0% found this document useful (0 votes)
74 views152 pages

DOC-20240901-WA0010.

The document contains comprehensive physics notes covering various topics including force and energy, sound, and electricity. Key concepts such as density, heat transfer, conservation of energy, and sound wave properties are discussed in detail. Additionally, it includes practical applications and experiments related to these concepts.

Uploaded by

abdoshmo932011
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
74 views152 pages

DOC-20240901-WA0010.

The document contains comprehensive physics notes covering various topics including force and energy, sound, and electricity. Key concepts such as density, heat transfer, conservation of energy, and sound wave properties are discussed in detail. Additionally, it includes practical applications and experiments related to these concepts.

Uploaded by

abdoshmo932011
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 152

Stage 8

Physics Notes

1
Contents
Unit 3: Force and Energy
3.1 Density 5
3.2 Heat and temperature 14
3.3 Conservation of energy 18
3.4 Moving from hot to cold 28
3.5 Ways of transferring thermal energy 31
3.6 Cooling by evaporation 41

Unit 6: Sound

6.1 Loudness and pitch of sound 47


6.2 Interference of sound 59

Unit 9: Electricity
9.1 Parallel circuits 67
9.2 Current and voltage in parallel circuits 72
9.3 Resistance 86
9.4 Practical circuits 92

2
Activity 97
Enquiry 105

Earth and Space physics


1 Tectonics 123
2 Climate change 137
3 Formation of the moon 142
4 Nebulae 147

3
Unit 3
Force and Energy

4
3.1 Density

♦ Density tells you how much mass there is in a certain volume.


♦ To work out density of any material, whether solid, liquid or gas, you need to
measure two things: the volume and the mass.

1st: Measuring volume

5
6
7
2nd: Measuring Mass

*If the object is regular or irregular Solid object:


You measuring the mass of a solid using a balance.

*If it is a liquid:
1- You measuring the mass of an empty cylinder (or container).
2- You pour the liquid in the cylinder (or container).
3- Record the new mass then subtract both masses.

8
Worked Example

9
Prior Knowledge

So, as particles in a material get packed closer together,


the density of the material increases.

10
Applications on Density:
Floating and Sinking

Fun experiment 

*Example:
Submarines:
1- Submarines contain tanks called ballast and trim tanks. These ballast and trim tanks are
filled with water and air accordingly for the submarine to sink or float in water.

2- When the submarine is floating on the surface, the tanks are filled with air so that the
density of the submarine is reduced compared to that of the surrounding water.

3- When the submarine sinks, the tanks are flooded with water causing the density of the
submarine to be greater than the surrounding water which makes the submarine sink easily.

11
Sea water and fresh water:
Saltwater is more dense than freshwater

Boats:
Prior Knowledge

The size of the upthrust depends on the density of the fluid as well as the volume of fluid that
is displaced (which is equal to the volume of the object)

**The denser the liquid, the greater the upthrust it will exert on an object

12
Key words
Density Mass per Unit volume
Hollow An object that has a space filled with air on the inside
Irregular Of a three-dimensional shape, having a volume that
cannot be calculated using a simple equation.
Regular Of a three-dimensional shape, such as a cube or cuboid,
having a volume that can be calculated using a simple
equation
Solid An object that has no space filled with air on the inside

Practice

13
3.2 Heat and temperature

Difference between energy and temperature

♦ The temperature tells us how hot or cold something is.


♦ Heat is the total thermal energy of the vibrating particles in an object.
♦ We use a thermometer to measure temperature.
♦ A liquid inside a very narrow glass tube expands when it is heated.

♦ We measure temperature in degree Celsius (oC).


♦ When we heat up a substance such as water, its temperature rises.
♦ Energy is transferred from a chemical store of a fuel such as gas to the
thermal store of energy in the water.
♦ Thermal energy and temperature are not the same.

14
How much energy does it take to raise the temperature of an object?

Prior knowledge
♦ The process of heating changes the motion of particles. If you heat a solid the
particles in the solid vibrate more.
♦ In liquids and gases the particles move faster means the temperature has increased.
♦ You cannot say that the individual particles in a solid, liquid or gas get hotter. each
particle can only move or vibrate faster.

