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Earth Sciences
Earth Sciences is the study of the Earth in terms of Geography, Geology, Geophysics, etc. It combines the use of Sciences such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics to understand the Earth System.
34,763 Questions
What is happening on July 4th that is causing the orbit to change?
Astronomically speaking, nothing unusual 'happens' on July 4th, and there is no
reason to expect the Earth's orbit to 'change' any time soon.
The Earth's orbit around the sun is not a perfect circle. Which is not surprising,
because no natural orbit of anything in the solar system that we're able to see
is a perfect circle. Every gravitational orbit is an "ellipse". Some, like the orbits of
comets, Mercury, and Pluto, are more eccentric. And some, like the orbits of Venus
and Earth, have such small eccentricity that if you saw them drawn on a piece of
paper you'd swear they were circles. The gravitational orbits that are most nearly
circular are the orbits of the artificial 'geostationary' TV satellites. If the orbits aren't
kept very nearly circular, then the birds would appear to drift around their assigned spots
in the sky, and your TV picture might disappear for a while every 23hrs 56min 4sec .
But I'm digressing and losing my focus here. The main point of this paragraph is that
there are no perfectly circular orbits. Every orbit is an ellipse, and the sun is not at
the center, it's at one 'focus' of the ellipse. That's how gravity works.
Since the sun is not at the center of the orbit, there are times when the Earth is
closer to the Sun, and times when the Earth is farther away from it. This has been
going on as long as there have been an Earth and a Sun. The difference between
the nearest and farthest is about 3%. That's why nobody notices it unless they're
interested in science and they measure it or look it up.
The Earth is closest to the sun in January, and farthest from the Sun in July.
In 2012, the dates will be . . . closest on January 5, farthest on July 5.
Now let's go slowly, and consider the shocking implications of what we have learned:
-- On January 5, the Earth is as close to the Sun as it ever gets. That means that
on January 5, the Earth will begin to move farther from the Sun.
-- On July 5, the Earth is as far from the Sun as it ever gets. That means that
on July 5, the Earth will begin to move closer to the Sun.
If the last part was the only thing you heard, you might think that some catastrophe
is about to happen and the world is coming to an end. That's baloney. These things
happen every year. If the last part is the only thing that somebody tells you, then he's
lying to you, trying to scare you, and pulling your chain. Plus, he probably doesn't even
understand what he's talking about, so he is more to be pitied than scorned.
There is no reason known to modern Science why anything should change in the
forseeable future. But of course, as always, there is no water-tight, bullet-proof
guarantee that the Sun will not explode tomorrow. So don't put things off, call
your mother, and what is hateful to you, don't do to others. The rest is commentary.
What is The Temperature of a glacier?
The temperature of a glacier varies depending on factors like altitude, season, and climate. The surface temperature of a glacier can range from below freezing to slightly above freezing, while the temperature deep within the glacier can remain below freezing even during the summer.
Was split the moon two parts in history?
There is a story in Islamic tradition that the Prophet Muhammad split the moon into two parts as a miracle to prove his prophethood. However, this event is not scientifically supported and is considered a supernatural occurrence within religious belief.
What is the population curve used for?
Population curve is used to visually represent the distribution of a population by age groups or other categories. It helps to understand the demographic structure of a population, including factors such as birth rates, death rates, and migration patterns. It can also assist in making predictions about future population trends.
Tectonic plates slide past each other at transform plate boundaries, creating earthquakes. Ice sheets also slide past each other, causing friction and forming crevasses. Additionally, molecules in liquids and gases can slide past each other, leading to fluid motion.
What is the tendency of a moving object to keep moving?
An object that is IN motion tends to remain that way. Check out Newton's laws of thermodynamics. Basically, he postulated that things moving tend to keep moving, things stationary tend to stay stationary, and left to themselves, most thing degrade into chaos. This might sound silly, but you have to examine the statement a bit more. It's 'outside' forces, like gravity, friction, etc that act on objects to alter their movement or lack thereof. If you can imagine, for example a large glass bowl that has a vacuum inside it, and somehow, you could negate the force of gravity and friction as well. If you set a top spinning in the bowl, it would continue to spin forever - no friction to slow it down, no gravity to cause it to tip over, no air to cause drag, etc etc.
Why are shadows long in summer?
Simply because the Sun is lower in the sky.
