ESCI 1006 Final Exam
In class, we used the figure above to emphasize that different
atmospheres existed during the past (~4.4 billion years) of Earth
history. What explains the dramatic decrease in CO2 starting at
about 4.3 billion years? - ANSWER The Earth cooled to a point
necessary for formation of a liquid ocean, which then could trap
CO2 from the atmosphere
The speed of sound through seawater is about 1,500 meters per
second. If it takes 6.66 seconds for an image of the bottom to
appear on a monitor back on-board the ship, about how deep is
the seafloor? - ANSWER 5000 m
The process by which Earth's composition became stratified by
density required substantial amounts of heat that were most likely
and significantly generated from? (multiple answers are possible)
- ANSWER Radioactive decay, Kinetic energy due to collisions,
Compression/gravity
The lack of water on the planet Venus is best explained by: -
ANSWER The relatively high temperature of the surface of the
planet
All dating schemes that are presently used to determine the
absolute age of Earth material involve the decay or breakdown of
an unstable parent element to a more stable daughter element.
The time it takes for half of the original parent material to be
converted to daughter material is referred to as the half-life.
,Assuming a given parent/daughter dating scheme has a half-life
of 2,000 years, what would be the age of an object where only
12.5% of the parent remained? - ANSWER 6,000 years
Which extreme environment may have favored the origin of life
on Earth and is presently the home of the Alvinella worm, an
organism with perhaps the highest heat tolerance on Earth? -
ANSWER Deep sea hydrothermal vents
Your semester at sea takes an unexpected turn when the ship's
captain decides to teach you a lesson by throwing all the
navigation equipment overboard. Thankfully, your mom
purchased you a nice chronometer wristwatch when you
graduated high school in Greenwich, England. Always wanting to
know when it's a good time to call mum, one of your many dials
says that it is 3:30PM back in Greenwich while it is exactly
12:00PM (noon) on the boat. You therefore are able to tell the
captain your longitude is - ANSWER 52.5 degrees W
The diagram immediately below illustrates ____________, an
energy source common to many stars - ANSWER Fusion
The best evidence of the age of the Earth comes from: -
ANSWER Radiometric age of meteorites that fall to Earth
As emphasized in lecture and in the video by David Gallo,
discoveries in ocean exploration, especially over the last century,
have resulted largely from: - ANSWER The development of
"Enabling Technologies"
Identifying a submerged object at high resolution on the ocean
floor with a sailing ships sonar depends only on the effective
depth of the object from the surface. - ANSWER False
, What created Earth's moon? - ANSWER The expulsion of rocky
crust and mantle from Earth after a collision with a planetary
body, which then recombined to orbit the Earth
Where did Earth's water come from? More than one correct
choice is possible - ANSWER - the Earth inherited water from
H2O-rich comets, especially during the early stage of the Earth
formation
- Gases (including water vapor) were released from the Earth's
interior by the process of outgassing during differentiation
The cruise of the HMS Challenger expedition (1872-1876) is
credited with all of the following, except: - ANSWER Testing the
performance of the Harrison clock needed for the determination of
longitude
By catch is a term introduced in class to describe marine animals
unintentionally killed or discarded while collecting desirable
organisms. The type of fishing that is characterized by particularly
high by-catch and also very significant habitat and ecosystem
destruction is: - ANSWER Bottom trawling
In class, we discussed residence time of water in the various
reservoirs on Earth (atmosphere, ocean, etc...). Residence time
calculations necessarily involve the assumption of "steady state";
that is the input into the reservoir = the output from the reservoir.
For example, if the amount (size) of a particular reservoir is 1000
grams of component "A" and the rate of input or output is 20
grams component "A"/year, what would be the residence time of
component "A at steady state? - ANSWER 50 years
All of the heavy elements (gold, mercury and the like) in materials
in our solar system and likely elsewhere in the universe are
derived from - ANSWER Supernova events
In class, we used the figure above to emphasize that different
atmospheres existed during the past (~4.4 billion years) of Earth
history. What explains the dramatic decrease in CO2 starting at
about 4.3 billion years? - ANSWER The Earth cooled to a point
necessary for formation of a liquid ocean, which then could trap
CO2 from the atmosphere
The speed of sound through seawater is about 1,500 meters per
second. If it takes 6.66 seconds for an image of the bottom to
appear on a monitor back on-board the ship, about how deep is
the seafloor? - ANSWER 5000 m
The process by which Earth's composition became stratified by
density required substantial amounts of heat that were most likely
and significantly generated from? (multiple answers are possible)
- ANSWER Radioactive decay, Kinetic energy due to collisions,
Compression/gravity
The lack of water on the planet Venus is best explained by: -
ANSWER The relatively high temperature of the surface of the
planet
All dating schemes that are presently used to determine the
absolute age of Earth material involve the decay or breakdown of
an unstable parent element to a more stable daughter element.
The time it takes for half of the original parent material to be
converted to daughter material is referred to as the half-life.
,Assuming a given parent/daughter dating scheme has a half-life
of 2,000 years, what would be the age of an object where only
12.5% of the parent remained? - ANSWER 6,000 years
Which extreme environment may have favored the origin of life
on Earth and is presently the home of the Alvinella worm, an
organism with perhaps the highest heat tolerance on Earth? -
ANSWER Deep sea hydrothermal vents
Your semester at sea takes an unexpected turn when the ship's
captain decides to teach you a lesson by throwing all the
navigation equipment overboard. Thankfully, your mom
purchased you a nice chronometer wristwatch when you
graduated high school in Greenwich, England. Always wanting to
know when it's a good time to call mum, one of your many dials
says that it is 3:30PM back in Greenwich while it is exactly
12:00PM (noon) on the boat. You therefore are able to tell the
captain your longitude is - ANSWER 52.5 degrees W
The diagram immediately below illustrates ____________, an
energy source common to many stars - ANSWER Fusion
The best evidence of the age of the Earth comes from: -
ANSWER Radiometric age of meteorites that fall to Earth
As emphasized in lecture and in the video by David Gallo,
discoveries in ocean exploration, especially over the last century,
have resulted largely from: - ANSWER The development of
"Enabling Technologies"
Identifying a submerged object at high resolution on the ocean
floor with a sailing ships sonar depends only on the effective
depth of the object from the surface. - ANSWER False
, What created Earth's moon? - ANSWER The expulsion of rocky
crust and mantle from Earth after a collision with a planetary
body, which then recombined to orbit the Earth
Where did Earth's water come from? More than one correct
choice is possible - ANSWER - the Earth inherited water from
H2O-rich comets, especially during the early stage of the Earth
formation
- Gases (including water vapor) were released from the Earth's
interior by the process of outgassing during differentiation
The cruise of the HMS Challenger expedition (1872-1876) is
credited with all of the following, except: - ANSWER Testing the
performance of the Harrison clock needed for the determination of
longitude
By catch is a term introduced in class to describe marine animals
unintentionally killed or discarded while collecting desirable
organisms. The type of fishing that is characterized by particularly
high by-catch and also very significant habitat and ecosystem
destruction is: - ANSWER Bottom trawling
In class, we discussed residence time of water in the various
reservoirs on Earth (atmosphere, ocean, etc...). Residence time
calculations necessarily involve the assumption of "steady state";
that is the input into the reservoir = the output from the reservoir.
For example, if the amount (size) of a particular reservoir is 1000
grams of component "A" and the rate of input or output is 20
grams component "A"/year, what would be the residence time of
component "A at steady state? - ANSWER 50 years
All of the heavy elements (gold, mercury and the like) in materials
in our solar system and likely elsewhere in the universe are
derived from - ANSWER Supernova events