 Energy that raises the temperature of an object depends on:


1- The mass or volume of the object  In a greater mass or volume there are
more particles. You need to transfer more energy to get them all moving or
vibrating faster.
2- The type of material  The particles of different materials have different
masses. If the particles are more massive you need more energy to get
them moving or vibrating faster.
3- The temperature change that you want  For a bigger temperature
change you need to get the particles all moving or vibrating even faster.
This takes more energy.

15
Examples that explain heat and temperature:

♦ The Ice Cream:


1- The ice cream is at a lower temperature than the
surroundings.
2- The thermal energy is transferred from the air to the
ice cream because of the temperature difference.
3- The larger a temperature difference between two
objects, the faster the thermal energy transfer.

♦ Hot soup and the cold water:


1- The soup and the water in the picture are made from
different materials, so the types of particles are
different.
2- The mass and volume of the soup and the water are
also different, so the number of particles is different.
3- The average energy of the soup particles is higher than
the average energy of the water particles (temperature
higher)

♦ Sparkler:
1- A white-hot spark is at a very high temperature
although it doesn’t contain much heat energy because
it doesn’t contain many particles.
2- The reason is the mass of the spark is very small and
the temperature difference between the air and the
spark is very large.

16
♦ As the temperature of an object decreases, the particles move
more slowly.
♦ A scientist called Kelvin in the 1800s predicted that particles
would eventually stop moving at the lowest possible
temperature. (which was proven later on that it isn’t possible)

Key words
Expand Becomes larger
Hotter Used to describe an object at a higher temperature
Heat The total thermal energy of the vibrating particles in
an object.
Temperature - The average energy of the particles
- The degree of hotness or coldness
Thermometer Measuring tool that is used to measure temperature
Joulemeter Measuring tool that is used to measure the Heat
energy.
Degree The temperature’s measuring unit
Celsius
Joules The heat (thermal) energy measuring unit

17
3.3 Conservation of energy

18
19
20
21
22
Sankey diagrams

♦ A Sankey diagram shows the energy transfers taking place in a process. The
thickness of the arrow shows the amount of energy transferred. The useful
energy is shown by the arrow that points to the right. The wasted energy is
shown by arrows that point up or down.

23
Test yourself

24
25
Test yourself

26
Key words
Conserved Means the total quantity of something is kept the
same.
Created To be made from nothing or from something
different.
Destroyed Cease to exist
System A system is a place where an energy change or
transfer occurs.

27
3.4 Moving from hot to cold

Feeling Hot
♦ Thermal energy always moves from a hot object to a cold object.
♦ If you put a cold object in contact with a hot object the temperature of the
cold object will increase, and the temperature of the hot object will decrease.
♦ Thermal energy has been transferred.

♦ When thermal energy is removed from a hot object, we say that the thermal
energy has dissipated

28
Feeling Cold
♦ Imagine you are holding ice. The ice feels cold. It is easy to think that the cold
from the ice moves into your hand, but that does not happen.
♦ Cold is not an energy store and cold cannot move. Cold means there is less
thermal energy.

♦ When you hold the ice, you feel cold because thermal energy has been
transferred away from your hands.
♦ You can damage your skin by holding ice for too long, as your skin needs the
correct quantity of thermal energy to function.

29
Dissipation

♦ You met the word dissipation in Stage 7. Dissipation is used to describe the
movement of heat away from its source into the surrounding environment.
♦ When thermal energy moves from a hotter place to a colder place, we say
that thermal energy has dissipated from the hotter place.
♦ The rate, or speed, of thermal energy transfer increases when the
temperature difference between the hot place and the cold place increases.
Remember that energy is always conserved, so the thermal energy has not
disappeared or been destroyed, it has just spread out and moved to a colder
place.

Key words
Hotter Means the total quantity of something is kept the
same.
Colder To be made from nothing or from something
different.

30
3.5 Ways of transferring thermal energy

Heat and particle movement

♦ When any substance is heated, the particles in that substance start to move
faster.