The sun is in the southern hemisphere in the winter and this lower sun makes longer shadows. This is similar to the longer shadows in the afternoon, when the lower sun makes longer shadows.
Why does Earth have a liquid water supply and the moon does not?
It has an atmosphere because if it didn't, all living things could die from the sun rays. Technically, the atmosphere is like a shield to a knight, it protects the knight from arrows, like the atmosphere protects the earth from deadly sun rays.
Actually the earth's atmosphere was kinda made on accident. It started because Volcanoes, and Comets blew/hit and released gases which reacted with eachother. Therefore causing the atmosphere
What theory did Harry Hess come up with that supported Wegeners belief that continents moved?
Harry Hess proposed the theory of seafloor spreading, which suggested that new oceanic crust was continuously forming at mid-ocean ridges and moving away in both directions. This supported Wegener's belief in continental drift by providing a mechanism for how continents could move across the Earth's surface.
Why doesn't the sun have moons?
There is no absolute reason, but they are both closer to the Sun than Earth, and the Sun's gravity would seriously affect any moons, especially around Mercury.
Earth's only Moon seems to be made of material ripped from the planet in a massive collision VERY early in earth's history. Had that not happened, Earth would have no probably have no moon either.
Moons
Moons can be created basically three ways. Either by a collision as with Earth, formed as the planet formed, or by capturing wandering bodies that otherwise would have been planets. Moons are usually VERY small compared to the mother planet. Earth and the dwarf planet Pluto are exceptions.
Many moons around Jupiter and Saturn were formed in place. These planets had a lot of material around them when they formed. Their stronger gravity and distance from the Sun allowed them keep this material around them. Other moons farther out may be captured asteroids.
Mars has a couple of tiny moons. If Mars were closer to the Sun, they probably wouldn't be there.
Mercury, Venus, and Earth
If one was to hypothetically place a natural satellite in any reasonable orbit around Mercury, then it becomes possible to calculate the gravitational force between that satellite and Mercury, and between the satellite and the Sun.
In most cases, the the gravitational attraction by the Sun will be greater. This tells us that if there had ever been a satellite around Mercury, then the Sun's influence would have pulled it away from the planet into some sort of orbit around the Sun.
This may have happened during the formation of the Solar System or it may not. Any satellite pulled out of Mercury's orbit would have become just another
planetesimal in the chaos that was the Solar System at the time. The satellite could have collided with some other body, been ejected from the Solar System or been pulled into the Sun itself.
Carrying out such calculations for Venus and the Earth is also quite instructive.
Venus apparently could not hold onto a natural satellite either.
The Earth and the Moon present a different problem. The gravitational force between the Moon and the Sun is also greater than that between the Moon and the Earth. How then is it possible for the Earth to have retained the Moon for over four billion years? One has to consider that there is another set of related forces acting between bodies as well as the straightforward gravitational force. This is the Tidal Force.
Calculating the maximum tidal forces for the above cases shows that it is only in the case of the Earth and the Moon that there is enough force for one of the Solar System's inner three planets to hang onto a natural satellite. We could easily have lost the Moon long ago had things like the mass of the Moon or the distance from the Earth to the Sun been even slightly different.
Isaac Asimov wrote a short article in the 1960's on this very topic. He considered all of the planets and their known satellites at the time. It is still relevant and interesting today and well worth reading.
The theory goes that if Mercury did have a moon it would be influenced by the Sun's gravity so as to destabilise it's orbit and fall into the Sun or Mercury. Venus rotates in a different direction than the other planets. Tidal forces between Venus and any moon it had would have slowed the moon down, leading to it hitting the planet (in the Earth's case, the Moon is getting faster and farther away).
(see the related question)
Are most stars binary or singular?
Most stars in the universe are part of binary or multiple star systems, rather than being singular. Binary stars are pairs of stars that orbit around a common center of mass, and they are actually quite common in the universe. Singular stars like our Sun are relatively less common.
What is coarse grained igneous but not granite?
Gabbro is a coarse-grained igneous rock that is different from granite. It forms from the slow cooling of magma deep within the Earth's crust and is composed mainly of dark-colored minerals like pyroxene and olivine. Gabbro typically has a similar coarse texture to granite but has a darker color due to its mineral composition.
Not entirely. The notion that the Moon's gravity is attracting Earth's water and thus creating the tides is highly simplistic and inaccurate.
