L14: Orbital 1: Days, Years, Seasons
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how many planets orbit the sun?
8
true or false? Earth is the only planet in our solar system which sits in the goldilocks position where we’ve for liquid water
true
what state is the majority of water on Earth in?
liquid
why is the presence of liquid water on earth essential?
allows for the evolution of life on Earth
what planets does water exist as water vapour due to high temperatures?
Venus & Mercury (daylight side)
what planets does water exist as ice due to low temperatures?
Jupiter, Uranus, Pluto and Mars
what trajectory does Earth’s orbit follow?
the trajectory along which Earth travels around the sun
is Earth’s axial tilt around the magnetic pole or the geographic pole?
the geographic pole
true or false? the orientation of Earth’s axial tilt remains constant as it orbits around the sun
true
how long does one complete rotation of the Earth around its axis take? with respect to the sun
24 hours
how long does one complete rotation of the Earth around its axis take? with respect to the stars. and what is this known as?
23 hours and 56 minutes sidereal day
Earth’s magnetic polarity … periodically in geological time
flips
when did the Earth’s magnetic poles last flip?
780,000 years ago
when was the last major flipping of Earth’s magnetic poles?
780,000 years ago
true or false? the Earth’s rotation is gradually speeding up
false- it is gradually slowing down
what do atomic clocks demonstrate about todays day length compared to 100 years ago?
a modern-day is longer by about 1.7 milliseconds, increasing the rate at which coordinated universal time is adjusted by leap seconds
astronomical records show a slowing of … milliseconds per century since the 8th century BC
2.3
what does UTC stand for?
coordinated universal time
variability in Earth’s rotation is not … and instead shows … in the general trend towards slowing down
linear bumps
how long does one complete orbit take? (sidereal year) (3.d.p)
365.256 days
how often does a leap year occur?
once every four years (february 29th)
how can we detect the change in the number of days in the year?
using fossil records e.g. stromatolites
what are stromatolites produced by?
cyanobacteria
cyanobacteria were essential in the … of the atmosphere
oxygenation