OAE Earth and Space Science flashcards
OAE Earth and Space Science · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Falsifiability
- A scientific claim must be testable and capable of being proven wrong by observation or experiment; unfalsifiable claims fall outside empirical science.
- Independent variable
- The factor deliberately changed or manipulated by the researcher in an experiment to observe its effect on the dependent variable.
- Scientific theory
- A well-substantiated explanation supported by extensive evidence and repeated testing, broader than a hypothesis and distinct from a guess.
- Uniformitarianism
- The principle that the same physical processes operating today shaped Earth in the past, allowing geologists to interpret ancient rocks by present processes.
- Lithosphere
- The rigid outer shell of Earth comprising the crust and uppermost mantle, broken into tectonic plates that move over the asthenosphere.
- Asthenosphere
- The ductile, partially molten layer of the upper mantle beneath the lithosphere that allows tectonic plates to move and isostasy to operate.
- S-wave shadow zone
- A region on the opposite side of Earth from an earthquake where S-waves are not detected, proving the outer core is liquid since S-waves cannot pass through fluids.
- Seafloor spreading
- The process where new oceanic crust forms at mid-ocean ridges and moves away, recorded by symmetric magnetic striping and increasing crustal age with distance.
- Isostasy
- The state of gravitational balance where buoyant lithosphere floats on the asthenosphere, so thicker or less dense crust stands higher.
- Stream competence
- The maximum size of sediment particles a stream can transport, determined by flow velocity and discharge.
- Karst topography
- A landscape formed by dissolution of soluble bedrock such as limestone, producing caves, sinkholes, and disappearing streams.
- Longshore drift
- The zigzag movement of sediment along a coast caused by waves approaching at an angle, building spits and barrier islands.
- Mass wasting
- Downslope movement of rock and soil under gravity, classified by material and motion type such as creep, slump, debris flow, and rockfall.
- Troposphere
- The lowest atmospheric layer where most weather occurs, characterized by a temperature decrease with altitude at about 6.5 degrees Celsius per kilometer.
- Coriolis effect
- The apparent deflection of moving air or water due to Earth's rotation, to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and left in the Southern.
- Polar front
- The boundary between cold polar air and warm tropical air where mid-latitude cyclones form and intensify.
- Greenhouse effect
- The process by which atmospheric gases absorb and re-emit infrared radiation, warming Earth's surface above its blackbody temperature.
- El Niño
- A climate pattern with weakened trade winds and warm eastern Pacific surface water, shifting global precipitation and storm tracks.
- Porosity
- The fraction of a material's volume that consists of void spaces, determining how much water or fluid it can hold.
- Permeability
- The ability of a material to transmit fluids through connected pore spaces, governing groundwater flow rate.
- Artesian well
- A well in a confined aquifer where the potentiometric surface exceeds land elevation, allowing water to flow without pumping.
- Thermohaline circulation
- Deep ocean circulation driven by density differences from temperature and salinity, forming a global conveyor belt that redistributes heat.
- Glacial mass balance
- The difference between accumulation and ablation on a glacier; positive balance causes advance, negative balance causes retreat.
- Kepler's third law
- The square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of its semi-major axis, expressed as P squared equals a cubed in solar units.
- Synodic month
- The 29.5-day interval between successive identical lunar phases, longer than the sidereal month due to Earth's orbital motion.
- Solar eclipse
- An event where the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, occurring near new moon when the Moon crosses the ecliptic plane.
- Spring tide
- A tide of maximum range occurring at new and full moon when solar and lunar gravitational pulls align.
- Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
- A plot of stellar luminosity versus temperature that reveals the main sequence and evolutionary stages of stars.
- Hubble's law
- The observation that distant galaxies recede faster, with velocity proportional to distance, providing evidence for cosmic expansion.
- Stellar parallax
- The apparent shift of a nearby star against background stars as Earth orbits the Sun, used to measure stellar distance.
- Formative assessment
- Ongoing assessment during instruction that provides feedback to adjust teaching and learning, such as exit tickets and questioning.
- Conceptual change
- An instructional approach that confronts students' prior misconceptions with discrepant evidence and supports construction of accurate explanations.