EARTH SCIENCE

UNIVERSE AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Earth Science Literacy is an understanding of Earth’s influence on you and of your influence on Earth. Earth
Science Literacy Principles are defined by the scientists who carry out active research in many areas of Earth
science and explain the complexities of how our planet works. Earth Science Literacy is shaped by science
educators, who can best translate the big ideas of Earth science into language and learning opportunities that
can be understood by all. Earth Science Literacy is an ongoing process, continually reshaped and rewritten by
new discoveries in the areas of Earth science and learning theory.

An Earth-science-literate person understands the fundamental concepts of Earth’s many systems, knows how
to find and assess scientifically credible information about Earth, communicates about Earth science in a
meaningful way is able to make informed and responsible decisions regarding Earth and its resources.

The importance of Earth Science literacy, as we rely on earth as our home for our existence in many different
ways. Its resources feed us and provide the materials of our way of life. Even modest changes to Earth’s
systems have had profound influences on human societies and the course of civilization. Understanding these
systems and how they interact with us is vital for our survival. Earth Science Literacy is especially important
at this time in history. There are many challenges facing humanity—dwindling energy and mineral resources,
changing climates, water shortages—directly relating to the Earth sciences. There are many difficult
decisions that governments, local and national, will have to make concerning these issues, and how well
humans survive the twenty-first century will depend upon the success of these decisions. We need
governments that are Earth science literate. Human history is a record of the creativity and ingenuity of
people solving difficult problems. The solutions to the current Earth-science-related challenges will also
come from human creativity, as individuals or corporate businesses. have become increasingly complex, so
have the solutions. It will take a deep and subtle understanding of Earth’s systems for future generations to be
able to feed, clothe, house, and provide a meaningful existence for all humans. We need citizens and
businesses that are Earth science literate.

Earth and life sciences cover all aspects of life on earth such as the complex and dynamic processes in solid
earth, the oceans, the atmosphere, the natural world and organisms, including humans. Today we live in a time
when the Earth and its inhabitants face many challenges. Our climate is changing, and that change is being
caused by human activity. Earth scientists recognized this problem and will play a key role in efforts to
resolve it. We are also challenged to: develop new sources of energy that will have minimal impact on climate;
locate new sources of metals and other mineral resources as known sources are depleted; and, determine how
Earth's increasing population can live and avoid serious threats such as volcanic activity, earthquakes,
landslides, floods and more.

These are just a few of the problems where solutions depend upon a deep understanding of Earth science. In
other words, science is one of the most important channels of knowledge. It has a specific role, as well as a
variety of functions for the benefit of our society: creating new knowledge, improving education, and
increasing the quality of our lives. Science must respond to societal needs and global challenges.

Our Solar System consists of our star, the Sun, and its orbiting planets (including Earth), along with numerous
moons, asteroids, comet material, rocks, and dust. Our Sun is just one star among the hundreds of billions of
stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. The universe is all of the galaxies – billions of them! The large-scale structure
of the Universe is made up of voids and filaments that can be broken down into superclusters, clusters, galaxy
groups, and subsequently into galaxies. ... Groups are smaller, usually made up of less than 50 galaxies and
can have diameters up to 6 million light-years.
 The universe contains organized structures on all different scales, from small systems like the earth
and our solar system, to galaxies that contain trillions of stars, and finally extremely large structures
that contain billions of galaxies.
 The universe is currently estimated at roughly 13.8 billion years old, give or take 130 million years. In
comparison, the solar system is only about 4.6 billion years old. This estimate came from measuring
the composition of matter and energy density in the universe.
 The solar system consists of the sun, nine planets, their 158 moons and a belt of asteroids and comets.
Venus, Earth, Mercury, Mars and the sun are all parts of the inner solar system. Outer solar system
consists of Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto and Neptune.

Our solar system consists of one smallish star (the Sun), eight planets, a few billion asteroids and a few more
billion comets. Add to that masses of dust and gas, and there you have it. Close to the Sun we have four small,
rocky planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. If the proposed Resolution is passed, the 12 planet in our
Solar System will be Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon
and 2003 UB313. The name 2003 UB313 is provisional, as a “real” name has not yet been assigned to this
object. Our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago from a dense cloud of interstellar gas and dust.
The cloud collapsed, possibly due to the shockwave of a nearby exploding star, called a supernova. When this
dust cloud collapsed, it formed a solar nebula—a spinning, swirling disk of material. So far, astronomers have
found more than 500 solar systems and are discovering new ones every year. Given how many they have
found in our own neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy, scientists estimate that there may be tens of billions
of solar systems in our galaxy, perhaps even as many as 100 billion.