Solid Liquid Gas


the particles are far
the particles the particles also apart and move in
move by vibrating vibrate, but the straight lines until they
particles are not in collide with another
around fixed particle or the walls of
positions fixed positions
the container

When the liquid is When the gas is


As the particles heated, the particles
vibrate more heated, the particles move faster and collide
vigorously, they vibrate faster and with more force and
take up more space. move around faster more frequently

That means solids That means the so gases also


expand when liquid expands when expand when
heated heated. heated

31
32
33
34
35
♦ Convection can happen in liquids and gases because the particles are free to
move.
♦ Convection cannot happen in a solid because the particles are not free to
move. The particles in a solid can only vibrate about fixed positions.

36
Radiation

37
Heat transfer
examples

♦ Most objects gain or lose thermal energy by a combination of


conduction, convection and radiation. Look at the picture of the room
heater.

♦ The room heater in the picture has hot water flowing through the inside.
1- Thermal energy from the hot water is transferred to the metal of the
heater by conduction.
2- Thermal energy from the metal is transferred to the air, also by
conduction. When the warm air expands, this warm air rises, which
heats the air above by convection.
3- The metal surface of the heater also emits thermal energy by
radiation.
♦ Some objects are designed to reduce the effects of conduction,
convection or radiation.

38
♦ Vacuum flasks are containers used to store hot liquids such as tea, coffee
or soup. The flask is designed to slow the transfer of thermal energy by
reducing conduction and radiation.
Test yourself

39
Key words
Conduction Method of thermal energy transfer where more
vigorously vibrating particles causes neighbouring
particles to vibrate by colliding; conduction works best
where particles are close together in solids and liquids
Convection Method of thermal energy transfer where more
vigorously vibrating particles cause expansion and
decrease in density in a liquid or gas; the less dense
material then rises because it floats, setting up a
convection current.
Convection current Flow of particles through a liquid or gas due to difference
in density
Emit Give out radiation or energy
Expand Become larger
Radiation Method of thermal energy transfer that uses waves and
does not depend on particles; occurs through a vacuum,
though gases and through transparent solids.
Vigorously With a lot of movement and a lot of energy.

Summary

40
3.6 Cooling by evaporation

♦ Evaporation is the change of state from liquid to gas.


♦ Think of a liquid such as water at room temperature. The particles in the
water are moving around in random directions. Some of these particles
move faster than others, and the speed of the particles is also random.
The word random means unpredictable.

♦ The particles in the water that are moving faster have more energy. Some
of these particles have enough energy to escape from the surface of the
liquid and become particles of a gas.
♦ Some of these are pulled back into the liquid, but others have sufficient
energy to leave and not get pulled back.

41
♦ Different liquids have different forces holding the particles together.
- Perfumes are designed to evaporate quickly and easily so you can
smell them. Perfume evaporates faster than water.
- Liquid soap evaporates much more slowly than water. Water
evaporates faster than liquid soap.

42
Evaporation examples

1) Cooling Skin:
- Droplets of sweat, which is mainly water, form on the surface of your
skin.
- The water evaporates as thermal energy is transferred from your skin
to the sweat.
- The thermal energy makes the water molecules move more quickly, so
they can escape from the liquid water.

2) Cooling animals
- A dog will pant to help it cool down.
- Water evaporates from its tongue.
- Elephants will use water on their skin to
cool down.

3) Evaporative refrigerators
- In a refrigerator a special liquid called a
refrigerant is pumped around tubes at the back.
- Thermal energy from inside the refrigerator
evaporates the refrigerant.
- This cools down the inside of the refrigerator.
- Air conditioning woks in the same way.

43
4) Evaporative coolers
**Water cooler:
- Made from porous clay.
- When it is filled with water, some water soaks through the clay to the
outside.
- This water evaporates into surrounding air, cooling the water inside the
water cooler.

**Air Cooler:
- Contains a sponge that is soaked in water.
- A fan blows warm air from the room through the sponge.
- The warm air provides the thermal energy of the air decreases, cooling
the air.

44
5) Drying Clothes
- Some of the water molecules on the surface of
the wet cloth have enough energy to escape
into the air (to evaporate).
- Some of them may gain enough energy to
escape by first absorbing heat from sunlight, or
by being hit by a fast-moving air molecule.
- This is why clothes will dry faster in the sun
and/or in the breeze.

