earth cross section

Core:  highest –density material consisting primarily of metals like nickel and iron. Center core.

Mantle: Rocky material with varied density. Contains silicon, oxygen, etc. Surrounds the core.

Crust: lowest density rock like granite and volcanic rock. Represses earth’s outer skin.

lithosphere

Rigid and cool rock that  floats on softer, warmer rocks beneath it. Covers crust and part of upper mantle. Uppermost layer.

differentiation

Process by which gravity separates materials by density. Oil/water: oil more dense , so it sits on top. Planets are hot at core. Heat is dense, makes solid ground when mixed with rock. Amount of heat at core depends on size of planet. Large planets stay warm longer.

Convection

The process by which hot material expands and rises while cooler material contracts and drops off of mantle. Mantle made of rock and convection is slow.  Size, again is a factor. Thick lithosphere  cancels out rock movement.

Magnetic field

approximately a magnetic dipole with one pole near the north and the other near the geographic south pole. Magnetic fields extend infinitely, though they are weaker further from their source. The Earth's magnetic field, which effectively extends several tens of thousands of kilometers into space, is called the magnetosphere. Magnetic field—generated by convection

magnetosphere

Protective bubble that surrounds our planet and deflects charged particles before they reach earth.

Aurora

are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions. They typically occur in the ionosphere. only visible in the sky from the Northern Hemisphere, the chance of visibility increasing with proximity to the north magnetic pole, which is currently in the arctic islands of northern Canada. Aurora seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead

P waves

can travel through gases (such as sounds), elastic solids and liquids, including the Earth. They can be produced by earthquakes and recorded by seismometers. The name P-wave stands for primary wave, as the P-wave is the fastest among the elastic waves, compared to the S waves.

S wave

one of the two main types of elastic body waves, because they move through the body of an object. The S-wave move as a shear or transverse wave, so motion is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation: S-waves, like waves in a rope, as opposed to waves moving through a slinky. The wave moves through elastic media, and the main restoring force comes from shear effects

Impact Cratering

Volcanism

Eruption of, molten rock or lava from planet's interior onto it’s surface.

tectonics

Disruption of a planet’s suffice by internal stresses,

Erosion

Wearing down or building up of geological features by wind, water, and ice.

Ozone

Resides in stratosphere where it absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

Carbon Dioxide, methane, water

Good at absorbing infrared light.

Moon

Size-1/4 size of earth

Maria—dark old impacts --mascons

Highlands—oldest white crust

Mercury

Size-1/3 earth

Rotation-59days

Revolution-88days

Temperature-900F

Caloris Basin—largest impact in solar system

Scarp-cliffs formed by mercury shrinking

Mars

Size-1/2 earth

Rotation-24h 30min

Revolution-23 months(2 years)

Atmosphere-1% earth carbon dioxide

Channels—once flowing rivers

Permafrost –at poles and maybe over planet water frozen

Venus

 Size-same as earth

Rotation-243 days backward

Revolution-225 days

Temperature-900F-by greenhouse effect

Atmosphere-90 times thicker than earth and 96% carbon dioxide

Clouds-thick and sulfuric acid