Earth and Life

Science
Prepared by: Marish Cuenca
 Course Outline
• I. ORIGIN AND STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH
• II. EARTH MATERIALS AND PROCESSES
• III. NATURAL HAZARDS, MITIGATION, AND ADAPTATION
• IV. INTRODUCTION TO LIFE SCIENCE
• V. BIOENERGETICS
• VI. PERPETUATION OF LIFE
• VII. HOW ANIMALS SURVIVE
• VIII. HOW PLANTS SURVIVE
• IX. THE PROCESS OF EVOLUTION
• X. INTERACTION AND INTERDEPENDENCE
 I. Origin and
Structure of the Earth

A. Universe and Solar

System
B. Earth and Earth System
Part 1. Earth Science- Universe and
Solar System
• What is Earth Science?
• Theories of Evolution of the Universe and Solar System
• Earth, Sun and Moon
• Earth Facts
 Earth Science
• Earth science is the study of our planet’s physical
characteristics, from earthquakes to raindrops, and floods to
fossils.

• Earth Science is the study of Earth and its neighbor in space.

Source:
https://www.factmonster.com/dk/encyclopedia/earth/earth-sciences
https://geology.com/articles/what-is-earth-science.shtml
Earth Scientist
• They mainly work in the field- climbing in the mountain, exploring the
seabed, crawling through caves or wading in swamps.
• They measure and collect samples (such as rocks or fresh water) ,
then they record their findings in chart and maps.
Four Earth Science

• Geology
• Meteorology
• Oceanography
• Astronomy
Geology – Science of the Earth
• “study of the Earth”
• It deals with the composition of the Earth materials, Earth structure
and Earth processes.
• Also concerned with the organism of the planet and how the planet
changed through time
• Geologists- search for fuels and minerals, study natural hazards, and
work to protect Earth's environment.
 Geology – Science of the Earth
Sub-branches:
• Volcanology
• Seismology
• Hydrology
• Paleontology
• Physical Geography

Source:
https://www.livescience.com/46252-earth-science.html
Meteorology- Science of the
Atmosphere
• Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere and how processes in the
atmosphere determine Earth's weather and climate.
• Meteorology is a very practical science because everyone is
concerned about the weather.
• How climate changes over time in response to the actions of people is
a topic of urgent worldwide concern.
 Meteorology- Science of the
Atmosphere
• Those events are bound by the variables that exist in Earth's
atmosphere:
• temperature
• pressure
• water vapor
• and the gradients and interactions of each variable
• and how they change in time.

Source : https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/meteorology.htm
 Meteorology- Science of the
Atmosphere
• Meteorologist now rely heavily on computer models (numerical
weather prediction), it is still relatively common to use techniques and
conceptual models that were developed before computers were
powerful enough to make predictions accurately or efficiently.

Source : https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/meteorology.htm
Meteorology- Science of the
Atmosphere
• Hydrologic Cycle:
Earth Science involves the study of systems such as the hydrologic
cycle. This type of system can only be understood by using a knowledge
of geology (groundwater), meteorology (weather and climate),
oceanography (ocean systems) and astronomy (energy input from the
sun).
Meteorology- Science of the
Atmosphere

C:\Users\asus\Downloads\Water and You The Water Cycle.mp4

Oceanography - Science of the
Oceans
• Oceanography is the study of Earth's oceans - their composition,
movement, organisms and processes.
• Oceans cover most of our planet and are important resources for food
and other commodities.
Oceanography - Science of the
Oceans
• Oceanography covers a wide range of topics, from marine life and
ecosystems to currents and waves, the movement of sediments, and
seafloor geology.

• Oceanographers work to develop the ocean as a resource and protect

it from human impact.
Astronomy - Science of the
Universe
• Astronomy is the study of the universe.

• Knowledge of astronomy is essential in understanding the Earth:

