Name________________________________________ Date __________ Teacher: P W Y Blk ____ NB#____

Greatest Discoveries with Bill Nye: Earth Science

DescriptionWhile on his quest to uncover the top 100 scientific discoveries of all time, Bill Nye checks in with leading scientists to discuss the greatest discoveries ever made in the field of earth science.Greatest Discoveries with Bill Nye: Earth Science, Science Channel, 2005. Full Video.Discovery Education. Web. 17 November 2015.

The following is in the order the information will be as Bill Nye walks you through the Science behind the Geology of our planet:

1- The Outer Core1. The first layer of Earth is the containing the continents is called _________________________, a skin of rock covering the planet.

2- The Inner Core2. The core that Lehman had found was the Earth’s

_________________________________________.

3. The core that Richard Oldem had discovered turned out to be the Earth’s

_________________________________________.

4. At

the center of the core, the temperature can be as high as ____________ºF, which is 2,000º hotter than the surface of the sun.

3- Continental Drift5. Pangaea comes from the Greek and means

_________________________________________.

4- The Sea-Floor is Spreading

6. When the United States entered the war, _________________________________________was a geology professor at Princeton University.

7. In 1953 a 12,000 mile long mountain range called the__________________________________was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean.8. Harry Hess had discovered that the seafloor was

_________________________________________.9. The process that recycles the crust is called

_________________________________________.

5- Plate Tectonics10. The surface of the planet is broken into large interconnected ____________________________, that are constantly in motion.

11. The plates are _________________________, they are not_______________________________.

12. A _________________________ fault is where the plates move by one another.

13. Weather has so many ____________________ it can change quickly.

14.One lightning bolt can strike with the power of _________________________ million volts.

6- Troposphere and Stratosphere

15. Troposphere means… ____________________

16. Stratosphere means… ____________________7- Cosmic Radiation17. Victor Hess discovered

_________________________________________.

18. It is estimated that each year more than __________________________people die from cancer caused by the small natural dose of radiation.

8- Magnetic Field Reversal19. The Earth’s magnetic field acts as a _________________________________________, protecting our planet from the Sun’s dangerous radiation.

20. The Earth’s magnetic field has reversed about __________________________times in the last 20 million years.

9- Periodic Ice Ages21. Every_______________________ years or so the angle of the Earth’s axis tilts slightly.

22. The Earth may have experienced as many as __________________________ ice ages over the last several million years.

10- Global Warming23. Over the past 100 years the surface temperature of the Earth has increased about __________________________ ºF.

24. Keeling found that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere was increasing at a rate of __________________________ billion tons per year.

25. The South Cascade Glacier has retreated by __________________________ miles over the last century.

26. It would take __________________________ the size of Mt. St. Helens erupting every day of the year to equal the amount of CO2 emissions people produce.

11- Geological Change27. The mechanism of the slow process of geologic

change was _______________________________.

12- Radiometric Dating28. Mineral samples of uranium always contained traces of _________________________________.

29. If we compare the entire history of the Earth to a span of 24 hours, 1 million years would go by in about __________________________ minutes.

30. The Earth ______________________________ all living things.

For each Vocabulary Term – read the definition and then in the context sentence fill in the missing word to make the complete sentence a factual statement:

Crust Definition: The outer layer of the Earth Context: The Earth’s crust is _____________________ under the continents than it is under the oceans.

Earthquake Definition: Shaking and vibrating at the surface of the Earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane Context: Earthquakes have helped scientists define the size and shape of _____________________ plates.

Mantle Definition: The layer of the Earth between the crust and the core Context: The _______________ ______________ in the mantle causes the Earth’s plates to move.

Mid-Atlantic Ridge Definition: An underwater mountain range in the Atlantic Ocean, stretching from Iceland to Antarctica Context: _____________________ from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge creates new oceanic crust.

Plate tectonics Definition: A scientific theory that unifies many of the features and characteristics of continental drift and seafloor spreading into a coherent model; it has revolutionized geologists’ understanding of continents, ocean basins, mountains, and Earth history. Context: The theory of _____________________ _____________________ did not gain wide scientific interest until the 1960s.

Subduction Definition: When an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate and sinks below the latter; results in the creation of oceanic trenches and mountain building Context: Subduction of an oceanic plate consumes, or _________________________, the crust.

Volcano Definition: A fissure in the Earth’s crust through which molten lava and gasses erupts Context: Mount St. Helens is an _____________________ volcano in Washington State.