Senior High Grade 11

Earth and Life Science

Universe
 Creationist Theory (Theist)
o Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other religious groups
o There is a supreme or divine being, almighty one, supernatural creator, or God
who created or designed the Universe
o In Christian Old Testament
 Book of Genesis in the Bible
 7 days of creation
o Young Universe
 Big Bang Theory (Alexander Friedman and George Lamaitre, 1920)
o This theory states that the universe began with a big explosion
o Prevailing cosmological model for the universe
o 13.7 billion years ago
o Extremely high pressure and temperature caused the explosion and eventually
propelled the contents of the universe that were originally in a small volume
o Expansion has continued very slowly
o Process:
 Singularity or small bundle of energy which is smaller than atom
exploded
 The birth of the first atom (Hydrogen)
 With a lot of heat and pressure, more atoms were created such as Helium
 Gravity squeeze clouds of gas and dust. Collision of Hydrogen atom and
Helium because of too much heat and pressure resulted to the formation
of star or sun.
 Star or sun fused different form of atoms or elements.
 Explosion of supernovas or stars fueled the formation of other elements
 Formation of Planets
o Elementary particles – basic building blocks of matter
 Quarks – protons and neutrons
 Up / Down
 Charm / Strange
 Top / Bottom
 Leptons – electrical and neutral(No charge) charge
 Electron / Electro neutrino
 Muon / Mu neutrino
 Tau / Tau neutrino
 Higgs Particle (Higgs Boson)
 Peter Higgs and Francois Englert
 God Particle
 Origin of mass
o Fundamental Forces
 Strong nuclear force – force that binds nucleus
 Holds the proton and neutron
 Strongest and short range force
 Electromagnetic force – Coulomb force (attraction or repulsion of
particles because of their electric charge)
 One positive and One negative ( + - ) attract each other
 Both positive ( + + ) or both negative ( - - ) repel each other
 Strong and infinite range
 Weak nuclear force – radioactive decay
 Decay of unstable subatomic particles
 Ex. Beta decay (neutron changes into proton and vice versa)
 Weak force and short range
 Gravitational force – binds the solar system
 Weakest and infinite range or macro scale
o Evidences of Big Bang Theory
 Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) – residual heat during
creation or big bang
 Faint glow of light in the universe
 The afterglow
 Oldest light we can see in space
 Oldest remnant of the Big Bang
 Expansion of Universe
 Hubble’s Law (Edwin Hubble. 1929)
o Galaxies and clusters of galaxies are moving away from
each other at great speed
o Space is expanding not the galaxy
o Universe is definitely growing in size slowly
o The speed and distance of galaxy is proportional or the
greater the distance of the galaxy the faster it moves away
from earth
o Analogy of Raisin and Dough
 Red Shift Effect and Doppler Effect
o Doppler Effect - Change in frequency of a wave for an
observer moving relative to its source
 Object moving towards you have higher frequency
or wave length is compressed
 Object moving away from you have lower
frequency or wave length is stretched
o Red Shift – the red light or CMB emitted by the moving
galaxy when it moves away from earth
o Blue Shift - the blue light or CMB emitted by the moving
galaxy when it moves towards the earth
 o The color of CMB in space cannot be observe by our naked
eye due to the light wave spectrum.
 Inflation Theory (Alan Guth, 1980)
o Expansion of universe after Big Bang
o Flatness problem: Universe is flat because it is fantastically big (in the same way
that the spherical Earth appears flat to those on its surface).