• ocean's tidal system
• asteroid impacts
• source of energy (solar energy)
Earth Science practical application
Geologist
Seismologist
Volcanologist
Hydrologist
Paleontologist
 Physical
Geographers
Effect of Climate
Change
Forensic Meteorologist
Weather Forecaster
Climatologist
 Physical
Oceanographer
 Biological
Oceanographer
 Chemical
Oceanographer
 Geological
Oceanographer
Astronomer
Astronaut
Interesting and Practical
Applications
1. Locate and develop energy and mineral resources
2. Design methods to protect the planet by studying the impact of
human activity on Earth's environment
3. Plan communities that will not expose people to dangerous events
like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and hurricanes
Science Related in Earth Science
Science Related in Earth Science
• Geology – the study of the Earth’s history, structure and composition.
• Historical Geology- the study of the evolution of the Earth.
• Petrology – the study of rocks.
• Mineralogy – the study of minerals by which rocks are made.
• Geophysics – the study of the physical processes that occur in and
around the Earth.
• Volcanology – the study of volcanoes.
• Meteorology – The study of the atmosphere.
Science Related in Earth Science
• Paleontology – the study of fossil remains.
• Geography – the study of the Earth’s surface.
• Geomorphology – the study of landforms.
• Hydrology – the study of water distribution and behavior focusing on inland and
underground water sources.
• Oceanography – the study of the oceans.
• Hydrography – is the surveying and mapping of large bodies of water.
• Hydrographic Charts – are vital navigational aids showing coastlines, currents, tides
and the terrain of the sea floor.
• Ecology – the study of the relationships between living things and their environment.
Theories of the Evolution of the Universe and
Solar System
Creationis
m
• Divine Creation Theory - The Earth was created by God it was stated
in the Bible, in the Book of Genesis.
Big Bang Theory
• The Big Bang Theory is the leading explanation about how the
universe began. At its simplest, it says the universe as we know it
started with a small singularity, then inflated over the next 13.8 billion
years to the cosmos that we know today.
Big Bang Theory
• The idea that the Universe began in a huge explosion 15 billion years
ago.
• Therefore the first event generated a large flash of light outwards in
all directions long before it would have made a big, or any sort of
bang.
The
Universe
• All the countless planets, stars and galaxies – everything that exists
including ourselves.
• It stretches away from us in all directions.
• It has been detected as far away as 132,000 billion billion km.
The most distant galaxies yet observed appear as faint patches of light
in this photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The brighter
swirls are galaxies somewhat closer to Earth, and the bright orange
object is a star in our own galaxy
Gravity

• It is the force that holds the Universe together and keeps the Earth
moves around the sun.
• How it works is still a mystery
• Everything has gravity
• Only massive objects have a strong pull
• Strong gravitational pull results to Black Hole
Expanding
Universe
• The galaxies of the Universe are moving farther and farther apart.
• Open Universe theory - the universe will continue to expand forever
• Big Crunch – Once the energy from the Big Bang is exhausted, the
Universe will collapse inwards.
Light-
year
• The distance light travels in a year
• 9,465 x 10 12 km
• Approx . 186,000 km/second
Nebula

• Nebula is a vast cloud of dust and gas in space

• Birthplace of stars
Stars
• Huge glowing ball of hot gas in space
• It shines because of the nuclear fusion reactions (fusion of hydrogen
atoms forming helium atoms)
• Super giant stars x 100 size of the earth
• Dwarf stars < size of the earth
Galaxy

• It is a vast cluster of stars, dust and gas

• Types of galaxy:
- Elliptical galaxy
- Spiral galaxy
- Irregular
Milky Way

Formed 5 billion years after the big bang

Galaxies/Universe
Solar
System

It includes: the
satellites of the
planets; numerous
comets, asteroids,
and meteoroids;
and the
interplanetary
medium.
• Our sun has a Solar System which includes Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, the asteroid belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus,
Pluto/Charon and the Oort Cloud of comets.
• There is a regular spacing to the planets. Using the Sun-Mercury
distance as one unit, the spacing is 1:1:2:3:5:8 and so on, more or less
and excluding Pluto/Charon.
 SUN

A vast fiery ball of gas and dust that provides the earth with energy
The sun's average temperature is about 5480 degrees Celsius,
or 548 times boiling water.
Planetary Orbit
• It is the path around the Earth.
• The material of the Solar System, including the planets, orbits the Sun
because of the Sun’s huge gravitational pull.
• The planets’ orbits are not quite perfect circles, but ellipses.
• All except pluto orbit the sun in the same plane and the same
directions.
PLANETARY STATISTICS
PLANET DIAMETER AVE. DISTANCE FROM SUN TIME TAKEN TO ORBIT NUMBER OF MOONS
(Km) (Km) SUN
(Days)
Mercury 4,878 57,910,000 88 0
Venus 12,103 108,200,000 225 0
Earth 12,756 149,600,000 365 1
Mars 6,786 227,940,000 687 2
Jupiter 142,984 778,330,000 12 16
Saturn 120,536 1,426,980,000 29 18
Uranus 51,118 2, 870,990,000 84 15
Neptune 49,528 4,497,070,000 165 8
Pluto 2,284 5,913,520,000 249 1
Terrestrial Planet
• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
Jovian Planets
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Neptune
• Comet = an icy rocky clump orbiting the sun

