Welcome to Earth Thesis EXAMPLE
The big question this unit was, “What are the different characteristics of the Earth and how do
they impact each other?” Understanding the answer to this question helps us to better understand the
foundation of Physical Geography. In this paper, I will be talking about the 4 spheres on Earth, WED,
feedback loops, and rotation of the Earth. The purpose of this paper is to answer the big question.
The 4 spheres on Earth are the biosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and atmosphere. The
biosphere is all living things on Earth, like trees, grass, dogs, or even us, humans! The hydrosphere is all
the water on Earth, like oceans, lakes, and rivers. The atmosphere is all the air on Earth, like what we
breathe and the clouds. The geosphere is all the rocks, soil, and landforms on Earth, like mountains,
mesas, and canyons. These four spheres connect to the big question because the spheres impact each
other. For example, when it rains (hydrosphere) from a cloud (atmosphere) it fills up a pond
(hydrosphere) which an animal (biosphere) then might drink from.
WED means weathering, erosion, and deposition. Weathering is the breaking of rocks into
smaller pieces. Erosion is the movement of weathered rock. Deposition is when rocks stop moving.
These three concepts are important because they impact the geosphere, since the geosphere is made
up of rocks. As WED changes rocks, it also changes the geosphere. This helps answer the big question
because each stage of WED also impacts each other. For example, if the rocks weren’t weathered down
than they might not be small enough for erosion to occur.
Feedback loops are diagrams that help us understand how parts in a system are impacting
each other. A system is a group of things that are interconnected, like a food chain for example. In a
reinforcing feedback loop, there is continuing growth or decline in a system. For example, a goose lays
eggs which then hatch into geese, which grow up and hatch more eggs. In this loop things become more
and more and more and more. In a balancing feedback loop, there is limited growth or decline in a
system. For example, someone throws trash on the floor, but then someone else picks it up and throws
it away, so the trash on the floor doesn’t increase. Feedback loops are connected to the big question
because they help us understand how changing one part of a system might impact the rest of the
system.
Rotation of the Earth is the spinning of the Earth on its axis. This causes day and night and
takes about 24 hours for one complete spin. This helps answer the big question because day and night
impacts lots of different systems on Earth. For instance: the school system. School starts each day at
8:00 because that is morning and ends each day at 3:35 because that is afternoon. After school, we do
homework and eat dinner with our families and then go to sleep because it is night. This whole system
depends on day and night and the passage of time to work. This brings up another point: rotation of the
Earth is why we have time zones on Earth too!
In conclusion, I have talked about the 4 spheres on Earth, WED, feedback loops, and rotation. I
explained these topics to show how I have answered the big question this unit. To review, the big
question was, “What are the different characteristics of the Earth and how do they impact each other?”
If I were to continue researching this question, I would want to know more about the different biomes
on Earth and how they impact each other.