Science MCAS (8th Grade)
Karst topography
The caves and sinkholes common in SE Minnesota is known as what type of topography?
hardness, cleavage/fracture, luster, streak color, color
What are 5 types of field tests that may be used to identify minerals?
they are mainly gas with small cores, they are very large, they have many moons
What are characteristics of the Gas Giants?
they are rocky, they are small, they have few (if any) moons
What are characteristics of the terrestrial planets?
bits of rock, ice, methane, and ammonia
What are comets composed of?
star groups that form patterns
What are constellations?
temperature, wind direction, humidity, increase in chance of precipitation
What are four ways that weather may change as a front moves through the area?
U-shaped valleys, kettle lakes, moraines
What are landforms created by glaciers?
mountains, volcanoes, rift valleys, trenches, island arcs, fault lines
What are landforms created by plate movement?
beaches, cliffs, caves, sea stacks, spits
What are landforms created by waves?
V-shaped valleys, canyons, deltas, waterfalls
What are landforms created from rivers?
a combination of minerals
What are rocks made of?
areas on the surface of the Sun that are cooler than the rest of the Sun's surface
What are sunspots?
the first four planets
What are terrestrial planets?
divergent, convergent, transform
What are the 3 types of plate boundaries?
pre-Cambrian time, Paleozoic era, Mesozoic era, Cenozoic era
What are the 4 primary eras that make up Earth's past?
identify the problem, create an hypothesis, test hypothesis, form a conclusion, accept conclusion or revise hypothesis
What are the 5 steps of the Scientific Method?
continental tropical, continental polar, maritime tropical, maritime polar
What are the four main types of air masses?
new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last quarter, waning crescent, new moon
What are the moon phases from new moon to new moon?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto?!?!?!
What are the planets in the Solar System (in order, starting closest to the sun)?
igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic
What are the three classifications of rocks?
cirrus, stratus, cumulus
What are the three main cloud types commonly observed?
a brown dwarf, a neutron star, a black hole
What are the three possible deaths of a star depending on its mass?
shield, cinder cone, composite
What are the three types of volcanoes?
granite, basalt
What are the two main rocks of the Earth's crust?
conduction, convection, radiation
What are three ways in which energy can be transferred?
point source, non-point source
What are two types of water pollution?
the tilt of the Earth as it orbits the Sun
What causes the change in the seasons?
the gravitational pull of the moon on the Earth
What causes the rise and fall of the oceans (tides)?
unequal heating of Earth and its atmosphere
What causes weather?
points of similar elevation
What do contours show on a topographic map?
the equinox
What do we call the day in which all of Earth has 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness?
it rotates on its axis one time
What does the Earth do in one day?
it states that if rocks are formed in layers, the rock in the upper layer is younger than the rock in the layer above it
What does the Law of Superposition tell scientists?
how hot it is
What does the color of a star tell astronomers?
the crust of Earth is broken into pieces called plates that move
What does the theory of plate tectonics state?
the Milky Way
What galaxy is the Earth a part of?
a thin, wispy cloud which is made of ice crystals
What is a cirrus cloud?
a puffy cloud which may grow vertically
What is a cumulus cloud?
a band of high speed winds in the atmosphere which steer storm systems
What is a jet stream?
the distance light travels in a year
What is a light year?
a space rock that has reached Earth's surface
What is a meteorite?
a layer cloud that covers the whole sky
What is a stratus cloud?
the area of land that drains all of its water into a common point
What is a watershed?
the boundary between two or more air masses
What is a weather front?
an underground layer of rock that holds water
What is an aquifer?
the shaking and trembling that results from sudden movement of part of Earth's crust
What is an earthquake?
wind
What is created by differences in air pressure?
climate
What is determined by the long-term averages in temperatures and precipitation?
the study of geology, astronomy, and meteorology
What is earth science?
the process which moves soil from one place to another
What is erosion?
stress applied to rocks resulting in bending (not breaking)
What is folding?
the force that keeps the planets in motion around the Sun
What is gravity?
weathered rocks and organic matter
What is soil composed of?
the scale used to measure the strength of a tornado
What is the Fujita Scale?
a scale which rates minerals from softest (1) to hardest (10)
What is the Moh's Hardness Scale?
the interrelated processes that cause continuous changing of rocks from one kind into another
What is the Rock Cycle?
a recycling process which describes the travels of water from underground surface to the atmosphere
What is the Water Cycle?
4.6 billion years
What is the estimated age of the Earth?
diamond
What is the hardest mineral known?
meter
What is the unit of length in the metric system?
gram
What is the unit of mass in the metric system?
liter
What is the unit of volume in the metric system?
the upper 8-12 inches of the ground
What is topsoil?
the process of breaking down rocks
What is weathering?
waning
What phase is the moon in when the visible portion is decreasing?
waxing
What phase is the moon in when the visible portion is increasing?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What planets are the "Gas Giants"?
hydrogen atoms fusing together to form helium (nuclear fusion)
What produces energy in stars?
limestone and sandstone
What type of bedrock is common around Rochester?
a warm front
What type of front brings a gradual change in the weather and possible long periods of precipitation?
a cold front
What type of front brings about rapid changes in the weather and possible large storms?
Pangaea
What was the last supercontinent called?
it will become a brown dwarf
What will happen to the Sun when it runs out of fuel?
around January 1st
When is the Earth closest to the Sun?
around July 4th
When is the Earth farthest from the Sun?
around June 21st
When is the angle of the Sun highest in the sky?
around December 21st
When is the angle of the Sun lowest in the sky?
if its density is less than the density of the liquid
When will a substance float in a liquid?
in ice caps and in glaciers
Where is most of Earth's freshwater?
along the Pacific Coast
Where is the only plate boundary in the United States?
pre-Cambrian time
Which era accounts for about 90% of Earth's past?
Polaris (the North Star)
Which star sits due north in the night sky?
Copernicus
Who first proposed the model of the Solar System that had the Sun in the center (the Heliocentric Model)?
because the last set of glaciers did not advance across this area
Why does SE Minnesota have many caves, sinkholes, bluffs, and deep river valleys compared to the rest of the state?
because it is less dense than the surrounding air
Why does warm air rise?
from the cooling and hardening of magma
How are igneous rocks formed?
from intense heat and pressure over a long period of time
How are metamorphic rocks formed?
from the deposition and cementing of sediments
How are sedimentary rocks formed?
by comparing the amount of parent and daughter materials present in the rock
How can the exact age of a rock be measured?
every five seconds that pass before you hear thunder equals 1 mile away
How can you tell how far away lightning struck?
warm air rises, cools, and condenses
How do clouds form?
the plates move together
How do plates move along a convergent plate boundary?
the plates move apart
How do plates move along a divergent plate boundary?
the plates slide past each other
How do plates move along a transform plate boundary?
we can examine its spectrum
How do we know what elements are in stars?
by dividing its mass by its volume
How is the density of a substance found?
slightly less than a month
How long does it take to travel through an entire moon cycle?
about 365 days, it revolves around the Sun one time
How long is a year, and what does the Earth do in that time?
approx. 65 million years ago
How many years ago did the mass extinction that ended the reign of the dinosaurs?
