theory. Eventually, these theories need more theories to...

* Pre-Unit Assessment 1.) Materials 2-PS1-1, 2-PS1-2, 2-PS1-3, 2-PS1-4, 5-PS1-3 - Classifying Matter - Mixture Experiments

2.) Rocks, Stress, Strain 4-ESS1-1, 4-ESS3-1, MS-ESS2-1, HS-ESS2-3 - Tectonic Diagram and Key - Rocks and Stress Chart

3.) Whole Picture 4-ESS1-1, 4-ESS2-1, 4-ESS2-2, MS-ESS2-2, MS-ESS2-3, HS-ESS1-5, HS-ESS1-6, HS-ESS2-1, HS-ESS2-5 - Hazard Map 4.) Contour Maps and Profiles 2-ESS1-1, HS-ESS2-2 - Contour Making - Profile Making - Law of Equifinality 5.) Relative Dating 4-ESS1-1, 5-PS1-1, 5-PS1-2 - Relative Dating 6.) Radiometric Dating 4-ESS1-1, 5-PS1-1, 5-PS1-2 - Half-Life Problems 7.) Tectonics Effect on Biodiversity 2-ESS2-2, 2-ESS2-3 - Reading * Post-Unit Assessment

Background Knowledge Essay : Plate Puzzles There were many anomalies in Earth history that, in the past, were explained by various and often ridiculous theories. Rare, matching fossils on separate continents were theorized to have arrived there through one of hundreds of land bridges crossing the oceans. Mountain ranges were thought to have formed when the Earth cooled, like wrinkles on a baked apple, the "baked apple" theory. Eventually, these theories need more theories to further explain how, for example, the Appalachian Mountains are anc ient compared to the Rockies or Himalayan Mountains. There were separate theories for the causes of earthquakes, volcanoes, and island chains. If you can, explain how plate tectonics theory accounts for all of these anomalies and occurrences.

What is Matter:

Matter is anything that has mass, and takes up space. This means the term “matter” generically refers to

a huge category that is all encompassing.

Matter comes in one of three states, solid, liquid, or gas. In a solid, particles are close together and in a

definite pattern. They vibrate the slowest of all the forms of matter. Liquid particles are further apart and

random, but within a definite volume. They vibrate moderately. Of all the states of matter, gas particles

are the farthest apart. They are totally random and vibrate rapidly.

Matter can be described by two types of properties, physical and chemical. Physical properties include

color, weight, shape, odor, and size. Examples of chemical properties are acidic, basic, inert, caustic, or

flammable.

Matter can also be subdivided into categories. The first distinction separates pure substances from

mixtures. A pure substance can’t physically breakdown into simpler unique substances. The purest form

of a pure substance is an element. When elements have bonded chemically, they form a compound.

Mixtures can be physically broken into simpler substances. There are two broad categories of mixtures

based on their randomness. A heterogeneous mix is a random, non-proportional mixture. A

homogeneous mixture is ordered and proportional.

Matter can be physically and chemically changed. Physical changes involve any change to the matter that

doesn’t produce a new substance. Breaking a glass, freezing water for ice, and crumbing rocks are a few

examples. In each case, the resulting substance only changed physical characteristics, such as shape or

size. Chemical changes do involve a change in substance. A new substance is produced from the original.

Fermentation, rusting, and baking are all chemical changes.

Classification: Please put the following kitchen items into a classification system of your own design. Then explain how you developed the system.

1. Corn oil

2. Baking soda

3. Ammonia

4. Vinegar

5. Flour

6. Aluminum foil

7. Vanilla extract

8. Dry basil

9. Dish soap

10. Paper towels

Poetic Empiricist's Plate Puzzles. © 2012

Experiment Title: Wax, Water, and Oil.

Question: Will these substances mix?

YES, then what do they become?

NO, how are they arranged?

Hypothesis: If these substances are mixed, then

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Procedure: Pour oil in beaker.

*Volunteer- Pour hot wax on oil.

Pour cold water on wax.

Experiment Observation:

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________________________________________________

________________________________________________

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Conclusion. Was your hypothesis correct?

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Experiment Title: Rock, Pebbles, Sand, and Water.





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Procedure: Dump the small bags into the large and shake.

Add the mix to the empty jar.

Add water and lid.

Lightly swirl jar to mix all contents.

Set for 2 minutes.

Experiment Observation: __________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________


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Experiment Title: Cornstarch and Water.





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Procedure: Place cornstarch in bowl.

Add water and carefully stir for 30 seconds.

Make observation 1.

Allow to sit 2 minutes & observe.