 There should be a curvature in our universe
o Monopole problem : A hypothetical particle that is a magnet with only one pole
(a north pole without a south pole or vice versa)
 Big bang predicts production of magnetic poles
 Monopoles dropped exponentially to undetectable level during rapid
expansion; the chances of actually observing even one magnetic
monopole are infinitesimally small in a universe of such immense size
o Horizon problem : Big bang states that space in opposite direction are so far
apart they could never have contact with each other
 Exponential expansion in early universe presupposes that the distant
regions were much closer to each other prior to inflation
 Parallel Universe Theory – there could be universe beside our own where all the
choices you made in this life played out in alternate realities. These are the distinct
universes within multiverse
 Multiverse Theory – there are many universe exist parallel to each other
 Fate of the universe
o Big Crunch Theory
 The end of the universe
 The expansion of the universe will not continue forever
 At certain point, it will stop expanding and collapse into itself
 Pulling everything until it eventually turns into black hole
 Collision of galaxy, planets, stars and other celestial bodies
o Steady State Theory (Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold, and Sir Fred Hoyle, 1940)
 Our galaxy has no beginning and end
 Universe does not change over time
 Infinite universe or continuous
 Density of galaxies remains more or less constant as universe expands
Solar System
 Observable universe
o 46 billion light years
o Reachable by us 14.5 billion light years
o Contains very large number of superclusters, clusters, galaxies and other matter
o Estimated diameter: 28.5 gigaparsecs (93 billion light-years, 8.8×1026 meters or
5.5×1023 miles)
o Local Supercluster (Laniakea = Immense heaven in Hawaiian)
 Contains numerous supercluster including Virgo Supercluster
o Virgo Supercluster
 Contains thousands of clusters of galaxies including Local Galactic Group
 we see in the direction of the constellation Virgo
o Local Galactic Group
 Cluster of galaxies including Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy
o Milky Way Galaxy
 Contains the Sun and its collection of planets
 Roughly 400 billion stars
 Four large spiral arm
 Two major arms (Perseus and Scutum-Centaurus), two minor arms
(Sagittarius and Norma) , and two smaller spurs (Orion and Outer)
 Orion spur or arm contains the sun and the solar system
o Solar System
 Sun (star) as the center
 Planet-moon system
 8 planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupitar, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
 Satellites (moons)
 Asteroids, Comets, and Metoeroids
o Earth
 Ball of rock and metal whose surface all geography exists
 Livable planet
 Presence of life and water
 Circumference : 40,075km
 Theories regarding the origin of Solar System
o Vortex Theory (Rene Descartes, 1633)
 Le Monde (The World) – published book or work
 Cartesian Cosmology and Astrophysics
 Space was entirely filled with matter in various states, whirling about the
sun
 Colliding particles that supply the pushed the planets towards the Sun
 Matter and Motion resulted to life
 Bodies once in motion, Descartes argued, remain in motion in a
straight line unless and until they are deflected from this line by
the impact of another body.
  Newton showed it was impossible as a dynamical system.
 This became the foundation of all theories regarding Solar System
o Buffon’s Collision (Georges-Louis Leclerc, count de Buffon)
 Sun collision with a giant comet
 Used the new physics of Isaac Newton to conjecture how matter in
motion might have formed the Earth
 Broken debris of the sun resulted to the formation of the planets
 Released materials turned into planets (condensed materials from
the sun)
o Tidal Theory (James Haywood Jeans and Harold Jeffrey)
 Result of a close encounter between the Sun and a second star
 Tidal interaction between two stars raised tides which resulted to a loss
of a single cigar-shaped filament of hot gas
 Condensation of hot gas into planets
 Parts of the sun and star detached and form the planets
 Henry Norris Russell debated this theory
 He pointed out that it was hard to see how a close stellar
encounter could leave the Sun, which is a thousand times more
massive than the planets, with such a tiny share of the solar
system's angular momentum.
o Nebular Theory (Immanuel Kant and Pierre Simon Laplace)
 Nebula = Cloud in Latin
 Process:
 Formation of interstellar cloud containing different elements
 Gravitational force increase and resulted to kinetic energy of fast-
moving particles
 Collision of particles which generate heat
 Nuclear fusion begins resulted to the formation of Sun
 Gravity and pressure formed the gas and dust into planets
 Inner orbit planets formed the Terrestrial planets while outer
orbit planets formed the Jovian planets
 Planets rotate in the same direction and orbit within 6 degrees of
a common plane
o Solar Nebular Theory (Immanuel Kant and Pierre Simon Laplace)
 Formation of planets require to condensate, a solid particle in the solar
nebula
 Four classes based on condensation temperature
 0.2% metals (iron, nickel, aluminum, etc.)