Key words
Porous A solid that has tiny holes allowing water to soak
through.
Random Not predictable or not following any patter.

45
Unit 6
Sound Waves

46
6.1 Loundness and pitch of sound

47
48
Waveform

49
Test yourself

50
51
♦ If you want to see what sound waves are like we can use a
microphone attached to an oscilloscope.
♦ The sound wave reaches the microphone which produces an
electrical signal.
♦ This is displayed on the screen of the oscilloscope.

52
53
54
Very important prior

♦ Measuring unit  Decibels (dB)


♦ Measuring instrument  audiometer

Test yourself

55
Changing sound
♦ When you pluck a guitar string, it vibrates
very rapidly. It may vibrate hundreds or
thousands of times each second.
♦ If the strings is tightened or became
shorter, the pitch will increase, because the
speed of vibrations increases.
♦ If the strings plucked harder, the loundness
will increase.

Test yourself

56
Vibrations in a ruler

57
Key words
Amplitude

Frequency

Loudness

Oscilloscope

Peak

Pitch

Trough

Waveform

58
6.2 Interference of sound

♦ When two or more sound waves from different sources are present at the
same time, they interact with each other to produce a new wave
(superposition). The new wave is the sum of all the different waves. Wave
interaction is called Superposition

Sound interference
Conditions

1- The waves must be same type (which means sound waves cannot
interfere with water waves).
2- Interference occur when waves have same frequency and same
amplitude to facilitate the detection of it.
3- Interferenc can produce two effects: either reinforce or cancel each
other.

59
Reinforcement
(Constructive interference)

♦ Waves will reinforce when they meet with the peaks together and
with the troughs together and they reinforce each other. This is
shown in the diagram.
♦ When two waves travel in the same direction and are in phase with
each other, their amplitude gets added, and the resultant wave is
obtained. Here, the waves are said to have undergone constructive
interference
♦ We can also observe that the amplitude of the resultant wave is
higher than the waves which undergo interference.

60
♦ The produced wave will be:
1) The amplitudes of the two waves that interfere are added together.
(So, Louder sound is produced)
2) The frequency of the two waves that interfere does not change.

61
Cancellation
(Destructive interference)

♦ When two waves of different phases meet, their resultant amplitude


decreases are called destructive Interference
♦ Waves will cancel when they meet with the peaks and troughs together.
♦ Think of a peak as the wave’s maximum Positive amplitude, and a trough
as the wave’s maximum negative amplitude.
♦ When you add a positive number to a negative number of equal size, you
get zero.

♦ The sound waves are out of phase.


♦ The amplitudes of the two waves that interfere are added together to
become zero (producing no sound).

62
Test yourself

63
Noise-Cancelling headphones

 The headphones pick up the sound from the surroundings, then analyse
the sound wave and create another sound wave with the same
amplitude and frequency, but out of phase with the original wave.
 This new sound wave is used to cancel the sound wave from the
surroundings.

64
Key words
Interference The effect produced when two or more waves meet.
Reinforce Where interference results in an increase in
amplitude.

65
Unit 9
Electricity

66
9.1 Parallel Circuits

Prior Knowledge

67
Comparison Series Circuit Parallel Circuit
Diagram

Arrangement The components are connected The components are


(connection) end-to end or one after the other connected side by side
Path of the Only one path for the electrons Electrons have several paths,
electrons its divided at junction A and
rejoin at junction B
Flow of Flow in the same direction. Flow in the same direction
electrons
Electric All of the current flowing out of one Current from the cell flows to
current component, flows into the next the branch in the circuit.
component. 1- If the lamps are
identical, the current
will be divided equally.
2- If the lamps are not
identical, the current
will not be divided
equally.
Advantages 1- Series circuits do not overheat 1- Components in the same
easily – this makes series circuits circuit can be switched on
extremely useful in applications and off independently.
that may be around flammable 2- If a component in one
sources. branch stops working, the
2- They are easy to design and learn other branches are not
– series circuits are extremely easy affected.
to learn. Due to their simple design 3- All the connected lamps
faults are easy to spot and repair have same brightness.
3- Higher output in voltage – if you
add more power components to

68
the circuit you can increase the
output voltage.
4- All components carry the same
current – because the current has
to flow through every component
in the circuit the current stays
consistent and at the same level
throughout the circuit
Disadvantages 1- If one component fails or any 1- Lots of wires are required –
point breaks the circuit fails – lots of wires are required in
when using a series circuit if any the construction of a
point of the circuit fails the whole parallel circuit, this can
circuit fails too. make parallel circuits look
2- As the number of components in messy if they are not wired
the circuit increases, so does the neatly
resistance – when more 2- Fault finding is more
components are added to a series complex than series circuits
circuit the level of resistance in the – in series circuits you can
circuit increases pinpoint where a fault has
occurred easier than in a
parallel circuit.
Voltage Divided across each component The same across all of the
according to the amount of components.
electrical energy it needs to
operate.

69
Summary

70
Key words

Branches Parts of a parallel circuit where current divides


Connected in Components that are attached across each other, so
parallel that the terminals of one component are connected
to the terminals of the other.
Connected in Components that are joined so that all the current
series flowing out of one component flows into the next
Parallel Circuit with branches where current can flow through
circuit more than one route

71
9.2 Current and voltage in parallel and series circuits

Voltage
♦ A force is needed to make the charges in a circuit move. This force is provided by
the battery. The size of that push is voltage.
♦ The voltage also tells us about the energy that is transferred to the components
by the current.
♦ The more voltage, the more current (Because the bigger push will make the flow
of charges faster)
♦ Voltage rating tells us maximum voltage that can be used (Ex: Lamps of the
school are often rated at 3 or 6 V)

72
♦ The chemical energy stored in the battery is transferred to the components by the
current.
♦ You can connect a voltmeter across the terminals of a battery or cell to find out how
much energy it can give to the charges flowing round a circuit.

73
74
Series circuits

1) Voltage

♦ The supply voltage is shared between components in a series circuit, so the


sum of the voltages across all of the components in a series circuit is equal
to the supply voltage.

75
Series circuits

2) Current

♦ The current in a series circuit is the same at all places in the circuit.

76
Parallel Circuits

1)Voltage

♦ The voltage across components connected in parallel is the same as the


supply voltage for each component.

77
2) Current

♦ The current in a parallel circuit split into different branches then


combines again before it goes back into the supply.
♦ Is  Total current.

78
Test yourself

79
Exam Tip

♦ If the question asked you to change something in the circuit to either


increase or decrease the current or voltage. Try to replace the
components without messing up the order or type of the components
♦ Example:

 What changes required to decrease the current in this circuit?


1- Replace one of the lamps by another lamp of less resistance.
2- Replace the cell by another cell of higher voltage.

 Don’t say  Remove one of the lamps or add another cell because
that means you didn’t change the components, you added or
removed which changed the order of the components which was
two lamps and one cell.

80
Key words

Battery Two or more electrical cells connected in series


Mains The power supply from wall sockets; 220- 240 V in most countries
or 110 – 120 V in others.
Rating The maximum current or voltage that can be safely used without
damaging a component
Supply To provide something; a power supply provides voltage to drive
current in a circuit
Voltage A quantity that is related to either the energy supplied by a power
supply or the energy changed by a component
Voltmeter A meter that is connected in parallel with a component in order to
measure the voltage across that component
Volts The unit of voltage with symbol V

81
Modelling electrical circuits

Series Circuit Parallel Circuit

Components:
1- Pump represents the cell or
battery Components:
2- Tap represents the switch 1- Water turbine represents the
3- Narrow pipe represents the lamp or resistor (electrical
resistor component)
4- Meter represents ammeter 2- Pump represents the cell or
5- Water represents the electrons battery
or electric current 3- Water represents the electrons
6- (Narrow pipe can be replaced or electric current
by radiator) The radiator will be
representing the Lamp.