Experiment Observation immediately after stirring:

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Experiment Observation 2 minutes after stirring:

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Complete the Table's Key.

In Plate Puzzles, you learned that there are three types of plate boundaries. At a divergent boundary the plates are moving away from one another. At a convergent boundary plates are pushed together. Lastly, at transform boundaries plates slide past one another. We can examine the rock cycle in relation to tectonics. Plate tectonics is driven by mantle convection, molten rock continuously circulates by heating, rising, cooling, and sinking. Lava pours from divergent ridges and solidifies into new rock. Cooled lava creates an igneous rock. Igneous rock can be created on or below Earth's surface. Tectonics creates many different forms of stress like sheering, tension, and compression. These forces, along with weathering and erosion, cause rock to disintegrate over time. Through a process called lithification, those small pieces will become rock again. Debris like mud, slit, sand, and gravel compact under overlying weight; water seeps out over time. Sometimes rocks can form from other physical means, such as evaporation. Evaporated sea water, for example, can form halite. Tectonics may result in a localized temperature increase, an increase in pressure, or both. The last type of rock, metamorphic rock, is an igneous or sedimentary rock that has been changed by one of these conditions. Marble, for example, is a metamorphic rock that resulting from the contact of limestone and magma. In mountain building regions, heat and pressure from compacting creates beautiful rock like jade. Earth's rock cycle is responsible for other very beneficial, yet limited, commodities. Fossils and fossil fuels are both formed within the confines of the rock cycle. Fossils are a rare glimpse of ancient life. All the right conditions must be present for an organism to become a fossil. There must be rapid burial to prevent the mechanical and biological breakdown of the body. The body typically must have some type of hard part like a shell or bones. Living things are composed of a lot of carbon compounds, so the exception to having hard parts is in instances of carbonization. Carbonization leaves behind what looks like a carbon copy of the organism. Rock Stress All rocks are subject to one or all of the causes of stress: gravity, the weight or overlying rock, or tectonics. In response to the stress, the rock can be stretched (tension), shortened (compression), or twisted (shear). How the rock responds to the stress depends on the rock's behavior. For example, rocks can act brittle or they can act plastic. A rock that acts plastically will fold, where as a brittle rock will fault, or break, under stress. The stretching of plastic rock will create thinning crust in the middle of the block. The stretching of brittle rock results in a normal fault, as you read about in Plate Puzzles. Compression of plastic rock will from ridges and folds as more rock is squished into less surface area. When brittle rock is compressed, it forms a thrust fault. Shearing a rock that responds plastically results in a bending or twisting, while a brittle rock will snap and form a strike-slip fault with horizontal movement.


Using the Rock Stress reading and Plate Puzzles book, draw the response for the blocks of rock in each of the above situations. Use the arrows to guide you.


Volcanism: Molten rock beneath the surface of Earth is referred to as magma, while molten rock that is extruded

onto the surface is called lava. As molten rock, lava is extremely hot! Lava can be 1,500°C (2,700°F). Of course the most iconic way lava reaches the surface is through a volcano. There are two main types of volcanoes, which are the result of two different forms of lava. The first way lava may form is with less silica (mineral that make glass) while the second way lava forms is with a high silica content. Lava that contains high amounts of silica is very thick and resists flow; it is highly viscous (viscosity is a measure of the resistance to flow). Low silicate lava has low viscosity and flows very easily, more like water. Volcanoes give off a lot of gases which will become trapped in the highly viscous lava. Trapped gasses will cause the volcano to explode in eruption instead of the lava flows associated with low viscosity lava. In places like Hawaii, low viscosity lava flows continuously produce new rock and expand the island. The Hawaiian flow is usually met by the sea, where steam and quick solidification occurs. In other places on Earth, a low viscosity flow can reach 100 km (60 mi) on land. Highly viscous lava produces explosive eruptions with more associated hazards. The first thing to occur in an explosive eruption is the pyroclastic flow. Pyroclastic flow is a burning-hot cloud of ash and gases that race down the mountain ahead of the lava. Pyro refers to fire while clastic refers to rock, and the pyroclastic flow does carry huge rocks, hidden inside of it. The Pyroclastic flow is one of the most deadly and damaging aspects of a volcano. Other hazards, in addition to lava, include ashfalls and lahars, quick flowing rivers of mud formed when ash mixed with water. The largest of the volcano types is the shield volcano. Shield volcanoes become very large over many years of low viscosity flow. The sides are gently sloping. The second main type of volcano is the stratovolcano. Stratovolcanoes aren’t as large as shield volcanoes because they lose size in violent eruptions. Stratovolcanoes have highly viscous magma, violent eruptions, and pyroclastic flows. There is a smaller, third type of volcano that can form at the base of a shield or stratovolcano from the ash or (cinders). Called a cindercone, they erode away as easily as they form.

