Questions about science and other introductory material

1. Give an example of some aspect of the world or of human experience involves questions that science can properly address. ___
2. Give an example of some aspect of the world or of human experience involves questions that science can not properly address. ___
3. What is the essential characteristic that makes an observation into a scientific fact?
4. What is the essential characteristic of a scientific hypothesis that differentiates it from idle speculation?
5. What is the current best scientific estimate for the age of the Earth?
6. What are the primary layers of Earth's interior, listed from the inside out? (See p. 12-13)
7. About how thick is Earth's crust?
8. What is the only major layer of Earth's interior that is in the liquid state?
9. We know about the layering of Earth's deep interior primarily through the analysis of how seismic waves from earthquakes propagate through the Earth. The composition of meteorites helps us constrain the composition of Earth's interior. Earth has a core composed of ___.
10. Increase in temperature by a sufficient amount (while holding pressure constant) will generally result in a change in state from a liquid to a ___ and from a solid to a ___.
11. Increase in pressure by a sufficient amount (while holding temperature constant) will generally result in a change in state from a gas to a ___ and from a liquid to a ___ for most materials.
12. Earth's temperature increases with depth to its highest temperature in the center. Pressure also increases to a maximum at the center. The inner core is in the ___ state of matter.
13. The mantle is in the ___ state of matter, and the part of the mantle that is deeper than the base of the lithosphere is able to flow in response to stress.
14. The outer core is in the ___ state of matter.
15. The rigid-elastic outermost part of the Earth is segregated into discreet plates that are in motion relative to each other. That layer is called the ___.
16. Just below the plates is a zone in the upper mantle, called the ___, that is hot enough so that a small amount of partial melting occurs and the remaining solid rock is very weak.
17. What do we mean by the density of something?
18. What is the density of liquid water?
19. What is the average density of the entire Earth?
20. How does the average density of the rocks on Earth's surface compare with the average density of the entire Earth?
21. What is the average composition of continental crust, expressed as a rock type?
22. How thick can continental crust get?
23. What is the average thickness of continental crust?
24. How old are the oldest rocks in continental crust?
25. What is the average composition of oceanic crust, expressed as a rock type?
26. What is the average thickness of oceanic crust?
27. How old are the oldest rocks in oceanic crust?
28. How does the average density of oceanic crust compare with the average density of continental crust?
29. What is the mantle made of?
30. How does the average density of the mantle compare with the average density of the crust?
31. What state (solid, liquid, gas) is the mantle in (predominantly)?
32. What is Earth's core composed of, expressed in terms of elements (e.g., oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, carbon, sulfur, hydrogen, helium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, etc.)?
33. What state (solid, liquid, gas) is the outer core in?
34. What state (solid, liquid, gas) is the inner core in?
35. What does the word "lithosphere" mean literally?
36. What does the word "asthenosphere" mean literally?
37. What two layers comprise the lithosphere?
38. Where is the lithosphere relative to other layers in Earth's interior?
39. Where is the asthenosphere relative to other layers in Earth's interior?
40. The circulation of the material in the outer core is responsible for what important field property of the Earth?

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