• Asteroid = small rocky planet orbiting the sun

• Moon = natural satellite of a planet

• The age of the Earth and Moon are about the same; about
4.567 billion years.
Planet Mars
Here are five other fascinating facts about Mars.
• 1. Color: It’s called the Red Planet because its iron-rich dust gives it landscape
a rusty-red color.
• 2. Diet planet: Mars’s gravity is 38 percent of Earth’s. So if you weigh 60
pounds here, you’d weigh about 23 pounds there.
• 3. Climate change: At the equator, Mars is a comfortable 80 degrees
Fahrenheit, but the temperature at its poles can get down to 199 degrees
below zero.
• 4. In the air: Mars’s atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide with traces of
nitrogen and argon. Earth’s atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and
other gases.
• 5. Longer days: A Martian day is about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth.
Earth Science Theories
Universe Theory
Inflation Theory
• Alan Guth, Andrei Linde, Paul Steinhart, and Andy Albrecht offered
solutions to the unresolved problems revolving the big bang theory.
• It is regarded as an extension of the standard big bang theory.
As a solution to the unresolved problems of
the big bang theory, the inflation theory
offered the following solutions:
1. Flatness- suppose you are living on the surface of a basketball. The
surface that you see is obviously curved. If the ball’s size is increased
to the size of Earth, it would appear flat even though it is still a
sphere.

In astronomical proportion, it would appear flat because inflation

stretches any initial curvature of the universe to almost complete flat.
• Monopole- the inflation theory allows the existence of the
monopoles as long as they were produced prior to the period of
inflation . Due to rapid expansion, the density of the monopoles
dropped exponentially to undetectable level.
• Horizon- the exponential expansion in the early universe presupposes
that the distant regions were much closer to each other prior to
inflation.
• Dark energy is the energy of the empty space; it causes the expansion
of the universe to accelerate.
• Dark Matter is considered a hypothetical kind of matter that cannot
be seen with telescope.
String Theory
• What came for before the big bang?
• Einsten’s general theory of relativity, Einstein unified space, time , and
gravity.
• Wadves and curves in space and time are responsible for the force of
gravity. In quantum mechanics, gravity becomes insignificant because
atomic and subatomic masses are very small.
String Theory
- The assembly of particle type is replaced by fundamental building
block called a string.
- It is consistent with quantum gravity, which describe interactions of
strings.
- “Theory of everything”
M theory
• The string theory that requires objects other than strings. These
objects may be seen as sheets or branes (membranes) .Strings can
attach to one or both ends of these branes.
• the origin of the universe occurs as a result of the contact of the two
hyperdimensional branes.
• Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow argue that collision of M-
branes leads to a new universe. The M-theory used by Hawking can
allow for an infinite number of parallel universes which have the
possibility of interphasing.
M-theory
• Grand Design and A Brief History of Time – books regarding the
insights of Hawking’s to Universe.
Solar System Theory
Descarte’s Vortex Theory
• French mathematician and physicist RENE DESCARTES was one of the
first proponents of a model on the origin of the solar system.
• According to his model , Solar System was formed into bodies with
nearly circular orbits because of the whirlpool-like motion in the pre-
solar materials.
• He explained that the orbits of the planets are the primary whirlpool
motion and the satellites are the secondary whirlpool motion.
Buffon’s Collision Theory
• George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon proposed that the planets
were formed by the collision of the sun with a giant comet.
• The resulting debris formed into planets that rotate in the same
direction as they resolved around the sun.
Kant-Laplace Nebular Theory
• Based on the ideas of Descartes, Immanuel Kant and Pierre Simon
Laplace proposed the nebular Theory which suggested that a great
cloud of gas and dust, called nebula, began to collapse because of
gravitational pull. As the cloud contracted, it spun more rapidly.
• The spinning cloud flattens into a pancake-shaped object with a
buldge at the center. As the nebula collapse further, local regions
contract on their own due to gravity.
• Those local regions became the sun and the planets
Jeans-Jeffreys’ Tidal Theory
• James Hopwood Jeans and Harold Jeffrey suggested that the dualistic
theory of sun and planets were produced by different mechanism
• The tidal theory was proposed that the planets were formed from the
substance that was torn out of the sun.
• As the speeding massive star passed near the sun, it pulled off
material due to gravitational attraction.
• The torn-off material subsequently condensed to form the planets.
Solar Nebular Theory
• Solar system was formed as a result of the condensation of hydrogen
gas and dust cloud.
• Supernova or the explosion of the star might have caused the dust
and gas cloud to collapse, forming the sun and planets.
• The gas and dust cloud collapse due to the force of gravity
• As the cloud continues to shrink, its rotational speed increases and
becomes rapidly rotating disk.
• The remaining gas and dust cloud form disk-shaped bodies called
solar-nebulae due to rotation
According to solar nebular theory, the formation of the
planets involves different stages, in contrast to the
single process of nebular theory
• First stage is the accretion of grained-sized particles to form
centimeter size particles which would later grow to several kilometers
in diameter. The objects formed was called planetisimals.
• Second stage involves the formation or more massive objects are
referred to as protoplanets, and later becomes planets.
• Finally, solar system is composed of only solid, protoplanetary bodies
and gas giants. Eventually, after millions of years, Solar system ended
up with planets that had stable orbits.
Earth Facts
Earth, Sun and Moon