Fill in the blanks: ________ viscosity lava flows easily because of its _________ silica content. Gas will ____________ which causes a ____________________ eruption and results in a __________________ volcano. ________ viscosity lava flows slowly because of its _________ silica content. Gas will ____________ which causes a ____________________ eruption and results in a __________________ volcano.


Orogeny: An orogeny is a mountain building episode. For example, the Appalachian Mountains were uplifted through the collision that produced Pangea. Convergent forces will fold or thrust land in a series of telescoping thrust faults (below). Thrust faults can reach deeply into the Earth. The ones that exist under the Himalayan Mountain range reach 40 Km (25 mi) under Asia and have shortened the crust by over 1000 Km (600 mi). All this tectonic action also produces earthquakes. Mountains are not restricted to convergent situations; they can also result from normal faults. One way this occurs, as you read about in Plate Puzzles, is through a series of normal faults, called combination faults. When a pair of normal faults forms, the middle graben piece will eventually fall under continued tension. The sides, called horsts, will then be higher by default and appear as a mountain range. Of course, mountains are subjected to weathering and erosion too. Over time, mountains become worn down. The Appalachian Mountains are a fraction of their original size. Geomorphology in Fast Forward Geomorphology is the study of the continuous change in the shape of the land. Modern Geomorphologists realize there are many processes and possibilities involved in changing a landscape. For example, environment, weather, erosion, natural disasters, and the forces of gravity, tension, and elasticity all work together and separately to create many common features around us. In the 1920's, two men by the names of Gilbert and Davis had opposing views of the mechanisms behind geomorphology. Davis's view was called uniformitarianism. David believed that landscapes matured in a uniform progression from youth to old age. Davis did acknowledge the difference in the maturation of an arid versus a humid climate. Gilbert oppositely proposed that catastrophism was the way landscape changed. Catastrophism focuses on sudden dramatic events or natural disasters such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. While both Gilbert and Davis were on the right track, neither one of them had it completely right. The problem with Davis's uniformitarianism is that it relies too greatly on time. The whole process from youth through maturity to old age would take hundreds of thousands to millions of years to complete. The problem with Gilbert's catastrophism was that it doesn't look at the big picture. Catastrophism looks at solitary events, ignoring the long range processes of tension, elasticity, weather and erosion. It is important to see that uniformitarianism and catastrophism work together to create the changing from of the land.


Weathering and Erosion in Arid Versus Humid Environments. Weathering and erosion are two forces that change the landscape. The effects of weathering and erosion have formed micro features such as arches and spires and macro features such as the Grand Canyon. What is weathering and erosion and how are they different? Weathering is the physical or chemical breakdown of rocks and minerals. Rocks and minerals physically breakdown into smaller pieces through brittle cracking and freeze-thaw cycles. Rocks and minerals chemically breakdown through decomposition. Depending upon their composition, rocks can either dissolve, turn to clay, or oxidize to form rust. Erosion is the physical removal of rock through wind, water, or ice. Wind erosion is similar to sand blasting in that wind carries particles that remove the top layers of rock. Wind can also remove weathered pieces and transport them away from the parent rock. Water is also another means of washing away weathered pieces. Lastly, ice, typically in the form of a glacier, can remove large rocks and transport them to a new environment. Glaciers also push a tremendous amount of sediment in front of them. While weathering and erosion are often a cycle, they are two different processes. Weathering being the breakdown of rock and erosion being the removal and transportation of weathered material. Together, weathering and erosion have created some of the most celebrated and beautiful land features on Earth. How Does Gravity Change the Landscape? The force of gravity is another force shaping the land. Gravity is the attraction of objects to a massive body, such as humans to Earth or the Earth to the sun. How does gravity change the landscape? Mass wasting is the downslope movement of materials under the influence of gravity. There are three main factors contributing to the occurrence of mass wasting. The first is the amount of water in the soil. Like building a sand castle, if you have too much water in the bucket, the contents will run everywhere when inverted. If the sand is dry, the inverted bucket, again, will pour out its contents. Only when there is a minimum amount of water, will the sand stick together and exit the bucket in one piece. This is the same for soil. When soil is too wet, it will start to move downslope under gravity. If the soil is too dry, like a pile of sand, it will again want to move downslope. The second factor is being at a high elevation. The steeper slope contributes to the effects of gravity and mass movement by adding energy to the system. The last factor is unconsolidated materials. Unconsolidated material refers to particles that are not packed together tightly. These particles can be sand, soil, or rock that is loosely compact and full of air pockets. This unconsolidated material will easily flow under any weight to relieve the force of gravity pulling on it. Gilbert, the catastrophist, stated that these punctuated events occur as a struggle between driving and resisting forces. Resisting forces attempt to stop the natural progression of downslope movement. Resisting forces can be natural or man-made. Vegetation is one resisting force that can be both natural or man induced. The roots of vegetation can create a mat that binds the soils together. Another natural resisting force is arid environments, since water is a driving force.