Origin of the Universe

 Non Scientific Thought
 Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods and myths which narrate that the world arose from an
infinite sea at the first rising of the sun
 The Kuba people of Central Africa tell the story of a creator god Mbombo (or Bumba) who alone
in a dark and water-covered Earth, felt an intense stomach pain and then vomited the stars, sun,
and moon.
 In India, there is the narrative that gods sacrificed Purusha, the primal man whose head, feet, eyes,
and mind became the sky, earth, sun, and moon respectively
 The monotheistic religion of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam claim that a supreme being created
the universe, including man and other living organisms.
 Steady State Model
 In cosmology, a view that the universe is always expanding but maintaining a constant average
density, with matter being continuously created to form new stars and galaxies at the same rate
that old ones become unobservable as a consequence of their increasing distance and velocity of
recession.
Note: The now discredited steady state model of the universe was proposed in 1948
by Bondi and Gould and by Hoyle.
 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
 The universe began, scientists believe, with every speck of its energy jammed into a very tiny
point. This extremely dense point exploded with unimaginable force, creating matter and
propelling it outward to make the billions of galaxies of our vast universe. Astrophysicists dubbed
this titanic explosion the Big Bang.
Origin of the Solar System
Approximately 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system was a
cloud of dust and gas known as a solar nebula. Gravity collapsed
the material in on itself as it began to spin, forming the sun in the
center of the nebula. With the rise of the sun, the remaining
material began to clump together.
The most widely accepted theory of planetary formation, known
as the nebular hypothesis, maintains that 4.6 billion years ago,
the Solar System formed from the gravitational collapse of a
giant molecular cloud which was light years across. Several stars,
including the Sun, formed within the collapsing cloud

Terrestrial Planets
1. Venus, Earth and Mars are part of the inner terrestrial or “rocky” planets. Their composition and
densities are not too different from each other.
2. Venus is considered to be the Earth’s twin planet. It has a very similar size and mass with the Earth.
Mars is about half the Earth’s size
3. Orbital period and velocity are released to the planet’s distance from the sun. Among the three planet,
Venus is the nearest and mars is the farthest to the sun
4. Rotational speed of Earth and Mars are very similar. Rotational speed of Venus is extremely slow.
5. Abundance of liquid water on Earth, hence the blue color. The Earth is a habitable planet.

Earth is a dynamic planet; the continents, atmosphere, oceans, ice,

and life ever changing, ever interacting in myriad ways. These
complex and interconnected processes comprise the Earth system,
which forms the basis of the scientific research and space
observation that we refer to as Earth system science.

Earth System
1. Atmosphere is composed of about 78 percent nitrogen, 21
percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon, and 0.1 percent other gases. Trace amounts of carbon dioxide,
methane, water vapor, and neon are some of the other gases that make up the remaining 0.1 percent.
2. Lithosphere is the rigid, outermost shell of a terrestrial-type planet, or natural satellite that is defined
by its rigid mechanical properties. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the portion of the upper
mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or greater.
3. Biosphere also known as the ecosphere, is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed
the zone of life on Earth, a closed system, and largely self-regulating.
4. Hydrosphere is the combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet, minor
planet or natural satellite. Although Earth's hydrosphere has been around for about 4 billion years, it
continues to change in shape

ATMOSPHERE LITHOSPHERE

HYDROSPHERE
Earth’s Interior is generally divided into three major layers: the crust, the
mantle, and the core. The hard, brittle crust extends from Earth's surface to
the so-called Mohorovicic discontinuity, nicknamed the Moho. Beneath the
Moho is the mantle, the viscous layer that makes up more than half of
Earth's volume.
1. Crust is the outermost layer of a planet. The crust of the Earth is
composed of a great variety of igneous, metamorphic, and
sedimentary rocks. The upper part of the mantle is composed
mostly of peridotite, a rock denser than rocks common in the
overlying crust.
2. Mantle is the mostly-solid bulk of Earth's interior. The mantle lies between Earth's dense, super-
heated core and its thin outer layer, the crust. The mantle is about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) thick,
and makes up a whopping 84% of Earth's total volume.
3. Core is the innermost geologic layer of the Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about
1,220 kilometres, which is about 20% of the Earth's radius or 70% of the Moon's radius. There are no
samples of the Earth's core available for direct measurement, as there are for the Earth's mantle.

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