Reviewer

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1. Noun
This part of a speech refers to words that are used to name persons, things, animals, places, ideas, or events. Nouns
are the simplest among the 8 parts of speech, which is why they are the first ones taught to students in primary
school.
Examples:
 Tom Hanks is very versatile.

 The italicized noun refers to a name of a person.
 Dogs can be extremely cute.
 In this example, the italicized word is considered a noun because it names an animal.
 It is my birthday.
 The word “birthday” is a noun which refers to an event.
There are different types of nouns namely:
 Proper– proper nouns always start with a capital letter and refers to specific names of persons, places, or
things.
 Examples: Volkswagen Beetle, Shakey’s Pizza, Game of Thrones
 Common– common nouns are the opposite of proper nouns. These are just generic names of persons, things,
or places.
 Examples: car, pizza parlor, TV series
 Concrete– this kind refers to nouns which you can perceive through your five senses.
 Examples: folder, sand, board
 Abstract- unlike concrete nouns, abstract nouns are those which you can’t perceive through your five senses.
 Examples: happiness, grudge, bravery
 Count– it refers to anything that is countable, and has a singular and plural form.
 Examples: kitten, video, ball
 Mass– this is the opposite of count nouns. Mass nouns are also called non-countable nouns, and they need to
have “counters” to quantify them.
 Examples of Counters: kilo, cup, meter
 Examples of Mass Nouns: rice, flour, garter
 Collective– refers to a group of persons, animals, or things.
 Example: faculty (group of teachers), class (group of students), pride (group of lions)
This great list of nouns can help you explore more nouns.
2. Pronoun
A pronoun is a part of a speech which functions as a replacement for a noun. Some examples of pronouns are: I, it,
he, she, mine, his, hers, we, they, theirs, and ours.
Sample Sentences:
 Janice is a very stubborn child. She just stared at me and when I told her to stop.
 The largest slice is mine.
 We are number one.
The italicized words in the sentences above are the pronouns in the sentence.
3. Adjective
This part of a speech is used to describe a noun or a pronoun. Adjectives can specify the quality, the size, and the
number of nouns or pronouns.
Use this link to get a list of adjectives.

Sample Sentences:
 The carvings are intricate.

 The italicized word describes the appearance of the noun “carvings.”
 I have two hamsters.
 The italicized word “two,” is an adjective which describes the number of the noun “hamsters.”
 Wow! That doughnut is huge!
 The italicized word is an adjective which describes the size of the noun “doughnut.”
4. Verb
This is the most important part of a speech, for without a verb, a sentence would not exist. Simply put, this is a word
that shows an action (physical or mental) or state of being of the subject in a sentence.
Examples of “State of Being Verbs” : am, is, was, are, and were
Sample Sentences:
 As usual, the Stormtroopers missed their shot.

 The italicized word expresses the action of the subject “Stormtroopers.”
 They are always prepared in emergencies.
 The verb “are” refers to the state of being of the pronoun “they,” which is the subject in the sentence.
5. Adverb
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Just like adjectives, adverbs are also used to describe words, but the difference is that adverbs describe adjectives,
verbs, or another adverb.
The different types of adverbs are:
 Adverb of Manner– this refers to how something happens or how an action is done.
 Example: Annie danced gracefully.
 The word “gracefully” tells how Annie danced.
 Adverb of Time- this states “when” something happens or “when” it is done.
 Example: She came yesterday.
 The italicized word tells when she “came.”
 Adverb of Place– this tells something about “where” something happens or ”where” something is done.
 Example: Of course, I looked everywhere!
 The adverb “everywhere” tells where I “looked.”
 Adverb of Degree– this states the intensity or the degree to which a specific thing happens or is done.
 Example: The child is very talented.
 The italicized adverb answers the question, “To what degree is the child talented?”
6. Preposition
This part of a speech basically refers to words that specify location or a location in time.
Examples of Prepositions: above, below, throughout, outside, before, near, and since
Sample Sentences:
 Micah is hiding under the bed.

