enough to spark
itself into the sun
we know. All the remaining material is pushed out and away, or becomes part
of the planetary
bodies involved.
-We can see PROPLYDS, or currently forming solar systems, with our advanced
telescopes.

HOW THE PLANETS FORM

The same principle of star creation is applied to planetary creation, with
the exception being
not enough mass to create fusion, or else it'd just be another star.
- 99% of the mass is going to the star, but the 1% is enough to form
planetary bodies.
- little frozen gas and dust collide, slowly accumulate more bits and it
grows attracting more
mass.
- First PLANETESIMAL accretion of meteroite impacts, a planetesimal growing
from continuous
collisions, until a proto planet forms the interior heats up and
becomes soft.
- With enough mass it squeezes it into a spherical shape.
- the interior of the planet separates into a core and mantle, in the case of
the earth.

WHEN PLANETS COLLIDE

- Mars sized proto planet collided with Earth
- Tons of crustal material ejected into space
- this formed a ring
- the ring coalesced into the MOON and it slowly moved away and held its own
orbit around the
earth.
- it was significantly closer to the earth than it is now, and its slowly
moving away. the moon
uses the earth to sling shot it self away a little at atime. We use
the same method
to launch our satellites and probes to get further away from planetary
bodies.
- in theory everytime we use the momentum of the earth to launch things we're
stealing its
momentum and altering the rate of rotation of the earth slowing the
rotation of earth
The moon is much larger and really is making the days longer.
-
FORMATION OF THE EARTH
- The heating of the core is the most important part of earths history
- What is the driving force? Gravity or density differences, will likely be
correct regardles
of topic
- Denser metals and rocks sink to release energy, and heats up earths
interior, molten iron
 forms the core of the earth
DIFFERENTIATION is the separation of a homogenous mixture into different component
freeze-melt
or vaporize-condense cycles. As somethign melts, it
differentiates into
different molecules or components and they separate based on
their density
- Iron is denser than the rocks around it so it sinks.. like water sinks
below oil in a jar.
oil is less dense than water.

Why did earth heat up?

- Primary source of new heat for Earth, the breakdown of radioactive
elements. like Uranium.
- The Sun does contribute but only on the surface, it doesn't penetrate rock
very well.
- Meteorite impacts and core formation
- Radioactive elements: Uranium which is spread pretty evenly throughout the
planet.
the breakdown provides a small amount of heat.
- TIDAL HEATING - the rock itself is squeezing towards the moon, it's almost
unmeasurable
but that rubbing between molecules creates heat. The moon keeps
this
process going. You are taller when the tide is high... about a
proton differenc

ATMOSPHERE - Volcanic gases developed early atmosphere, and the earth cools down
enough for moisture
to condense and create rains to create oceans.

-The planetismals are leftover from the solar system formation, and they
became meteors,
comets that are balls of dust and gas, asteroids, outside of Uranus is
the kuiper belt
of asteroids, and there is evidence of other proto planetary bodies in
the further reache
- Plane of the Ecliptic - the proto planetary disk of the nebula formation,
the general disc
trajectory of the planetary bodies.
- OORT cloud in the furthest reaches of the solar system, far enough to not
really interact
with the sun to form a disc, it's like an egg around us.
- Comets always have a tail, because the suns radiation will heat up the ice
ball that the gast
will boil and leave a trail.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLANETS??

- They all form the same way, but vary so widely.
-TERRESTRIAL PLANETS : rocky planets close to the sun
-JOVIAN planetys : Gas giants farther from the sun
-Terrestrial composition: Rocky Crust, Mantle, Metal Core
- Jovian composition: Clouds, gas helium/hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, liquid
metallic hydrogen
rocky core.
-Uranus and Neptune have more icy water or methane instead of
hydrogen
- Jovian planets have liquid hydrogen because the pressure is so great it
turns gas to liquid
 like a propane tank compresses propane gas tightly enough it becomes a
liquid to burn
longer.
-Size scale, metallic cores are a big mass of the planet for terrestrial
planets, but they're
smaller in scale compared to the gas giants
- SOLAR WIND is why the inner planets are rocky and dry, it blew away the
remaining gas, likely
collected by the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn.
- Earth is the only planet we know of that supports life as we know it. The
remarkable feature
is that water is capable of all 3 phases of solid and liquid and vapor
on the surface.
The HABITABLE ZONE, is the sweet spot where water doesnt boil away by being
too close, or being
too far away to completely freeze.
- there a moon of Jupiter that is covered in water that could potentially
harbor life, despite
the fact that the water is frozen. The moon itself creates enough heat to
keep a persistent
liquid band of water underneath.