 0.4% rocks (silicates)
 1.4% hydrogen compounds (water, ammonia, methane)
 98% light gasses (hydrogen and helium)
 Inner solar nebula (Mercury to Mar’s orbit)
 Condensate slowly
  Formation of planets through accretion
 Terrestrial Planets
 Outer solar nebula (Jupiter to Neptune’s orbit)
 Accelerated faster condensates
 Strong gravitational force
 Formation of planets through the process of nebular capture
 Jovian Planets
 Angular Momentum – the degree tilted of the planet, rotation, and
movement of the planet on the orbit’s plane
 Condensation of gas and dust
 Explosion of a Star (supernova) caused the collapse
 Accretion – creation of planetisimals
 Colliding planetisimals created protoplanets
 Solar System
o Sun
 Nuclear fusion of hydrogen atom and helium atom)
 Reaction by which lighter atomic nuclei fuse to form a heavier
nucleus
 Energy is release through the form of light and heat
 Creates energy by converting hydrogen to helium
 Hydrogen and helium fuse together
 Sunspots – dark spots of the sun when magnetic fields of the sun slows
down the movement of the gases in convective zone
 Cooler area
 Solar flare – enormous explosion in the sun’s atmosphere that is capable
of emitting electrical particles to the entire solar system
 Stars produce light not planet, they only reflect it
 Star’s temperature determine its color
 Blue – hottest
 Red – coldest
o Aurora
 Atmospheric phenomenon consisting of bands, curtains, or streamers of
light, usually green, red, or yellow, that move across the sky in Polar
Regions.
 Collisions between the solar winds and the magnetic field
 Magnetic field reflects the solar wind
 Aurora borealis (Northern lights)
 Aurora australis (Southern lights)
o Planets
 Orbiting in the same plane
 Circular or elliptical
o Due to gravitational force of the Sun
 Orbits of planets are in the same plane as the rotation of the sun
  Counter clockwise direction
 Have Rotation motion
 8 Planets
 Terrestrial Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars)
o Small rocky planets
o Smaller
o Short orbital periods
o Less satellites (Moons)
o Made up of rock and Metal
o Move slowly in space
o No rings
o Diameter : less than 13000km
 Jovian Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune)
o Gas giants
o Larger
o Long orbital periods
o Numerous satellites (Moons)
o Made up of gases (primarily hydrogen and helium)
o Move quickly in space
o Have rings
o Diameter : less than 48000km
 Other bodies
 Asteroid
o “Star-like”
o Small bodies usually more than 100 m in diameter
o Located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter called
Asteroid belt
o Leftover debris/remnants from the formation of the solar
system
o 4.6 billion years old
o Approximately 2000 Earth-crossing asteroids
o Ceres – first discovered asteroid
 Guiseppe Piazzi of Italy in 1801
o NEAR-SHOEMAKER (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous –
Shoemaker)
 Renamed after Eugene Shoemaker
 Monitors asteroid near Earth
 Landed successfully on Eros
 Meteoroids
o Debris/remnants of dust from comets and asteroids
o Found throughout the solar system
 o Glow brightly when their movement causes friction with
the atmosphere as they are heated up
o Meteoroids – object floating around in outer space
o Meteors – object burning up in the atmosphere/trail
formed by the burning meteoroid (Shooting star)
o Meteorites – object that made impact with the surface of
another place
o Meteor showers – swarm of meteoroids travelling in the
same direction at nearly the same speed as Earth
 Comets
o Debris/remnants
o Orbits the sun within hundreds or thousands of years
o Dirty snowballs
o Rocky material, dust, water ice and frozen gases
(ammonia, methane, and carbon dioxide
o Surfaces are dry and dusty (ices are hidden beneath a
rocky layer)
o Tail – as they come close to the sun
 Points away from the sun as a result of radiation
pressure by the radiant energy and the solar wind
o Long-period comets – take hundreds of thousands of years
to complete a single orbit around the Sun
o Short-period comets – less than 200 years
 Halley’s Comet (76 years)
 Encke’s Comet (3 years)
 Dwarf Planets
 Objects that orbit the sun and have gravity to maintain a spherical
