ASTR 121 (O'Connell) Study Guide

The Earth

A. UNIQUENESS
• Largest terrestrial planet
• Largest satellite with respect to primary
• Large surface/atmospheric abundance of water is unique among
terrestrials
• Open oceans: unique in solar system; cover 2/3 of surface
• O2 atmosphere
• LIFE! Living organisms cover the Earth.

There is no definite evidence yet for any other biospheres in the

solar system. If these exist, the lifeforms are likely to be primitive.
B. THE EARTH'S BIOSPHERE
• Consists of Earth's crust, oceans, lower atmosphere:
o Thin!
o For a scale model: take a piece of paper; fold once; paste on a
basketball. A thin smear of lifeforms on a huge sphere.
• Fragile!
o We live in a delicate balance with nature
o In cosmic time, our favorable ecosystem is transient and evolving
rapidly.
 For example: Earth's surface is only temporary.
o Although the rapidly growing human population is having
deleterious effects on the biosphere, these are probably survivable
(even if the costs are catastrophic). The most serious, long-term
threats to the ecosystem are extraterrestrial and beyond immediate
human control: asteroid/comet impacts, solar evolution, supernovae
and other stellar explosions, etc.

C. AGE
• Sedimentation rate/geological strata method

Developed in 19th century

Makes use of relatively uniform rate of sediment deposit on ocean

floors over long periods (e.g. 10 feet per million years) to estimate
age of stata. For dating of the Grand Canyon, click on the picture.
 Less precise; gives relative values

• Radioisotope dating method

o Based on well-determined decay rates of naturally occuring
radioactive isotopes. e.g. uranium ==> lead. Much more precise
than stratiography. Thoroughly understood on the basis of quantum
mechanics.

"Half life" = time it takes for half of original sample of

unstable isotope to decay to "daughter" isotope. Half lives for
unstable isotopes range from microseconds to billions of
years.

Estimate age from ratio of parent to daughter

o ===> oldest Earth surface rocks 3.9 billion years

o ===> Moon, meteorites 4.6 billion years
 Cross-section through the Earth

D. INTERIOR

• Earth's mass is determined from the orbit of the Moon or of artificial

spacecraft by applying Kepler's 3rd law.
o Note: Earth's mass can not be determined from its orbit around the
Sun.
• Mass/Volume = density, a clue to composition
 o Earth 5.5 grams/cc ==> heavy elements (like Fe)
o Jupiter 1.3 grams/cc ==> light elements (H,He)
• Probe interior with seismic waves from earthquakes
o These show that the interior is differentiated: i.e. composition,
density change with depth
o Core (innermost), mantle (body), crust (outermost).
(See illustration above.)
o Densities range from 12 grams/cc in the core to 3 grams/cc in the
crust, implying that the core contains more heavy elements than the
crust.
o Temperature at the core is over 5000 K.
• The differentiation implies that Earth's interior was once molten, so that
heavier materials could settle to the center (Figure Below)

o Initial heat source: impacts of infalling planetesimals during

formation stages
o Continuing interior heat source: radioactive decay of uranium and
other materials: even though a small fraction of the Earth's makeup,
the heat generated escapes only slowly.

E. ATMOSPHERE
• The original atmosphere was "outgassed" from the interior soon after
Earth formed.
• There has been strong evolution in the nature of the atmosphere over time
• Now predominantly N2, O2. This is unlike Venus and Mars (mainly CO2)
and unlike the early Earth atmosphere.
• O2 is produced mainly by photosynthesis in plants. Increased rapidly
starting about 500 Myr ago. Since it is so reactive, O2 cannot persist in an
atmosphere without life.
• Temperature at any height is determined by heating/cooling balance
• Circulation (winds): driven by heating (equator) vs. cooling (poles) and by
effects of Earth rotation ("coriolis effect")

Atmosphere at sunset from Space Shuttle (300 mi altitude)