 The italicized preposition introduces the prepositional phrase “under the bed,” and tells where Micah is
hiding.
 During the game, the audience never stopped cheering for their team.
 The italicized preposition introduces the prepositional phrase “during the game,” and tells when the audience
cheered.
7. Conjunction
The conjunction is a part of a speech which joins words, phrases, or clauses together.
Examples of Conjunctions: and, yet, but, for, nor, or, and so

Sample Sentences:
 This cup of tea is delicious and very soothing.

 Kiyoko has to start all over again because she didn’t follow the professor’s instructions.
 Homer always wanted to join the play, but he didn’t have the guts to audition.
The italicized words in the sentences above are some examples of conjunctions.
8. Interjection
This part of a speech refers to words which express emotions. Since interjections are commonly used to convey
strong emotions, they are usually followed by an exclamation point.
Examples of Interjections:
Sample Sentences:
 Ouch! That must have hurt.

 Hurray, we won!
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What Are Modifiers?
A working definition for the word “modify” is to change or to alter something. This definition is the same when
considering the purpose of modifiers within a sentence.
A modifier changes, clarifies, qualifies, or limits a particular word in a sentence in order to add emphasis,
explanation, or detail. Modifiers tend to be descriptive words, such as adjectives and adverbs. Modifier phrases,
such as adjective clauses and adverbial phrases, also exist and tend to describe adjectives and adverbs.
To illustrate the power of modifiers, consider the following simple sentence:
Sarah was a sure fit for junior prom queen.

Now consider the same sentence with multiple modifiers added:
The blonde girl named Sarah, who was a foreign exchange student from England, quickly climbed the ladder of
popularity during her junior year, smiling her way through cheerleading and an ASB presidency term she inched
near the top and was a sure fit as junior prom queen.
The additional details in the sentence, by way of modifiers, engage the reader and hold their attention.
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Like most writing techniques, modifiers can be brilliant when used correctly and effectively. On the other hand, if
a modifier is used incorrectly, the meaning of the sentence can become blurred or distorted. This is true with
dangling modifiers and other problematic modifiers.
Misplaced Modifiers
One of the most common problems is where to place them. Specifically, modifiers can cause confusion or
unintentional humor in a sentence when they are placed too far from the noun they are modifying. For example,
consider the following sentence:
They bought a car for my sister they call Pumpkin.

In this sentence, Pumpkin is the car’s name, not the sister’s, but this isn’t clear. This confusion and unintentional
humor is the result of a misplaced modifier. To correct this error, move the modifier closer to the noun it modifies:
They bought a car they call Pumpkin for my sister.

Limiting Modifiers Limiting modifiers such as only and always enforce restrictions on the subject, noun, or
pronoun they immediately precede. The following is a list of other common limiting modifiers:
Just
Almost
Hardly
At first
Simply
If a limiting modifier does not precede the subject or noun, the meaning of an entire sentence can change. Notice
the difference in the following sentences:
Only Jessica wants pizza.

This sentence implies that Jessica is the only person who wants pizza.
Jessica wants pizza only.

On the other hand, the sentence above indicates that Jessica wants pizza and nothing else.
The best way to ensure that a limited modifier is used right in a sentence is to consider the meaning that is to be
conveyed and ensure the subject or noun associated with that meaning is placed as close as possible to the limited
modifier.
Types of Figures of Speech

There are many different types of figures of speech. Two that are closely related are similes and metaphors. A
simile is a comparison between two objects using the words 'like,' 'as,' 'seems' or 'appears.' Look at the following
example: 'My dog is like a tornado; she dashes through the house, destroying everything she touches.'
The first part contains the simile: the dog is being compared to a tornado. The second part explains the comparison.
The dog is like a tornado because she destroys things wherever she goes. The use of the simile gives a better
picture of the dog and adds some color to the description.
A metaphor, then, is a comparison between two objects without using the words listed above. Metaphors are
usually stated as one object is another object. Look at the following poem by Emily Dickinson:
'Presentiment - is that long shadow - on the lawn -
Indicative that Suns go down -
The notice to the startled Grass
That Darkness - is about to pass -'
In this poem, Dickinson states that presentiment is a shadow. Is presentiment, which means foreboding or anxiety,
literally a shadow? Of course not. Dickinson makes the comparison to give a better description of how anxiety can
creep up on a person and cause fear.
Another common figure of speech is a pun. A pun is a manipulating word that has more than one meaning or that
sounds like other words. For example: 'I'm reading a book about mazes; I got lost in it.'
The play on words here is the use of the word 'lost.' Getting lost in a good book means the reader is so absorbed in
the story that he can hardly take his eyes off the page. The joke in this pun is the reader is looking at a book of
mazes, which of course are designed to make the reader get lost. Puns are usually used in a humorous way.
A third type of figure of speech is personification. Personification occurs when the author or speaker gives human
characteristics to non-human objects. Personification is similar to similes and metaphors in that it basically
compares some inhuman object to a person. For example: 'The trees scream in the raging wind.'
Can trees actually scream? No, that is a human trait. So the use of personification here gives a better description of
the sound trees make in strong winds.
I. A phrase is a collection of words that may have nouns or verbals, but it does not have a subject doing a verb. The
following are examples of phrases:
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leaving behind the dog