shape but not capable of clearing smaller objects in the area of its
own orbit
 Spherical due to own gravity
 Pluto
 Ceres
 Haumea
 Makemake
 New Horizons – firs-ever spacecraft built to explore the outer
parts of the solar system
o Observed Pluto (July 2015)
Geological Time of Earth (The History of Life on Earth)
 Earth’s History
o Approximately 4.6B years old
o Rocks and Fossils found on crust of the Earth provide clues on Earth’s past
o Analyzing these clues infer events from the past
o Law of Uniformitarianism
 The present is the key to the past – Charles Lyell
 Geological doctrine
 It states that current geological processes, occurring at the same rates
observed today, in the same manner, account for all of Earth’s geological
features. Thus it assumes that geological processes are essentially
unchanged today
 Whatever is happening today, may have or might have happened in the
past
 Examples
 Weathering – Larger rocks are broken down into smaller
rocks/debris/dirt/sand
 Erosion – smaller rocks/debris/dirt/sand are picked up or
transported by the natural forces into another place
o Water
o Wind
o Gravity
o Glacier
 Deposition – accumulation or laying down of sediments carried by
the natural forces through erosion
 Volcanism - When hot molten magma escapes from the Earth’s
core becoming cooler, and forming hard rocks
o Extrusive volcanism – when molten lava escapes the Earth
and reaches the surface
o Intrusive volcanism - when molten magma cools and
hardens beneath the surface of the Earth
o Plutonic volcanism - In some cases, molten magma cools
and hardens deep beneath the surface of the Earth, far
below the crust
 Plate Tectonic – movement of the plates creates 3 types of
tectonic boundaries
o Convergent – plates move into one another or towards
each other
o Divergent – plates move apart or away from each other
o Transform – plates move sideways in relation to each
other
 Geological Time Scale or Division into Units
o Eon
 o Era
o Period
o Epoch
o Age
 Analyzing fossils and rocks through Dating (Absolute and Relative)
o Absolute Dating
 Have specific dates, years, or range
 Numerical
 Used radiometric or radioactive decay
 Radiometric or Radioactive Decay
 Spontaneous breakdown of a nucleus to release matter and
energy
 Breakdown of Isotopes
o Isotopes – atoms of some chemical elements have
different forms
 Atoms that have the same number of protons but
have different number of neutrons
 Same atomic number but different mass numbers
o Parent isotopes – original isotope
o Daughter isotopes – decayed isotopes and formed into
new elements or isotopes
 Half-life – is the amount of time it takes for half the atoms of a
substance to decay into another element
o Different substance have different half-life’s
o Ex. Uranium238 and Carbon14
 Carbon 14 Dating – used to analyze the date of biological remains or
fossils
 Carbon is incorporated into the cells of living organisms and
begins to decay when the organism dies
 t = [ ln (Nf/No) / (-0.693) ] x t1/2
o t = age of the fossil
o ln = natural logarithm
o Nf/No = percent of C-14 in the sample compared
o to the amount in living tissue
o t1/2 = half-life of C-14
o Relative Dating
 Used to arrange geological events, and the rocks they leave behind, in a
sequence.
 Comparing of rock units to decipher their age relative to one another
 Principle of Original Horizontality
 It states or assumes that layers of sediment are originally
deposited horizontally under the action of gravity.
 Principle of Superposition
  States that in any sequence of sediments or rocks that has not
been overturned, the youngest sediments or rocks are at the top
of the sequence and the oldest are at the bottom.
 Ex. Grand Canyon
 Principle of Crosscutting Relationships
 States that rock formations that cut across other rocks must be
younger than the rocks that they cut across.
 Principle of Inclusion
 States that inclusions found in other rocks (or formations) must be
older than the rock that contain them
 Inclusions of foreign rocks that are found in igneous rocks are
named Xenoliths.
 Inclusion (Components) - remains of preexisting rocks.
o Particles that are in a conglomerate were actually formed
as part of another rock at an earlier time.