View of the earth from the moon surface

EARTH

The Apollo 17 spacecraft took this snapshot in 1972

of the Arabian Peninsula, the African continent, and
Antarctica
Shape of the Earth
Shape of the Earth
• The shape of the Earth is oblate spheroid or flattened sphere,
and some simply called it geoid, because of the many
irregularities revealed by satellite measurements.

• Earth’s circumference – 40, 024 km

• Equatorial bulge – is 8 m bigger at some places south of the
equator than north of it.
Earth’s Axis
• Earth’s axis of rotation is inclined (tilted) 23.5° relative to its
plane of revolution around the Sun.

• This inclination of the axis creates the seasons and causes

the height of the Sun in the sky at noon to increase and
decrease as the seasons change.
Earth’s Rotation
• The Earth spins around
once every 24 hours.
• The Earth’s axis is the line
around which the planet
turns.
Earth’s Rotation
• The Earth rotates in a west-east direction or in a counterclockwise direction, Sun
rising every day in the east and sinking in the west.
• SOLAR DAY – The time between two successive noons, which lasts in 24 hours.
• One complete rotation, long it takes for the sun to return on its same position,
“sidereal day” = 23 hr 56 min 4.1 sec.
• DAYLIGHT HOURS – The time between sunrise and sunset.
• The tilt of the Earth’s axis means that daylight varies throughout the year, where it
varies most in poles and least in equator.
• One revolution around the Sun= 365.2422 solar days, or 365 days 5 hr 48 min 46
sec.
• TROPICS (EQUINOX) – The area either side of the equator in which the midday Sun is
directly overhead.
• SOLSTICE – The time when the midday Sun is directly overhead at one of the tropics

• March 21 – Sun at the equator “Vernal Equinox”

• For the next three months – Zone in which the midday Sun is overhead moves to the north
• June 22 – Sun has reached a line of latitude called the Tropic of Cancer “Summer Solstice”
• For the next six months – Zone in which the midday Sun is overhead moves to the south
• September 22 – Sun at the equator “Autumnal Equinox”
• December 22 – Sun reaches a line of latitude called the Tropic of Capricorn, then it begins
to move north again “Winter Solstice”

• SEASON – One of the four weather periods of each year

 Moon
• Moon is the natural satellite of the Earth.
• Phases of the Moon:
• New Moon – moon is completely dark
• Full Moon – Full-lighted moon
• Waxing Moon – Moon grows from new to full moon over two weeks
• Waning Moon – Moon shrinks back to new moon over the next two weeks
• Gibbous – Waxing or waning moon seems to bulge on the side nearest to
the sun
• Crescent – Waxing or waning moon seems to shrink on the side further to
the sun
Moon
• Lunar Month – Time it takes for the Moon to go through all its phases
• It takes the Moon 27.3 days to circle the Earth, but it takes 29.53 days to go from one
Full Moon to the next Full Moon.
• Lunar Month – 29.53 days
• Solar Eclipse – when the moon passes directly between the Sun and the Earth
• Total Solar Eclipse – Sun completely disappears behind the moon

• Lunar Eclipse – Moon passes into the Earth’s shadow and appears very dark, or dark
red in color S M E

S E M
References: