This module is prepared by:

Name: Ms. Antonette C. Albina

Contact Number: 09366957087
Email Address: [email protected]

Learner’s Name: _____________________________

Contact Number: _____________________________
Email Address: ______________________________

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 Earth Science
Week 1
What you are expected to learn:
✓ Describe the characteristics of Earth that are necessary to support life.
✓ Explain that the Earth consists of four subsystems, across whose boundaries matter
and energy flow.
✓ Identify common rock-forming minerals using their physical and chemical
properties.

Below are guidelines for you in going about the module:

1. Read and follow instructions very carefully.
2. Read each lesson and do the activities that are provided for you.
3. Perform all the activities diligently to help you understand the topic.
4. Take the self-test after each lesson to determine how much you understand the topic.
5. Answer the posttest to measure how much you have gained from the lessons.

Good luck and have fun!

UNIT 1: Earth’s Origin and Composition

Introduction:
Humankind has always been curious as to what makes up the universe and how it
was created. Countless theories have been put up to try to answer questions regarding the
nature and mysteries of the cosmos in an attempt to understand how the universe began.
Understanding how the universe began helps in learning Earth, its beginning, and its
processes. Earth science is an exciting branch of science with many interesting and practical
applications.
Chapter 1: The Origin and Structure of the Earth
Preliminary Activity:
Think a word that best describe the word given inside the spider map. (You can
describe it with more than four words.)

SCIENCE EARTH
EARTH SCIENCE

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THE UNIVERSE
Many people believe that nature, the sun and the moon, the stars even human beings never
had a beginning, there is an endless, external cycle birth, life and death that constantly
repeats itself. This external cycle never began and will never end it always has been and it
always will be but it is wrong. Each and everything have an origin. So, this universe also has
an origin but how this universe was created?
Historical background
Billions of years ago, more than 13.7 billion years, there was nothing: no matter, no energy,
no space. Scientist needed o explain that how everything began? Where it came from? What
happened? Although there are several theories about the origin of the universe, the Big bang
theory is prevalent one because no other model is as good explaining everything in the
universe. The big theory is not perfect but it is the best we have got.
Structure, Composition, and Age
• The universe as we currently know it comprises all space and time, and all matter & energy
in it.
• It is made of 4.6% baryonic matter (“ordinary” matter consisting of protons, electrons, and
neutrons: atoms, planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae, and other bodies), 24% cold dark matter
(matter that has gravity but does not emit light), and 71.4% dark energy (a source of
antigravity)
• Dark matter can explain what may be holding galaxies together for the reason that the low
total mass is insufficient for gravity alone to do so while dark energy can explain the
observed accelerating expansion of the universe.
• Hydrogen, helium, and lithium are the three most abundant elements.
• Stars - the building block of galaxies born out of clouds of gas and dust in galaxies (fig. 4).
Instabilities within the clouds eventually results into gravitational collapse, rotation, heating
up, and transformation to a protostar-the core of a future star as thermonuclear reactions
set in.
• Stellar interiors are like furnaces where elements are synthesized or combined/fused
together. Most stars such as the Sun belong to the so-called “main sequence stars.” In the
cores of such stars, hydrogen atoms are fused through thermonuclear reactions to make

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helium atoms (fig. 4). Massive main sequence stars burn up their hydrogen faster than
smaller stars. Stars like our Sun burnup hydrogen in about 10 billion years.

Theories on the Origin of the Universe

What is Big bang theory?
▪ The big bang theory is the way we explain what happen for the creation of our
universe. It is the model that describes the early discovery of it.
▪ This theory indicates that in the past these elements were closer than today, so if we
go back in time, then all the stuff was together at one point. That one point is called
singularity, which was a fireball.
A brief explanation
According to Big Bang, the whole universe was together at one singularity (primary nebula).
There was a “Big Bang” (secondary separation) which resulted in the formation of the
galaxies. These galaxies then divided to form stars, planets, the sun, the moon etc. the origin
of the universe was unique and the probability of its occurrence by chance is “zero”
Who is the father or the proponent of Big bang theory?
In 1972, A Belgian cosmologist and a catholic priest proposes the big bang theory/model
which describes the best description of the expanding universe.

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 Discuss and draw the phases or stages of Big bang theory.
Concept map: Fill the box to create a concept about the Big Bang
Timeline (20points)

BIG BANG

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Non-scientific Thought
• Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods and myths which narrate that the world arose
from an infinite sea at the first rising of the sun.
• The Kuba people of Central Africa tell the story of a creator god Mbombo (or Bumba) who,
alone in a dark and water-covered Earth, felt an intense stomach pain and then vomited the
stars, sun, and moon.
• In India, there is the narrative that gods sacrificed Purusha, the primal man whose head,
feet, eyes, and mind became the sky, earth, sun, and moon respectively.
• The monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam claim that a supreme being
created the universe, including man and other living organisms.

Oscillating Universe
An oscillating universe was Albert Einstein's favored model after rejecting his own
original model. The oscillating universe followed the general theory of relativity equations
of the universe with positive curvature. This curvature results in the expansion of the
universe for a time, and then to its contraction due to the pull of its gravity in a perpetual
cycle of big bang and big crunch.

Steady State Theory

Proposed by astronomers Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold, and Hermann Bondi, the steady
state theory predicted a universe that expanded but did not change its density-matter was
inserted into the universe as it expanded in order to maintain a constant density.

Inflationary Universe
American physicist Alan Guth proposed a model of the universe based on the big bang
theory. He incorporated a short early period of exponential cosmic inflation in order to solve
the uncertainties of the standard big bang model, such as horizon and flatness problems. This
became known as the inflationary model. Another variation of the inflationary model was
the cyclic model developed by Paul Steinhardt and Neil Turok in 2002, which incorporated
the ideas based on the superstring theory.

Multiverse
Russian-American physicist Andrei Linde developed the concept of inflationary
universe from his chaotic inflation theory in 1983. This theory sees the universe as just one
of many "bubbles” that grew as a part of multiverse. American physicist Hugh Everett III and
Bryce DeWitt had initially developed and popularized the concept of “many worlds”
structure of the universe in the 1960s and 1970s. a

How Did the Solar System Form? (The Origin)

How did the Sun, planets and moons in the Solar System form? There is a surprising
amount of debate and several strong and competing theories, but do scientists have an
answer?

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What are the theories for the origin of the Solar System?
Any theory about how the Solar System came to be has to account for certain, rather tricky
facts. We know that the Sun sits at the centre of the Solar System with the planets in orbit
around it, but these throws up five major problems:
1. The Sun spins slowly, and only has 1 percent of the angular momentum of the Solar
System - but 99.9 percent of its mass. Why is this?
2. Terrestrial planets have solid cores - how did they form?
3. What about the gas giant planets like Jupiter - were they formed differently?
4. How did planetary satellites like the Moon come into being?
5. Bode's law states that the distances of the planets from the Sun follow a simple
arithmetic progression. Why should this be?
Taking all these issues into account, science has suggested five key theories considered to
be 'reasonable' in that they explain many (but not all) of the phenomena exhibited by the
Solar System. Find out more below.

The Accretion theory

The Sun passes through a dense interstellar cloud and emerges surrounded by a
dusty, gaseous envelope.
The problem is that of getting the cloud to form the planets. The terrestrial planets
can form in a reasonable time, but the gaseous planets take far too long to form. The theory
does not explain satellites or Bode's law and is therefore considered the weakest of those
described here.

The Protoplanet theory

A dense interstellar cloud produces a cluster of stars. Dense regions in the cloud
form and coalesce; as the small blobs have random spins the resulting stars will have low
rotation rates. The planets are smaller blobs captured by the star.
The small blobs would have higher rotation than is seen in the planets of the Solar
System, but the theory accounts for this by having the 'planetary blobs' split into planets
and satellites. However, it is not clear how the planets came to be confined to a plane or
why their rotations are in the same sense.

The Capture theory

The Sun interacts with a nearby protostar, dragging a filament of material from the
protostar. The low rotation speed of the Sun is explained as being due to its formation
before the planets, the terrestrial planets are explained by collisions between the
protoplanets close to the Sun, and the giant planets and their satellites are explained as
condensations in the drawn-out filament.

The Modern Laplacian theory

French astronomer and mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace first suggested in
1796 that the Sun and the planets formed in a rotating nebula which cooled and collapsed.
The theory argued that this nebula condensed into rings, which eventually formed the
planets and a central mass - the Sun. The slow spin of the Sun could not be explained.
The modern version assumes that the central condensation contains solid dust
grains which create drag in the gas as the centre condenses. Eventually, after the core has

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been slowed, its temperature rises and the dust evaporates. The slowly rotating core
becomes the Sun. The planets form from the faster rotating cloud.