 Fossils
o Remains of ancient plants and animals
o Evidence of Life
o Commonly preserved (Hard Parts of Organisms)
 Bones
 Shells
 Hard parts of insects
 Woody material
o Rarely preserved (Easily decayed parts of Organisms)
 Internal Organs
 Skin
 Hair
 Feathers
o Classified based on their formation
 True fossils
 Actual animal or animal part
 Tissues didn’t decay over the years
 Commonly found in ice, tar (natural asphalt), amber (tree resin)
 Mold fossils
 Hollow impressions of living thing in a rock
 Sediments fills the inside or outside the dead organism
 Remains will not persist
 Cast fossils
 Minerals or sediments enter a cavity or a mold (sometimes from a
mold fossil) and hardens creating a cast
 Trace fossils
 Impression of rocks that showed various activities
  Commonly footprints, burrow, trail, and or other trace of animals
(but not the animal itself)
o Almost found exclusively in Sedimentary rocks
 Heat of Melting or Metamorphism would destroy almost every type of
fossil
 Rare exceptions
 Some fossils in Low-grade Metamorphic Rocks
 Trees buried by lava flow
 To be preserved, organisms have to be buried rapidly after death and
preserved from decay.
 Geological Time
o PreCambrian – 88% of Earth’s History (Mostly devoid of fossils / 4.1 billion years
 Earth’s atmosphere was made up of gases due to volcanic activity
 Later, primary plants evolved that used photosynthesis and released
oxygen
 Oxygen began to accumulate in the atmosphere about 2.5 billion years
ago
 Precambrian fossils
 Stromatolites – fossils that were made from the material
deposited by alge
 Many fossils were preserved in chert (a hard dense chemical
sedimentary rock
 Hadean Eon (Chaotic Eon)
 Lasted 800 million years
 Volcanic activity and bombarded by meteorites
 Ocean and atmosphere were formed, and the core, as well as the
crust were stabilized
 Archaen Eon
 Lasted 1.3 billion years
 Earth was warm and the atmosphere contained mostly of
methane and little no oxygen
 Most of Earth was covered with ocean
 Continent formation began
 Proterozoic Eon
 Lasted 1.9 billion years (Longest period that lasted almost half the
age of Earth)
 Atmosphere became oxygenated
 Birth of Eukaryotic (Multicellular organisms)
 Motion of continental drift
o Phanerozoic
 Paleozoic era
 Marine organisms
 Amphibians
 Land plants and ferns
 Reptiles
 Cambrian Period
o 543 million years ago but lasted 53 million years
o Gondwana – supercontinent during that time
o Between ice age of Proterozoic and Ordovician
o Climate:
 Early Cambrian : Cold
 Warming of glaciers during late Proterozoic
 Mid Cambrian : Warm
 No continents were located at polar
positions
o Animals:
 Cambrian explosion (Big Bang of Life)
 Mostly invertebrates
 Arthropods – jointed external skeletons or
exoskeleton
o Ancestors of insects, spiders, and
crustaceans
o Trilobites – most fossils that were
found
o Pikaia – proto-vertebrate or
notochord
o Plants:
 Lichen and Fungi
 Cyanobacteria
 Green algea
o Burst of evolution
o Diversity of life emerge
o Cambrian = Roman name for Wales (Cambria)
 Silurian Period
o It follows the climax of Ordovician period which was
considered as biological regrouping
o Gondwana was stretched from the Equator and collide
 Drifted northward
 Laurentia and Baltica – near the equator
 Avalonia – northern edge
o Low continental elevations combined with much higher
global stand in sea level
o Coral reefs and fish appeared in warm shallow seas
o Climate:
 Climbing temperatures
 Rising of sea levels
  Warm and stable climate
o Animals:
 Coral reefs
 Jawless fishes (Agnatha)
 Hagfish
 Lampreys
 Bony fishes (Placoderms)
 Jawed fishes
 Terrestrial arthropods
 Eurypterids – apex predators
o Related to horseshoe crabs
 Nautiloids – most primitive cephalopods
 External shells with relatively small septal
walls
 Brachiopods – immobile and shelled
 Bryozoans/ectopracts – filter feeding invertebrates
 Live as colonies in aquatic habitats
 Devonian Period
o Age of fishes
o Named after Devonshire country
o Second of the big 5 massive extinctions
 The Kellwasser Event – great coral reefs, jawless
fishes, and trilobites
 The Hangeberg Event – placoderms and ammonites
 Cooling climate from CO2 depletion
 70% of invertebrates
o Climate:
o Animals:
 Brachiopods
 Spiriferids
 Corals
 Bivalves
 Fishes
 Placoderms – first jawed and armored fish
 Actinopterygians – ray-finned fish
 Sarcopterygians – lobed-finned fish
o More common
 Cartilaginous fish
o Sharks
o Rays
 Trilobites still exist
 Arthropods
 Millipedes
  Centipedes
 Arachnids
 Tetrapod
 Tiktaalik rosae – earliest known tetrapod
o Aquatic
o Plants:
 Began colonizing the land
 First forest arose
 Ferns and first trees
 Progymnosperms
 Archaopteris – first successful tree
 Algae
 Bryophytes
 Charophytes
 Carboniferous Period (Pennsylvanian Period)
o The Coal Age - Rich deposits of coal
o Rock sediments (bottom to top)
 Sandstone
 Shale
 Coal
 Limestone
 Sandstone
o Coined from the Pennyslvanian, U.S.