smashing into a fence
before the first test
after the devastation
between ignorance and intelligence
broken into thousands of pieces
because of her glittering smile
In these examples above, you will find nouns (dog, fence, test, devastation, ignorance, intelligence, thousands,
pieces). You also have some verbals (leaving, smashing), but in no case is the noun functioning as a subject doing
a predicate verb. They are all phrases.
II. A clause is a collection of words that has a subject that is actively doing a verb. The following are examples of
clauses:
since she laughs at diffident men

I despise individuals of low character
when the saints go marching in
Obediah Simpson is uglier than a rabid raccoon
because she smiled at him.
In the examples above, we find either a noun or a pronoun that is a subject (bold-print and red) attached to a
predicate verb (underlined and purple) in each case:

Obediah Simpson is uglier than a rabid raccoon
because she smiled at him
III. If the clause could stand by itself, and form a complete sentence with punctuation, we call the clause an
independent clause. The following are independent clauses:
Obediah Simpson is uglier than a rabid racoon
We could easily turn independent clauses into complete sentences by adding appropriate punctuation marks. We
might say, "I despise individuals of low character." Or we might write, "Obediah Simpson is uglier than a rabid
racoon!" We call them independent because these types of clauses can stand independently by themselves, without
any extra words attached, and be complete sentences.
IV. Dependent clauses have a subject doing a verb, but they have a subordinate conjunction placed in front of the
clause. That subordinate conjunction means that the clause can't stand independently by itself and become a
complete sentence. Instead, the dependent clause is dependent upon another clause--it can't make a complete
sentence by itself, even though it has a subject doing a verb. Here are some examples of dependent clauses:

because she smiled at him
These clauses simply do not form complete thoughts or sentences by themselves. Those subordinate conjunctions--
since, when, and because--cause the listener to expect some extra material. The thought is incomplete. If you
walked up to a friend in the dorms and said, "since she laughs at diffident men," and then walked away without
adding an independent clause, the friend would be completely baffled.
It's important to understand the difference between phrases, dependent clauses, and independent clauses because
many punctuation marks--such as commas, semicolons, and colons, require one or the other. Click here to move to
subordinate conjunctions to learn more.
Sedimentary rocks are made when sand, mud and pebbles get laid down in layers. Over time, these layers are
squashed under more and more layers. Eventually, the layers are lithified – turned to rock. Sedimentary rocks can
be formed in deserts Gordon, lakes, rivers Gordon and seas Gordon.
The sediment (the sand, mud and pebbles) that make up Sedimentary rocks come from other rocks that have been
worn down by wind, rain and snow. When we find sedimentary rocks we can work out what the environment was
like when those rocks were formed – old sand dunes and river channels are preserved in the rocks.
Igneous rocks are formed by solidification of cooled magma (molten rock) either below (plutonic) or above (volcanic)
the surface of the earth.
The magma consists of partial melting of pre-existing rock and can be caused by one or a combination of; an increase
in temperature, pressure changes, change in composition.
Volcanoes are a sign that our planet is immensely hot inside.