Using the reading and Plate Puzzles book, develop a key to indicate the location of areas prime for tectonic action. Place those symbols on the map in those locations.


The interpretation of topographic maps is an art based on the general trends in the changing landscape. Once you get a sense of what you're looking at, you'll be able to distinguish depositional & erosional features including streams and rivers. What you'll be doing is creating contour lines which are just lines connecting points of approximately equal elevation. There are basic strategies. First, you must decide what the contour interval should be. It needs to be a nice, easy number like 100 or 1000. You will have to examine the range, difference between the highest and lowest points, and make an appropriate choice. From there, you should carefully examine the map for trends. Is there a lower, depressed area? Are there hills, mountains, a cliff? We will begin together by locating the lowest given contour point. Round this up to the nearest, even, contour interval (based on your choice). Estimate how far that would be away from your point and start your line. Continue the line of equal elevation by approximating based on the given points.

While we chose to create a line that depicts 100 meters difference, the line can represent any value. Our lines will be at 750m, 850m, 950m, 1,050m, and 1,150m. We will estimate the location of lines based on the assumption that the land rises fairly evenly between any two points. The first is the 750m line. Every point to the left

of the line is less than 750m; any point to the right is greater. Below, the 850m line has been added. Try to complete the map.

Here's the lowest point. Let's round to 750 meters.

Here's the highest point. Let's round it to 1,170. The range is 420 meters, so let's make the contour interval 100 meters.

100m

100m


Making a Profile from a Contour Map:

20m

60m

40m

50m

30m

At first, it may be hard to visualize the landscape from the contour map you created. One way to get a glimpse of the topography is through making a profile. To begin, chose to strike a line through the most interesting part of the contour map, lay a piece of blank paper across your line. Draw a hash mark on your blank paper each place a contour line intersects and record the value of each.

Now we will set up a chart where the x-axis is as long as our map and the y-axis depicts the range in elevation values (with lowest elevation on the bottom). Lay your marked-up paper across the table and plot the points as it indicates. Connect the lines.

One consideration is that the vertical and horizontal scales are not the same, so this creates something called vertical exaggeration. For example, the area the map covers is measured in kilometers (or miles) and the elevation in meters (or feet). The result is that the feature we are creating in a profile looks steeper than it is in real life.


600m

300m

900m

The Law of Equifinality states that there are many ways to achieve the same landscape. For example, there are many ways to create a mountain. Complete the contour map and use that to create a profile (from one star to other). Then give three possible causes for the landscape you revealed. 1. 2. 3. Poetic Empiricist's Plate Puzzles. © 2012

Relative Dating: Before there was a clear, science based way to determine the age of artifacts, a logical method called relative dating was the accepted, associative way to judge age. Relative dating is based on the idea that, in typical stratigraphy (rock layers), the layers below are older. Of course there are exceptions to that rule due to the effects of plate tectonics and its stress and strain on rocks. However, the stratigraphy below is fairly straightforward. The different layers are numbered and depicted by different patterns. Items A-D are artifacts. A is a stone arrow tip. B is a broken pottery piece. C is an animal skull. D is a wooden doll with horse hair.

1.) What is the surface layer? 2.) What is the oldest layer? What is the oldest artifact? 5.) Where is the first layer that shows evidence of humans? 4.) The skull was a deer skull. Do you think the arrow head killed the deer? Why or why not? 5.) Layer 5 is a garbage pit. What layer was the surface when the pit was dug? Do you think the arrow and the doll were from the same time period? Why or why not?

1

2

3

4 5

6


Radioactive Decay: How we know how old the Earth or a specimen is.

Over a specific and stable amount of time, radioactive elements give off energy. The energy they emit can be an effort to achieve stability inside the nucleus, which contains the protons & neutrons.

Alpha emissions are one form of decay. An alpha emission is the loss of protons. This makes it a nuclear reaction, which results in transmutation, or the changing of one element into another. (This occurs because an atom's proton number dictates what element the atom is.)