The Modern Nebular theory

The planets originate in a dense disk formed from material in the gas and dust cloud
that collapses to give us the Sun. The density of this disk had to be sufficient to allow the
formation of the planets and yet be thin enough for the residual matter to be blown away
by the Sun as its energy output increased.
In 1992 the Hubble Space Telescope obtained the first images of proto-planetary
disks in the Orion nebula. They are roughly on the same scale as the Solar System and lend
strong support to this theory.

Conclusion
There have been many attempts to develop theories for the origin of the Solar System.
None of them can be described as totally satisfactory. We do believe, however, that we
understand the overall mechanism.

The Sun and the planets formed from the contraction of part of a gas/dust cloud under its
own gravitational pull and that the small net rotation of the cloud created a disk around the
central condensation. The central condensation eventually formed the Sun, while small
condensations in the disk formed the planets and their satellites. The energy from the
young Sun blew away the remaining gas and dust, leaving the Solar System as we see it
today.

Essay (5 points each number)

1. How the solar system does come to existence?

2. How does the planet in the solar system exist?

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Earth’s Subsystems

Choose the systems that are working together to create the following phenomena.

1. A mountain range blocks rainfall from reaching

an area, making it a dry, desert biome.

2. The ocean supports many ecosystems from coral

reefs to tide pools.

3. A sudden rainstorm in the desert can cause flooding

and severe erosions changing the landscape.

4. Volcanic events in the ocean create habitats for

creatures that live in or near the intense heat.

5. The troposphere is where evaporating water

from the ocean forms clouds and precipitations.

6. Wave action from strong winds causes the coastline

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 to erode.

7. Warning of the ocean with climate change may be

causing the increased violence in storms.

8. Daily rain and equator warmth create the perfect

weather for the Amazon Rainforest.

9. Winds sweep across the deserts raising giant

sandstorms that change the landscape.

1. Enumerate the layers of the atmosphere. Explain each layer.

2. What is the largest sphere among the four spheres?

3. It comprises the water portion of the Earth.

4. What will happen to the Earth if one of Sphere is eliminated? EXPLAIN.

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 Label the layers of the earth and explain each layer.

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Compare and Contrast the Rocks and Minerals based on their physical and chemical
properties.
Rocks Minerals

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Using the pictures below, identify the rocks (igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks,
metamorphic rocks).

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 Chapter Check
1. What theory explains the origin of the universe?

2. What theory explains the origin of the Solar System?

3. What are the four (4) basic Earth systems and their corresponding members/units?

4. Enumerate the different layers of the Earth and their corresponding boundaries.

Underline the word in ( ) that best completes each statement. (20 points)
Some characteristics of (Earth, your closet) that allow it to sustain life is the oxygen (rich,
poor) atmosphere and (water, candy) that is located on the surface of the earth. Both oxygen
and water are the (keys, not necessary) to life as we know it. Oxygen is used by (animals,
rocks) during aerobic (respiration, work-outs). Oxygen is (key, bad) for animals to adhere
to their basic needs. Surface (water, dirt) is also a basic need for all living things. Water keeps
all living things (hydrated, dry) as well as to help control the (climate, family) in which
organisms live.
Earth is surrounded by a (thin, crispy) atmosphere that contains nitrogen, oxygen, and other
(trace, stinky) gases. This atmosphere provides the (air, fumes) that we breathe. It also helps
to (regulate, calculate) the temperature so that we do not experience extreme (hot or cold,
good or bad). Earth’s atmosphere also contains a layer of (ozone, foam) a molecule
consisting of three oxygen (atoms, cookies) which provides protection from harmful solar
(radiation, comments). Finally, three-quarters of Earth's surface is covered by (water,
marshmallows) a necessary ingredient for life. Earth is the only (planet, pond) in the solar
system that contains liquid water.

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Chapter Activity and Brain Teasers
1. More than the theories and scientific discoveries stated in this module, recent
discoveries are now fortifying the Big Bang theory. List down at least one scientific
discovery (not stated in this module) that supports the Big Bang theory.

2. We are currently recognizing that the solar system has eight planets. Understanding
the Big Bang and Solar Nebula Hypothesis, billions of debris revolve around our sun
which could be considered as planets in our solar system?

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