82
Series Circuit Parallel Circuit
Strengths of the model: Strengths of the model:
1- The flow of water is the same 1- The water would divide at the
throughout the pipe which is junction in the pipes and merge
like the current in series circuit. back together when the pipes re-
2- There is only one path for the join.
current to take. 2- Each branch will have different
3- The pump transfers energy to value of current if the turbines
the water particles which then are different.
flows throughout the model 3- Water and current are not used
(same idea with the electrons) up.
4- Water and current are not used
up.
Limitations of the model:
Limitations of the model: 1- The water can leak from the
1- The water can leak from the pipes if the pipe were damaged.
pipes if the pipes were 2- Radiator takes time to heat up
damaged, but the charges will the water.
never leak from the wire. 3- We can’t see what is happening
2- (If the narrow pipe is replaced to the water inside the pipes.
by a radiator) Radiator takes
time to heat up the water.
3- We cannot see what is
happening to the water inside
the pipes.

Water pipes analogy

83
The factory Model

Components:
1- The factory represents the battery.
2- The trucks represents the charges (electrons that flow)
3- The shop represents the lamp.

 There are many mode models that can represent the electrical circuit.
Instead of memorising each model, you must think about their
strengths and limitations by thinking about the idea of how electrical
circuits works in the first place.

84
Test yourself

85
9.3 Resistance

poor

86
87
88
In Series Circuit

89
In Parallel Circuit

♦ The value of the combined Resistance will always be less than the
smallest resistance connected in parallel

Function of resistors:

♦ The filament of a lamp is a resistor that has high resistance. So, when the
current passes through it, the filament glows up and light up the lamp.
♦ The variable resistor is placed in ovens to change the temperatures of the
oven by changing the current.

90
Key words
Filament

Ohms

Ohm’s law

Resistor

Resistance

91
9.4 Practical circuits

Circuit diagrams and components

92
Simple Circuit

♦ Any electric circuit would require three important components, Power source
which is the battery, a switch and an indicator which is the light bulb.

93
Test yourself

94
Key words
Dimmer

Fixed
Resistor

Variable
resistor

95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
Experimental Skills

106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
 In physics, preliminary work refers to the initial steps taken before
conducting an experiment.

 This includes planning the experiment, determining the equipment and


materials needed, and setting up the experimental apparatus.

 Preliminary work can also involve conducting background research to


understand the theory behind the experiment and to identify potential
sources of error.

Example

120
121
Earth and Space

122
1. Tectonics

Prior Knowledge

123
Prior Knowledge

Tectonic plates is part of the Earth crust that moves on the mantle

124
 When you look at a world map, it looks like the continents could
fit together like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle.
 Scientists have done this with the continents on Earth. The
continental coasts can fit together as shown in the diagram.

 Scientists say that this continental jigsaw appearance is


evidence for tectonics plates. There is a hypothesis that there
was once only one large continent that eventually separated.

 The separated parts became some of the tectonic plates, and


the convection currents from the mantle drove their movement

125
126
Movement of tectonic plates

Prior Knowledge

127
 What causes the tectonic plates to move?
 The mantle is heated from the innermost part of the Earth (the inner
core)
 The inner core is estimated to be at a temperature of over 5000 oC
(the high temperature is due to the thermal energy left from the
formation of the Earth)
 Thermal energy is transferred through fluids by convection and that
convection currents occur in fluids.

Convection current in mantle


1. The inner part of the mantle gets thermal energy from the core
2. The fluid in the mantle then expands when heated and
becomes less dense than the fluids surrounding it.
3. That fluid of the mantle rises towards the crust, cools down and
sinks again.
4. This cycle is repeated resulting in a convection current

128
 Limitations: The rising cooking oil (liquid) doesn’t form a new biscuit
at the surface

129
Very Important Note

Types of movement
 Divergent plate boundary:
1- referred to as a constructive boundary, a divergent boundary indicates
places where two tectonic plates move away from each other.
2- Most active divergent boundaries are found between oceanic plates,
where they exist as mid-oceanic ridges.
3- The divergent boundaries within the continents produce rifts.

130
 Convergent Plate Boundary:
1- referred to as a 'destructive boundary', a convergent boundary is an area
where two plates move towards one another.
2- In this area, one of the plates slides beneath the other plate in a process
known as Subduction.
3- Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain-building activities are
common along convergent boundaries.
4- When the crust is pushed under the continents it becomes part of the
mantle.

131
Evidence on tectonic
plates movement

That the continents Alignment of


Fossil Records found
fit together like a magnetic rocks exist
in different
jigsaw puzzle continents in the earth crust

Fossil Record

 The fossil record provides more evidence for tectonic plates and their
movement.
 What is a fossil record?
 The fossil record is the name given to the collection of thousands of
fossils that provide us with information about the time before humans
were on Earth
 Fossils are the remains of dead animals and plants that have turned
to stone over millions of years

132
Mesosaurus Glossopteris

 Fossils of an extinct reptile called  300 million-year-old fossils of the plant


mesosaurus have been found in the Glossopteris have been found in
parts of Africa and South America that Antarctica, India, Australia, Africa and
would fit together in the jigsaw model South America.
of the continents.  This gives more evidence for the
 Mesosaurus lived about 275 million hypothesis that these continents were
years ago and was similar to a once joined.
crocodile. These animals lived at the
coast and in shallow water.
 It is not likely that they would have
crossed the 5000 km-wide atlantic
ocean that now separates these
continents

133
Alignment of magentic rocks

 Magnetic crystals in molten rocks line up to point north in the same way as a
compass needle.
 When the rock solidifies, scientists can use these crystals to tell the direction
of the Earth’s magnetic field at the time when the rock became solid.
 The direction that the crystals are pointing is called alignment.
(alignment means to live up in a particular way)

 When the Magnetic field of the Earth reverses, the magnetic rocks re-align
again.
 This realignment tends to push the old rocks away from each other, creating
a gap that is filled later with magma from the mantle.
 This proves that the tectonic plates are moving.

134
Events occur because of the movement of tectonic plates

 Earthquakes and Volcanoes were observed always to be happening at the


tectonic plate boundaries
 That means that the movement of tectonic plates is what causes them.

135
Key words
jigsaw

Continental
Coast

Fossil
records

Alignment

136
2. Climate Change

Climate change in the past

 Climate is the long-term pattern of temperatures, wind and rainfall on Earth.


The Earth’s climate has been very different in the past compared to the
climate today. Here are some examples of changes that we know about.

1st : Ice ages

 About 2 billion years ago, the Earth experienced the first ice age that we
know about.
 Since then, the Earth has cycled between relatively warm periods and
relatively cold ones
 In the warm periods, there was no ice at all, even at the poles. In the colder
periods, called ice ages, there was ice at the poles.

137
2nd : Snowball Earth

 about 650 million years ago, the whole


Earth was covered with ice and snow
 Scientists call this ‘snowball Earth’, or
sometimes ‘slush ball Earth’, because they
are not sure whether everything was
completely frozen.

3rd: Asteroids colliding with each other

 470 million years ago, scientists think that two


asteroids collided with one another when they
were in space, somewhere in between Earth and
Mars
 The collision produced huge quantities of dust
 The dust reduced the amount of light and heat
from the Sun reaching the Earth’s surface.
 This triggered an ice age.
 The Earth became much colder – the ice caps
spread much further from the poles and sea level
fell

138
4th : Asteroids colliding with Earth

 67 million years ago, an asteroid collided with Earth. Researchers have


identified an area on the coast of Mexico where the asteroid impact
took place.
 There was huge devastation close to where the asteroid fell. It would
have been like a massive bomb exploding, with shock waves and very
high temperatures spreading out from the crater.
 But the collision affected the whole planet, not just the surrounding
area, because it threw huge quantities of rock and dust into the air. It
would also have created a massive tsunami (a huge sea wave), which
could have spread across all of the Earth’s oceans.
 The dust in the air meant that less light reached the Earth’s surface.
Plants could not photosynthesis, so animals had less food. As well as
the disruption to food chains, the Earth became much colder, because
less heat from the Sun could reach the surface.

139
140
Key words
Slush

Mass
extinction
Meteorites

Meteoroids

Meteors

Craters Investigation

141
3. Formation of the moon

 In 1974, it was suggested that the Moon formation can be explained by the
collision theory

Collision theory for the formation of the Moon

 The collision theory (more commonly called the giant impact hypothesis) is
another theory of how the Moon was formed. There is more evidence that
supports the collision theory than any other current theory.

 The collision theory refers to a collision that happened relatively soon after
the formation of the Solar System.

 A newly formed planet, about the same size as Mars, collided with the
newly formed Earth

 Scientists have called the colliding planet Theia.

