Earth & Space Science

Use this for “A 26.5 g mineral raises the water from 50 mL to 60 mL. What is its density, and which mineral could it be?”

Use this for “Which of these minerals is a silicate?”

Use this for “Does this mineral break along flat planes or along curved surfaces?”

Use this for “A rock has large crystals. Did it cool quickly or slowly?”

Use this for “Is gneiss foliated? What was its parent rock?”

Use this for “Why are three seismic stations needed to find an epicenter?” and for the distances from each lag.

Use this for “A magnitude 6 quake and a magnitude 4 quake: how much more shaking, and how much more energy?”

Use this for “Rock 100 km from the ridge is 4 million years old. How fast is the seafloor spreading?”

Use this for “Which seismic wave cannot travel through the liquid outer core?”

Use this for “Which seismic waves reach a station 120° from an earthquake, and why do no S waves arrive past 104°?”

Use this for “Which of these is powered by Earth’s internal heat, like hot springs?”

Use this for “The hanging wall dropped down along the fault. Which kind of fault is it, and what stress made it?”

Use this for “Why do volcanoes above subduction zones erupt explosively?”

Use this for “Why are there volcanic mountains along a coast where an ocean plate sinks?” and “What happens as a rift valley widens?”

Use this for “A fossil coral shows 1,200 daily growth lines across 3 yearly bands. How long was a day then?”

Use this for “How did the first photosynthesis change Earth’s air, and what did it leave in the rocks?”

Use this for “How was Earth’s early atmosphere different from today’s, and what changed it?”

Use this for “Put the major steps in the history of life in order, from the first cells to humans.”

Use this for “A stream is 12 m wide and 1.5 m deep and flows at 0.8 m/s. What is its discharge?”

Use this for “Is frost wedging mechanical or chemical weathering? What about rust?”

Use this for “Which agent of erosion carved a U-shaped valley?”

Use this for “A meteorite has as much lead-206 as uranium-238. How old is it?”

Use this for “Which ash beds date a fossil layer, and how old can the fossils be?”

Use this for “A rock holds 3 daughter atoms for every parent atom, and the half-life is 1.25 × 10⁹ years. How old is it?”

Use this for “Volcanic ash holds 0.01 argon-40 atom for every potassium-40 atom. How old is the ash?”

Use this for “A 105-million-year-old dike cuts the sandstone but not the shale above it. How old can the shale’s fossils be?”

Use this for “A dike cuts three layers and stops at an eroded surface under a lava flow. Which happened first?”

Use this for “Order the spans of Earth’s history, from Precambrian time to the Cenozoic Era. How long was each?”

Use this for “Is the tide a spring or a neap tide at the first-quarter Moon, and how big is the range?”

Use this for “Why is the current on the west side of an ocean basin warm?” and “What drives the deep conveyor?”

Use this for “Why does warm air rise at the equator?” and “Why does water sink near Greenland?”

Use this for “A 1,024 hPa high and a 996 hPa low are 700 km apart. What is the pressure gradient, and which way does the wind blow round the low?”

Use this for “Air holds 6 g of water vapor per kg and could hold 15 g. What is its relative humidity?”

Use this for “The air is 24 °C with a dew point of 12 °C. How high is the cloud base?”

Use this for “Put the stages of a hurricane in order. Why does it weaken over land?”

Use this for “Which air mass brings hot, humid summer weather to the southeastern United States?”

Use this for “If Earth reflects 30% of sunlight and has no greenhouse gases, how warm is it?”

Use this for “Which climate zone has warm summers and cold winters?” and why the poles are cold.

Use this for “Sea ice melts as Earth warms. Does that speed up the warming or slow it down?”

Use this for “How do volcanoes and burning fuels return buried carbon to the air, and which is faster?”

Use this for “Which of these releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?”

Use this for “How fast did CO₂ rise each decade, and is the rise speeding up?”

Use this for “What share of US electricity comes from fossil fuels, and what share is renewable?”

Use this for “400 billion barrels of oil are used at 12.5 billion a year. How many years will they last?”

Use this for “600 billion barrels are used at 15 billion a year, and use grows steadily by 2% a year. How many years will they last?”

Use this for “Describe how fossil fuels such as coal form.”

Use this for “Put the stages of the solar system’s formation in order.”

Use this for “Is Neptune a terrestrial or a Jovian planet? What about Pluto?”

Use this for “A star’s Hα line is seen at 656.5 nm. How fast is it moving, and which way?”

Use this for “A telescope has a 900 mm objective and a 25 mm eyepiece. What is its magnification?”

Use this for “A star’s parallax is 0.1″. How far away is it, in parsecs and light-years?”

Use this for “Which elements are in this star?” from its dark lines and lab spectra.

Use this for “Why must X-ray telescopes be put in space?”

Use this for “The Sun gives off 3.828 × 10²⁶ W. How much mass does it turn into energy each second?”

Use this for “A star has twice the Sun’s mass. How bright is it, and how long will it last?”

Use this for “Put the stages of a Sun-like star’s life in order. What is left at the end?”

Use this for “What is left after a massive star explodes as a supernova?”

Use this for “Which two elements are the most common in the universe, and where were they made?”

Use this for “A galaxy’s light is shifted to longer wavelengths, z = 0.03. How fast is it moving away, and how far is it?”

Use this for “Space doubles in size. How far does a galaxy 100 million light-years away move?”

Use this for “What do all galaxies have in common?” and for sorting galaxies by shape.

Use this for “Put the events since the Big Bang in order. What is the microwave background?”

Use this for “A planet circles a star of 0.5 solar masses every 1,461 days. How far is it from its star?”

Use this for “A star gives off 0.25 times the Sun’s light. Where is its habitable zone, and is a planet at 0.5 AU in it?”

Use this for “Which planets are easiest to find by transits, by the Doppler wobble or by imaging?”

Use this for “Which findings would show a world could hold life, and which would show life itself?”