Let's start with this; the Moon doesn't orbit the Earth. The Earth AND the Moon orbit their common center of gravity, which is a point still inside the Earth, but not at the center of the Earth.
If we think of just the Earth as orbiting the Moon, you can see that the oceans on the near side of the Earth are orbiting too slowly, and should "fall" toward the Moon. The oceans on the far side of the Earth are orbiting the Moon too QUICKLY, and should fly off into space. (The Earth's own gravity prevents the water from moving more than a few feet from its "normal" position.)
From the perspective of the Moon, the affect of the Earth's tides would be highly magnified, because the Earth is much more massive. In fact, since the Moon is somewhat lopsided (we're not sure why!) these tidal stresses over the past 4 billion years have caused the Moon's rotation to slow down and essentially stop, so that the "light" side of the Moon always faces the Earth, while the "heavy" side of the Earth is always pointed away. Photos of the "far side of the Moon" have indicated that the terrain (..... hmmm, the word "terrain" is based on the latin word "terra", for Earth. I can't use "geography", because the "geo" part comes from the Greek word for "Earth".) ... excuse me, "selenography" (referring to Selene, the Greek goddess of the Moon) is quite different from the "near" side.
Comment: My simpler answer to this question: "The tides".
Constellations are made up of stars that are significantly farther away than the planets in our solar system, so their shapes would remain relatively consistent regardless of where you are in the solar system. However, the positions of the planets themselves may affect the alignment of constellations as seen from different planets.
What Great red spot storm still going on today?
Yes, the Great Red Spot storm on Jupiter is still active today. It has been raging for hundreds of years and is a massive storm that is much larger than the Earth. Scientists continue to study this iconic feature of Jupiter to better understand its dynamics and longevity.
Crop dusting is a colloquialism for the aerial application of pesticides on a growing crop. Most pesticides so applied are no longer a "dust" as such, due to the possibility of drift into non-target areas, but are usually liquid formulations of usually fungicides or insecticides. They can be applied by either small, powerful airplanes or by helicopter.
How does Ibuprofen effect plants?
i was doing a science fair project and i found out that it actually kills the plants i was very surprised at this out come. i don't know whats in the ibuprofen that kills it but it dose they killed over in only 4 days
What part of the earth that consists of water in the form of ice that is on or inside earth?
The part of the Earth that consists of water in the form of ice on or inside the Earth is known as the cryosphere. This includes ice caps, glaciers, ice sheets, permafrost, and snow cover. The cryosphere plays a crucial role in regulating the Earth's climate and sea levels.
Neptune's orbit is more elliptical than Pluto's, causing their orbits to sometimes intersect. From 1979 to 1999, Neptune's elliptical orbit brought it closer to the sun than Pluto, making Neptune the farthest planet from the sun during that time.
Scientists don't believe atoms exist- they know atoms exist. No matter what type of field they study, the 'theory' of the atom explains many things about matter and chemistry and what make things happend in the physical world.
What is a rock that is trapped in the orbit of the sun?
There are several rocks trapped in the orbit of the Sun.
They are ;-
The four rocky planets , Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.
Then there is the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. These are 'lumps' of rock moving in an orbital belt about the Sun. One of these rocks can be identified as 'Ceres'.
The earth's energy is in balance, meaning there is about as much going out as there is coming in. This keeps the earth's climate roughly in equilibrium. If there were more coming in than release, this would invariably warm the earth's atmosphere.
What planet has craters cliffs and a weak magnetic field?
Mercury fits this description, as it has craters, cliffs (known as scarps), and a weak magnetic field. Mercury's magnetic field is only about 1% as strong as Earth's magnetic field.
Nothing....actually
Its just a human created form of division of time.
Though if you are talking about lunar month which is 28 days. Its one Cycle of all phases of moon....i.e from one fullmoon to the next is one lunar month.
The normal months are based on division of a year or 365 days (time taken for earth to go around the Sun Once.) into 12 parts not necessarily equal but based on whims and fancies of many people in the history.
There were different number of months during different phases of history in different calendars over last 2-3000 yrs since time was kept.
The Gregorian calendar we use today has only been standardized in recent past
How does the geothermal energy reach earths surface?
Geothermal energy reaches Earth's surface through the Earth's core, where temperatures are extremely high due to the heat generated by radioactive decay. This heat is transferred through rocks and magma in the Earth's mantle, eventually reaching the surface in the form of volcanic activity, geysers, and hot springs.
