Earth, Environment and Technology Applications
Earth structure and rocks
Earth has a crust, mantle and core. Tectonic plates of lithosphere move on the mantle; at boundaries plates diverge, collide or slide, producing volcanoes, earthquakes and mountain belts. The rock cycle links igneous rock (from cooled magma or lava), sedimentary rock (layered, from deposited fragments or dissolved minerals) and metamorphic rock (changed by heat and pressure). Weathering breaks rock in place; erosion transports the fragments.
Cycles and atmosphere
The atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and oxygen, with small amounts of carbon dioxide, water vapour and argon. The natural greenhouse effect keeps Earth warm; enhanced greenhouse warming follows extra carbon dioxide and methane from burning fossil fuels and agriculture. The carbon cycle moves carbon between air, living things, soil, oceans and rocks. The water cycle involves evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff.
Resources and technology
Classify energy resources as renewable (solar, wind, hydro, tidal, geothermal, biomass) or non-renewable (coal, oil, gas, nuclear fuel). Renewable does not mean impact-free: wind turbines and reservoirs have costs and are intermittent. Technology supports monitoring (satellites, sensors), clean water treatment, recycling, materials design and medical imaging. Evaluate a technology with a life-cycle approach: raw materials, manufacture, use, disposal.
Seasons and sky
Seasons result from the tilt of Earth's axis, not from distance from the Sun. The hemisphere tilted towards the Sun has summer; the other has winter. Moon phases arise from the changing angle between Earth, Moon and Sun; eclipses need near-perfect alignment.
Traps
Tilt-versus-distance confusion; mixing ozone depletion with global warming; calling erosion "weathering"; assuming recycling is always better than reuse.
Worked example
A 2 kW turbine delivers 6 kWh in 6 hours. Average power = 6 kWh ÷ 6 h = 1 kW, so the capacity factor is 1 ÷ 2 = 50%, illustrating intermittency.