Radioactive elements tend to decay in a very predictable manner. In this way, an approximate age can be calculated. When a sample is tested, its ratio of original to transmute elements is found. This ratio is used with the known decay rate to calculate an approximate age.

Decay rate is measured in half-lives. A half-life is simply the time it takes for 1/2 of the sample to change into the second element.

Example Question: A crystal contains 1 atom of radioactive K-40 (potassium-40) and 7 atoms of Ar-40 (argon-40). The half-life is 1.3 billion years. How old is the crystal? Some considerations: How many atoms is this crystal in total? There are 7 atoms and 1 atom for a total of 8 atoms. What is decaying into what? Let's look at the periodic table. Since an atom gives of protons as it decays, the element with the higher atomic number (number of protons) will be the original material. So the original material is K-40. How many 1/2 lives to get to the 1/7 ratio?

1/2 Life #0 1/2 Life #1 1/2 Life #2 1/2 Life #3

K-40 8 atoms 4 atoms 2 atoms 1 atom

Ar-40 0 atoms 4 atoms 6 atoms 7 atoms

It took 3 half-lives. The rate is 1.3 billion years/half-life. (3 * 1.3 = 3.9) The crystal is 3.9 billion years old.

Half Life Problems 1.) List the original material's fractional amounts for each half-life up to seven (7) half-lives. 2.) After 4 half-lives, what percent of the original material is still radioactive? 3.) Radioactive plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years. How long must it be stored before the original material reaches below a 1% level? 5.) Radioactive uranium has a half-life of 710 million years. An 88 gram sample contained only 11 grams of the original Uranium. How many half-lives have passed? How old is the sample? 4.) A bone is found to have only 3.125% of its radioactive carbon-14 remaining. The half-life is 5,370 years. How old is that bone?


People may view the continents on the map as scattered. They’re unaware continent position is vital or even mattered. The fact that you can enjoy Ireland during anytime of the year, is due to the gulf stream bringing the warm equatorial waters near. You don’t have to be Irish to benefit from this “river in the sea”, distribution of equatorial heat to warm the Atlantic’s key. This keeps the poles from spreading and plunging Earth into another ice age, which has happened several times before, in a different plate tectonic stage. The current position also creates more habitat for things to live, since an increase in continent surface area means more shelf to give. The continental shelf is premium, oceanic territory. Sunlight waters encourage plant cells to bloom, helping the predatory. The narrow, top slice of ocean is where the base of the food chain is grown, since it’s always dark and cold below this lit level, called the photic zone Here, the number and variety of aquatic life that’s supported, is greater than the rest of the ocean, some Scientists have reported. They’ll enjoy the easier existence the sun and shelf have afforded. Millions of years from now shelf will again be lost, when plates are distorted.

After reading the following deleted Plate Puzzle passage, look at the picture of Pangea. Did Pangea have more or less continental shelf than the current continent arrangement? How would its arrangement and position affect biodiversity?


Post Unit Knowledge Essay: Plate Puzzles There were many anomalies in Earth history that, in the past, were explained by various and often ridiculous theories. Rare, matching fossils on separate continents were theorized to have arrived there through one of hundreds of land bridges crossing the oceans. Mountain ranges were thought to have formed when the Earth cooled, like wrinkles on a baked apple, the "baked apple" theory. Eventually, these theories need more theories to further explain how, for example, the Appalachian Mountains are ancient compared to the Rockies or Himalayan Mountains. There were separate theories for the causes of earthquakes, volcanoes, and island chains. If you can, explain how plate tectonics theory accounts for all of these anomalies and occurrences.

Answer Key

What is Matter?

Answers will vary

Mixture Experiments (Answers will also vary) Wax, Water, and Oil: All should separate as wax and oil are lipids. Rock, Pebbles, Sand, and Water: The water can hold the smallest sand particles in solution momentarily. Mix will separate by particle size if shaken and allowed to settle. Cornstarch and Water: The particles of cornstarch are very fine and stay in solution longer than the sand.

Symbol Name Land/Land Land/Sea Sea/Sea

Divergent Rift Valley

Convergent Mountain Building

Trench, Volcanism

Trench, Volcanism, and Island Building

Transform Earthquakes

Ridge

Approximate Shape: Middle should be thinning.

Approximate Shape: Folding creates anti- clines and synclines.






Law of Equifinality Relative Dating 1.) 6 2.) 1, C 3.) 2 4.) No. They are not at same time. 5.) 4. Yes (maybe) They are on same level. Half-Life Problems 1.) 168,000yrs 2.) 6.25% 3.) 1/2, 1/4, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128 4.) 26,850yrs 5.) 3 half-lives, 2,130yrs

600m

300m

900m


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