142
Evidence that supports the theory

1- The Moon is less dense than the Earth


2- Samples of rock from the Moon show that its surface was once molten

3- The Moon has a small iron core, similar to the Earth.

4- There is evidence outside the Solar System of similar collisions causing rings
of rock and dust.
5- The collision theory fits with the theory of how the Solar System was formed.
6- The composition of rocks on the Earth and the Moon are the same.

143
Evidence that contradicts the theory

1- The surface of the Earth does not appear to ever have been molten. A
collision that formed the Moon would have caused the surface of the Earth
to melt. The surface would have later solidified.

2- Venus has no moon. Collisions in the early years of the Solar System would
have been common and scientists would have expected Venus to have a
moon formed in the same way.

3- The composition of rocks on the Moon would be expected to be more


similar to rocks on Theia, than rocks on Earth. In fact, the composition of
the Moon is more similar to Earth.

Capture Theory for the formation of the Moon

 The capture theory was proposed by American astronomer Thomas


Jefferson Jackson See in 1909. It postulates that the Moon was a rocky
wandering body that was captured by the Earth’s gravitational field as it
flew by
 According to this theory, the Moon allegedly formed elsewhere in the Solar
System and just happened to become “trapped” by the Earth’s
gravitational force as it passed near it. The Moon has been forced to orbit
our planet since then.

144
Fission Theory for the formation of the Moon

 The fission theory states that the Moon broke away from the Earth at
the beginning of the Solar System. At that time, the Earth hadn’t fully
solidified and spun very fast, describing a full rotation in three or four
hours
 Contradiction 
1- But the math didn’t add up. In the 20th century, scientists
discarded this theory because they calculated that the Earth’s spin
couldn’t have been fast enough to expel a portion of the planet
into space.
2- Plus, if that was the case, the debris would have fallen back on the
Earth’s surface or gone into orbit around the Sun, but it is unlikely
that it would have stayed in Earth’s orbit, as proposed in the
theory

145
Key words
Collision
Theory
Collision

146
4. Nebulae

What is Nebulae?

 Nebulae are clouds of dust and gas in space.


 The word nebulae is plural. The singular is nebula.

 Nebulae are clouds of dust and gas in space.


 The word nebulae is plural. The singular is nebula.
 The gases found in nebulae are mostly hydrogen and a smaller quantity of
helium.
 The particles of gas and dust are very far apart in nebulae.
 A nebula the same size as the Earth would have a mass of only a few
kilograms!
 Most nebulae are very large. Many nebulae are more then 10 000 times
bigger than the Solar System!

147
How is it formed?

 Some nebulae form when giant stars reach the end of their life. These giant
stars then explode, sending dust and gas over a wide area of space.

Can we observe it?

 There are many nebulae visible from Earth (even without using the
telescope).

Orion Nebula Tarantula nebula


- If you live in the northern - If you live in the southern
hemisphere, one of the hemisphere, the easiest
easiest nebulae to see is the nebula to see is the
Orion nebula. Tarantula nebula.
- The northern hemisphere is - The southern hemisphere is
the part of the Earth that is the part of the Earth that is
north of the equator. south of the equator.

148
What is Stellar nurseries?

 A stellar nursery is an area in space where stars are formed. The word stellar
can used to describe anything about stars
 A nursery is a place to care for young people, animals or plants. In this case,
the word nursery applies to young stars
 Some types (not all) of nebulae act as stellar nurseries.

What happens in stellar nurseries?

 In a stellar nursery, the dust and gas can start to collapse together under the
force of gravity
 When the mass of dust and gas collects together and becomes larger, the
force of gravity pulling inward increases.
 When this force gets very large, the pressure inside the new star also gets
very large
 The high pressure causes heat.
 The heat can cause atoms to react with each other, causing the new star to
give out heat and light.

The picture shows a stellar nursery


photographed from space. You can see
the young stars inside the cloud. Some
of these stars are only half the mass of
the Sun and have not yet reached their
full brightness. The light from the stars
lights up the dust and gas in the cloud

149
150
151
Key words

Nebulae
(singular
nebula)
Northern
Hemisphere
Southern
Hemisphere
Stellar
nurseries

152

You might also like