An example of an igneous rock is granite. The word igneous comes from the Latin word ignis meaning fire. This is
a clue – the rocks were originally very hot! But then they cooled down slowly into a solid rock made up of
different bits stuck together called crystals. They are often very beautiful and sparkle in the sunlight.
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Metamorphic rocks are made by either heating up or squashing the earth's crust. They are often found in
mountainous regions. One example is slate. Slate was originally a black mud laid down on the bottom of the sea or
lake. Fossils can sometimes be found in it but they are often squashed. Other common metamorphic rocks
are called marble, gneiss, schist.
A metamorphic rock is a result of a transformation of a pre-existing rock. The original rock is subjected to very high
heat and pressure, which cause obvious physical and/or chemical changes. Examples of these rock types include
marble, slate, gneiss, schist.
They can be formed by pressures deep inside the Earth, by tectonic processes such as continental collisions, or when
they are heated up by an intrusion of hot molten rock called magma from the Earth's interior.
Just as a child may shake an unopened present in an attempt to discover the contents of a gift, so man must listen to
the ring and vibration of our Earth in an attempt to discover its content. This is accomplished through seismology,
which has become the principle method used in studying Earth's interior. Seismos is a Greek word meaning shock;
akin to earthquake, shake, or violently moved. Seismology on Earth deals with the study of vibrations that are
produced by earthquakes, the impact of meteorites, or artificial means such as an explosion. On these occasions, a
seismograph is used to measure and record the actual movements and vibrations within the Earth and of the ground.
Scientists categorize seismic movements into four types of diagnostic waves that travel at speeds ranging from 3 to
15 kilometers (1.9 to 9.4 miles) per second. Two of the waves travel around the surface of the Earth in rolling
swells. The other two, Primary (P) or compression waves and Secondary (S) or shear waves, penetrate the interior of
the Earth. Primary waves compress and dilate the matter they travel through (either rock or liquid) similar to sound
waves. They also have the ability to move twice as fast as S waves. Secondary waves propagate through rock but are
not able to travel through liquid. Both P and S waves refract or reflect at points where layers of differing physical
properties meet. They also reduce speed when moving through hotter material. These changes in direction and
velocity are the means of locating discontinuities.
Types of seismic waves