o Swamps
 Consist of thick layers of dead plant materials
which formed the coals
o Climate:
 Freezing and arid at poles
 Hot and humid near the equator with a lot of rain
 40% higher oxygen level in the atmosphere
 Caused by the many ferns and plants
 Melting and freezing of ice
o Animals:
 Marine
 Corals (Cnidaria)
 Brachiopods
 Trilobites were scare
 Snails (Gastropods)
 Clams (Pelecypods)
 Squid-like (Cephalopods)
 Crinoids (Echinodermata)
 Fish (Pisces)
 Millipede (Arthropleura)
  Insects
o Meganuera (Dragonfly-like)
 Amphibians

 Plants
 Angiosperms
o Perennials
 Gymnosperms
o Native Pennsylvania trees
 Maples
 Permian Period
o Final period of Paleozoic Era
o Permian mass extinction - mostly of marine invertebrates
o Supercontinent Pangea
 Collision of Gondwana and Euramerica
o The Great dying
 95% marine species
 70% land species
 Volcanic activity
 Rapid cooling
 Glaciations
o Climate:
 Cooler and drier climate
o Animals:
 Ammonites
 Nautilus
 Brachiopods
 Ray and lobed-finned fishes
 Cartilaginous fish (Shark and rays)
 Amphibians
 Insects (True Bugs)
 Synapsids and Sauropsids
 Pelycosaurs
 Lystrosaurs
 Therapsids
 Closer to mammals
 Triassic Period
o Age of Dinosaurs - rise of dinosaurs
o Pangea
o Panthalassa ocean
o Climate:
 Generally Warm
o Animals:
  Synapsids
 Archosaurs
 Dinosaurs
 Crocodilians
 Pterosaurs (Flying reptiles
 Sea-reptiles
 Herrasaurus
 Eoraptor
 Ichtyhyosaurs – marine forms
 Insects but only a few
 Spiders
 Scorpions
 Millipedes
 Centipedes
 Beetles
 Reptiles
 Therapsids – become extinct in the late
Triassic
 Archosaurs – become dominant
o Prestosuchus chiniquensis,
o Rauisuchians
o Coelophysis
 Pterosaurs
o Sharovipteryx
 Earliest Mammals
 Herbivores and insectivores
 Arboreal and nocturnal
 shrew-like Eozostrodon,
o Plants
 Gymnosperms
 Mosses and ferns
 Cretaceous Period
o Creta = Chalk
o Drifting of Pangea
o Asteroid hit during the late Cretaceous
o Climate:
 Cooler
 Raining most of the time
 Rise of sea levels
 Warmer and humid in the late Cretaceous
 Volcanic activity
o Animals:
 Dinosaurs
  Horned dinosaurs
o Triceratops and Centrosaurus.
 Ankylosaurus,
 Parasaurolophus,
 Tyrannosaurus
 Became extinct during the late Cretaceous
 Insects
 Bees, ants, grasshoppers, and termites
 First placental mammals
 Toothed birds
o Hesperornis, and Ichthyornis.
o Plants:
 Angiosperms
 Tertiary Period
o Age of Mammals
o 5 Epochs
 Paleocene
 Eocene
 Oligocene
 Miocene
 Pliocene
o Tertiary = Third Era
o Climate:
 Early: very warm and moist
 Tropical and subtropical
 Middle: cool
 Late: Ice age
 Dense forest, grasslands, and woodlands
 Animals:
 Mammals
 Hominids = ancestors of man
 Birds
 Bony fish and sharks
 Insects
 Plants:
 Angiosperms