Earth Science
Semester II
Final Exam Review
Matter:
1. Define matter? Give examples.
2. Define an element. Give examples.
3. What are atoms?
4. What charge does each of the following subatomic particle possess? Do they “live” in
the nucleus or in the cloud around it?
a. Protonb.
Neutron-
c. Electron5. Define compounds. Give examples.
Minerals:
6. What are the 5 characteristics of a mineral?
a. ______________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________
c. ______________________________________________________________________________
d. ______________________________________________________________________________
e. ______________________________________________________________________________
7. List the seven mineral groups and give the major components that they are made up
of.
a. ______________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________
c. ______________________________________________________________________________
d. ______________________________________________________________________________
e. ______________________________________________________________________________
f. ______________________________________________________________________________
g. ______________________________________________________________________________
8.
What does luster mean with regard to minerals?
9. What is a streak test, and what does its color mean?
10. What is it called when a mineral breaks along a flat surface? A curved surface?
11. Define hardness.
12. What are some special properties of minerals?
13. What is the Mohs scale used to test for?
Rocks & Rock Cycle:
14. Define rock.
15. What is the rock cycle?
16. Where are both igneous and metamorphic rocks formed?
17. Define extrusive and intrusive rocks. Where are each of these formed?
18. What are the four types of igneous rocks? What are their different types of
composition? What is the composition based on?
19. Define the following terms:
a. Weathering:
b. Erosion:
c. Deposition:
d. Compaction:
e. Cementation:
20. What is the most common order in which sedimentary rock formation occurs?
21. What are agents of erosion?
22. How are sedimentary rocks classified?
23. What are contact and regional metamorphism? How are they different?
24. What are the agents of metamorphism? Which is the most important?
25. Define foliated and non-foliated and give examples of each.
Earth’s History, Radioactive Dating, & Fossils:
34. Define relative dating and give an example.
35. Define absolute/radiometric dating and give an example.
36. Define the following:
a. Law of Superposition
b. Principle of Original Horizontality
c. Principle of Cross-Cutting Relationships
d. Law of Unconformities
37. What are the types of unconformities? Give examples in order to be able to identify
these on a diagram.
a. ______________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________
c. ______________________________________________________________________________
38. Be able to identify the different types of fossils and give examples of each:
a. Unaltered:
b. Altered:
c. Indirect evidence:
39. Which two conditions are important for fossil formation?
40. What are index fossils and what are they used to determine?
41. What is radiation and how does it occur with regard to the nuclei of an element?
42. What is a half-life?
43. What are the major divisions of the geologic time scale?
Precambrian, Cambrian, Mesozoic, & Cenozoic:
Precambrian:
45. How much time of Earth’s history was spent in the Precambrian Era? ___________
46. What are shields and where are they found?
47. What gases made up Earth’s ancient atmosphere during the Precambrian?
48. What are stromatolites?
Paleozoic Era:
49. What adaptation helped preserve remains as a fossil record?
50. Where did most organisms live during this era and were they invertebrates or
vertebrates?
51. What continents combined to form:
a. Laurasia
b. Gondwanaland
c. Pangaea
52. What adaptation allowed fish to evolve into amphibians and leave the sea?
Mesozoic Era:
53. The Mesozoic Era is known best as the Age of __________________________.
54. How did reptiles adapt to life on land as compared with amphibians?
55. What type of organism dominated the land during the late Mesozoic Era?
56. What is thought to be the reason for the mass extinction during the Mesozoic Era?
Cenozoic Era:
57. This was the Age of _____________________ and the Age of _________________.
58. What are adaptations of mammals compared with reptiles?
Meteorology: Climate and Weather
59.
What are the two most important factors of climate and weather?
60.
How do the following affect climate:
a. Latitude?
b. Large bodies of water?
c. Atmospheric circulation (Global winds)?
61.
List three additional factors that affect climate and briefly give an
example of how they influence climate.
a.
b.
c.
62.
Label the air masses below:
63.
Label the fronts below:
64.
What type of fronts are associated with thunderstorms?
65.
When is tornado season?
66.
What storm is a tornado associated with?
67.
Where are most hurricanes found?
68.
Describe the parts of a hurricane.
a. Eye wall:
b. Eye:
Atmospheric structure and temperature:
Atmospheric Characteristics:
69. What are the three gases and their specific percentages found in the Earth’s
atmosphere?
70. List the four layers of the atmosphere and the major things that occur in each layer.
71. In what layer of the atmospheredo planes like to fly?
72. Define and give an example of each:
a. Conduction:
b. Convection:
c. Radiation:
73. When you touch a metal spoon left in a hot pot, the mechanism of heat transfer is ___?
74. What is the energy transferred from one object to another because of a difference in
their temperatures is called?
75. What factors influence temperature?
76. Does land or water heat and cool more rapidly?
77. Why does the Northern hemisphere’s temperature vary more throughout the year than
the Southern hemisphere’s temperature?
The Water Cycle
78. Where can water be found on Earth?
79. Where is most freshwater found?
80. What is the main link between water in the oceans and on land?
81. Define the following terms:
a. Evaporation
b. Condensation
c. Transpiration
d. Infiltration
e. Precipitation
82. What are the most common forms of precipitation?
83. What evidence do we have that the water cycle is in balance?
84. How does water move through the ground?
85. Identify the following sources of water underground:
a. Zone of aeration:
b. Zone of saturation:
c. Water table:
d. Hot spring:
e. Geyser:
f. Normal well:
g. Artesian well:
86. What is the most important gas in the atmosphere? ______________________________
87. What is relative humidity?
88. How does temperature affect the water vapor in the air?
89. Fill in the chart below:
Air Temp
(°C)
Wet Bulb Temp
(°C)
22
36
11
17
21
7
Wet Bulb
Depression
(°C)
Relative
Humidity
(%)
90. If an air sample has 9.2 g/kg of water vapor, but its saturation point is 12 g/kg, what
is the relative humidity?
91. If an air sample has 14 g/kg of water vapor, but its saturation point is 30 g/kg, what
is the relative humidity?
92. An air sample at -38°C has 0.22 g/kg of water vapor when its saturation point is 0.19
g/kg.
a. Is the following situation possible? __________________________________________
b. Why or why not? ___________________________________________________________
c. What would you expect to see in this situation? ______________________________
93. How are clouds classified?
94. Describe and/or draw the following cloud forms:
a. Cirrus:
b. Cumulus:
c. Stratus:
95. Describe the following precipitations:
a. Rain:
b. Sleet:
c. Glaze:
d. Snow:
e. Hail: