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Each period of the Paleozoic saw marked changes in life forms. List the following life forms in the order in which they appeared on Earth during the Paleozoic: (a) reptiles, (b) fishes, (c) swamp... Our Earth has experienced several episodes of glaciation. Going from the most recent episode of glaciation to the oldest episode, rank these time periods: (a) late Precambrian, (b) Pleistocene, (c)... Throughout geologic time there have been many changes to Earths surface. From most recent to the most distant past, rank these tectonic events: (a) formation of the Appalachian Mountains, (b)... The Cenozoic is known for many tectonic events. In sequential order, from earliest to most recent, list the following events: (a) formation of the Gulf of California, (b) formation of the Himalayas,... Throughout geologic time there have been several episodes of species extinction. Rank the following from most devastating to least devastating: (a) Ordovician, (b) Permian, (c) Cretaceous, (d)... The geologic time scale is subdivided into eons, eras, periods, and epochs. Rank, from oldest to most recent, the following time periods: (a) Cretaceous, (b) Jurassic, (c) Triassic, (d) Tertiary, (e)... Going from oldest to youngest, rank these life forms: (a) rat bones, (b) fossil ferns, (c) trilobites, (d) dinosaur bones. The decay of radioactive elements to stable elements can be used to date certain rocks and minerals. Going from dating oldest rocks to dating youngest rocks, rank the following radioactive elements:... If fine muds were laid down at a rate of 1 cm/1000 yr, how long would it take to accumulate a sequence 1 km thick? Refer to the accompanying figure. Using the principles of relative dating, determine the relative ages of the rock bodies and other lettered features. Start with this question: What was there first? What general assumption must be made to understand the processes that occurred throughout Earths history? Suppose you see a sequence of sedimentary rock layers covered by a basalt flow. A fault displaces the bedding of the sedimentary rock but does not cut into the basalt. Relate the fault to the ages of... In dating a mineral, what is meant by resetting the minerals time clock? A radiometric date is determined from mica that has been removed from a rock. What does the date signify if the mica is found in granite? What does the date signify if the mica is found in schist? With the formation of Pangaea, disconnected continents merged into one huge landmass. This decreased the amount of shallow marine environments, which led to mass extinctions during the Permian. Let... On a cross section, a dark wavy line is used to represent unconformitiesmissing layers of time. Match the following three types of unconformitiesangular unconformity, nonconformity, and... Why is it difficult to find fossils in Precambrian rocks? What are stromatolites, and what is their significance in Earths history? Geologists often refer to the early Paleozoic era as the Cambrian explosion. What do you think this term means? Why are Paleozoic marine sedimentary rocks such as limestone and dolomite found widely distributed in the continental interiors? Throughout the Paleozoic, sea level was variable; sometimes it was high and other times it was low. What was the primary cause of this variation in sea level? What was the coldest period of the Paleozoic? What may have contributed to this cooling period? During the Silurian, many continental landmasses were covered by shallow seas. Yet this time period marks the emergence of land plants. How can this be? Coal beds form from the accumulation of plant material that has become trapped in swamp floors. Yet coal deposits are found on the continent of Antarctica, where no swamps or vegetation exists. What... What can cause a rise in sea level? Is this likely to happen in the future? Why or why not? What are some potential worldwide consequences that can occur when all landmasses are joined together, as in the formation of Pangaea? What is the significance of an amniote egg? How did the breakup of Pangaea impact land-based animal and plant life? What effect did the breakup of Pangaea have on Earths climate? Was there a time when dinosaurs and humans coexisted? Most scientists think the iridium-rich sediments found straddling the CretaceousTertiary boundary can be explained by a meteorite impact. Why are high concentrations of iridium significant? Why does sea level rise when the rate of seafloor spreading increases? How does basaltic lava in a rift zone separate two landmasses? What impact did the breakup of Pangaea have on sea level? What is the Anthropocene epoch? How did Pleistocene climate affect land-based animals? What was the impact on animal diversity as continents became separated from one another? What event allowed the evolution of many mammals in the early Cenozoic era? How did Pleistocene glaciations affect the land surface? What is a likely cause of glacialinterglacial cycles? Are we currently in an ice age? Explain. How was the Gulf of California formed? What geologic event most likely resulted in the bending of the Hawaiian Island/Emperor Seamount chain? How did the San Andreas Fault form? During Earths long history, life has emerged and life has perished. Briefly discuss the emergence of life and the extinction of life during each era. If sea level were to rise today, what land areas would be most affected? What life forms would be in danger of extinction? What circumstances are likely to lead to the formation of continental-scale glaciers? How did the loss of coastlines affect shallow marine life? Could this happen again? How have modern humans affected geologic processes? Throughout geologic time, species have become extinct. Many scientists believe that Earth is presently experiencing one of the fastest mass extinctions of all time. This extinction is mainly the... Species can go extinct when they are unable to adapt to changes in the environment or compete effectively with other organisms. The cause of extinction can be catastrophic or natural. What are some... Why are temperature swings smaller over coastal lands than inland? What were the main components of Earths first atmosphere? What happened to this atmosphere? Earths present atmosphere probably developed from gases that escaped from its interior during volcanic eruptions. What three principal atmospheric gases did these eruptions produce? Explain the importance of photosynthesis in the evolution of the atmosphere. Name four features of the ocean floor that can be found between two continents. The salinity of the ocean varies from one place to another. What two factors lead to an increase in salinity? What two factors lead to a decrease in salinity? Why do waves become taller as they enter shallow water? What is wave refraction? Why does it occur in ocean waves? Why is a barrier islands lagoon usually a quiet environment? When do the highest high tides occur: during a spring tide or during a neap tide? What elements make up todays atmosphere? Why doesnt gravity flatten the atmosphere against Earths surface? In which atmospheric layer does all our weather occur? Does temperature increase or decrease as one moves upward in the troposphere? As one moves upward in the stratosphere? What does the angle at which sunlight strikes Earth have to do with the temperate and polar regions?What does Earths tilt have to do with the change of seasons? What does Earths tilt have to do with the change of seasons? Why are the hours of daylight equal all around the world on the two equinoxes? How does radiation emitted from Earth differ from radiation emitted by the Sun? How is the atmosphere near Earths surface heated from below? What is the underlying cause of air motion? What causes pressure differences to arise, and hence causes the wind to blow? In what direction does Earth spin: west to east or east to west? What does the Coriolis force do to winds? To ocean currents? How does the Coriolis force determine the general path of air circulation? Why are most of the worlds deserts found in the area known as the horse latitudes? What are the trade winds? Why are eastbound aircraft flights usually faster than westbound flights? What was Einsteins cosmological constant? Tie a small paper cup to a string, attaching it at two points near the rim as shown in the diagram. Take a marble or other small object and place it in the cup.a. Whirl the cup in a horizontal... A 0.5-kg block of wood is floating in water. What is the magnitude of the buoyant force acting on the block? A rock with a volume of 0.2 m 3 is fully submerged in water having a density of 1000 kg/m 3 . What is the buoyant force acting on the rock? At the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Illinois, protons are accelerated around a ring 2 km in radius to speeds that approach that of light. The energy for this is stored in... Throughout the history of life on Earth, there have been at least six major mass extinctions. The one that killed off the dinosaurs occurred about 65 million years ago, and it is thought to have been... Research the present cost of fuel for nuclear fission power plants (in $ per MWhe) and compare with the cost of coal and natural gas for conventional fossil fuel power plants. What are the... Derive the results of Box 21.1 (the last two equations)by using the Schrdinger equation for the time derivative of (x) and (x) and integrating by parts. Compute the pressure at a depth Z below the surface in a reservoir behind a hydroelectric dam. Compute the work done by a volume of water ?V as it passes from this pressure on one side of a turbine... The radio-isotope beryllium-10 ( 10 Be) is often employed in studies of paleoclimates. How is 10 Be formed? With which aspects of paleoclimate is correlated? How is used, for example, to extract... Figure 30.2 shows the power coefficient for a wind turbine blade as a function of tip-speed ratio. In light of this, explain why a wind turbine constrained to operate at fixed rotor speed is less... Copper tubing is joined to a solar collector plate of thickness t, and the working fluid maintains the temperature of the plate above the tubes at T o . There is a uniform net radiation heat flux q "... A wall has inner and outer surface temperatures of 16 and 6C, respectively. The interior and exterior air temperatures are 20 and 5C, respectively. The inner and outer convection heat transfer... One method that is used to grow nanowires (nanotubes with solid cores) is to initially deposit a small droplet of a liquid catalyst onto a flat surface. The surface and catalyst are heated and... The mold used in an injection molding process consists of a top half and a bottom half. Each half is 60 mm 60 mm 20 mm and is constructed of metal ( = 7800 kg/m 3 , c = 450 J/kg. K). The cold mold... Consider using the experimental methodology of Problem 4.70 to determine the convection coefficient distribution about an airfoil of complex shape. Accounting for conduction in the metal sheathing... Consider the two-dimensional domain shown. All surfaces are insulated except for the isothermal surfaces at x = 0 and L. (a) Use a one-dimensional analysis to estimate the shape factor S. (b)... An ancient myth describes how a wooden ship was destroyed by soldiers who reflected sunlight from their polished bronze shields onto its hull, setting the ship ablaze. To test the validity of the... A nanolaminated material is fabricated with an atomic layer deposition process, resulting in a series of stacked, alternating layers of tungsten and aluminum oxide, each layer being = 0.5 nm thick.... Thermoelectric modules have been used to generate electric power by tapping the heat generated by wood stoves. Consider the installation of the thermoelectric module of Example 3.13 on a vertical... Rows of the thermoelectric modules of Example 3.13 are attached to the flat absorber plate of Problem 3.108. The rows of modules are separated by L sep = 0.5 m and the backs of the modules are... For one of the M = 48 modules of Example 3.13, determine a variety of different efficiency values concerning the conversion of waste heat to electrical energy. (a) Determine the thermodynamic... Consider the manufacture of photovoltaic silicon, as described in Problem 1.42. The thin sheet of silicon is pulled from the pool of molten material very slowly and is subjected to an ambient...
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