(Adapted from, Beatty, 1990.)
Divisions in the Earth's Interior

(Adapted from, Beatty, 1990.)
Seismic discontinuities aid in distinguishing divisions of the Earth into inner core, outer core, D", lower mantle,
transition region, upper mantle, and crust (oceanic and continental). Lateral discontinuities also have been
distinguished and mapped through seismic tomography but shall not be discussed here.
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 Inner core: 1.7% of the Earth's mass; depth of 5,150-6,370 kilometers (3,219 - 3,981 miles)
The inner core is solid and unattached to the mantle, suspended in the molten outer core. It is believed to
have solidified as a result of pressure-freezing which occurs to most liquids when temperature decreases or
pressure increases.
 Outer core: 30.8% of Earth's mass; depth of 2,890-5,150 kilometers (1,806 - 3,219 miles)
The outer core is a hot, electrically conducting liquid within which convective motion occurs. This
conductive layer combines with Earth's rotation to create a dynamo effect that maintains a system of
electrical currents known as the Earth's magnetic field. It is also responsible for the subtle jerking of Earth's
rotation. This layer is not as dense as pure molten iron, which indicates the presence of lighter elements.
Scientists suspect that about 10% of the layer is composed of sulfur and/or oxygen because these elements
are abundant in the cosmos and dissolve readily in molten iron.
 D": 3% of Earth's mass; depth of 2,700-2,890 kilometers (1,688 - 1,806 miles)
This layer is 200 to 300 kilometers (125 to 188 miles) thick and represents about 4% of the mantle-crust
mass. Although it is often identified as part of the lower mantle, seismic discontinuities suggest the D"
layer might differ chemically from the lower mantle lying above it. Scientists theorize that the material
either dissolved in the core, or was able to sink through the mantle but not into the core because of its
density.
 Lower mantle: 49.2% of Earth's mass; depth of 650-2,890 kilometers (406 -1,806 miles)
The lower mantle contains 72.9% of the mantle-crust mass and is probably composed mainly of silicon,
magnesium, and oxygen. It probably also contains some iron, calcium, and aluminum. Scientists make
these deductions by assuming the Earth has a similar abundance and proportion of cosmic elements as
found in the Sun and primitive meteorites.
 Transition region: 7.5% of Earth's mass; depth of 400-650 kilometers (250-406 miles)
The transition region or mesosphere (for middle mantle), sometimes called the fertile layer, contains 11.1%
of the mantle-crust mass and is the source of basaltic magmas. It also contains calcium, aluminum, and
garnet, which is a complex aluminum-bearing silicate mineral. This layer is dense when cold because of the
garnet. It is buoyant when hot because these minerals melt easily to form basalt which can then rise through
the upper layers as magma.
 Upper mantle: 10.3% of Earth's mass; depth of 10-400 kilometers (6 - 250 miles)
The upper mantle contains 15.3% of the mantle-crust mass. Fragments have been excavated for our
observation by eroded mountain belts and volcanic eruptions. Olivine (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 and pyroxene
(Mg,Fe)SiO3 have been the primary minerals found in this way. These and other minerals are refractory
and crystalline at high temperatures; therefore, most settle out of rising magma, either forming new crustal
material or never leaving the mantle. Part of the upper mantle called the asthenosphere might be partially
molten.
 Oceanic crust: 0.099% of Earth's mass; depth of 0-10 kilometers (0 - 6 miles)
The oceanic crust contains 0.147% of the mantle-crust mass. The majority of the Earth's crust was made
through volcanic activity. The oceanic ridge system, a 40,000-kilometer (25,000 mile) network of
volcanoes, generates new oceanic crust at the rate of 17 km3 per year, covering the ocean floor with basalt.
Hawaii and Iceland are two examples of the accumulation of basalt piles.
 Continental crust: 0.374% of Earth's mass; depth of 0-50 kilometers (0 - 31 miles).
The continental crust contains 0.554% of the mantle-crust mass. This is the outer part of the Earth
composed essentially of crystalline rocks. These are low-density buoyant minerals dominated mostly by
quartz (SiO2) and feldspars (metal-poor silicates). The crust (both oceanic and continental) is the surface of
the Earth; as such, it is the coldest part of our planet. Because cold rocks deform slowly, we refer to this
rigid outer shell as the lithosphere (the rocky or strong layer).
The Lithosphere & Plate Tectonics
Oceanic Lithosphere
The rigid, outermost layer of the Earth comprising the crust and upper mantle is called the lithosphere. New oceanic
lithosphere forms through volcanism in the form of fissures at mid-ocean ridges which are cracks that encircle the
globe. Heat escapes the interior as this new lithosphere emerges from below. It gradually cools, contracts and moves
away from the ridge, traveling across the seafloor to subduction zones in a process called seafloor spreading. In
time, older lithosphere will thicken and eventually become more dense than the mantle below, causing it to descend
(subduct) back into the Earth at a steep angle, cooling the interior. Subduction is the main method of cooling the
mantle below 100 kilometers (62.5 miles). If the lithosphere is young and thus hotter at a subduction zone, it will be
forced back into the interior at a lesser angle.
Continental Lithosphere
The continental lithosphere is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) thick with a low-density crust and upper-mantle that
are permanently buoyant. Continents drift laterally along the convecting system of the mantle away from hot mantle
zones toward cooler ones, a process known as continental drift. Most of the continents are now sitting on or moving
toward cooler parts of the mantle, with the exception of Africa. Africa was once the core of Pangaea, a
supercontinent that eventually broke into todays continents. Several hundred million years prior to the formation of
Pangaea, the southern continents - Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, and India - were assembled
together in what is called Gondwana.
Plate Tectonics
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Crustal Plate Boundaries

(Courtesy NGDC)
Plate tectonics involves the formation, lateral movement, interaction, and destruction of the lithospheric plates.
Much of Earth's internal heat is relieved through this process and many of Earth's large structural and topographic
features are consequently formed. Continental rift valleys and vast plateaus of basalt are created at plate break up
when magma ascends from the mantle to the ocean floor, forming new crust and separating midocean ridges. Plates
collide and are destroyed as they descend at subduction zones to produce deep ocean trenches, strings of volcanoes,
extensive transform faults, broad linear rises, and folded mountain belts. Earth's lithosphere presently is divided into
eight large plates with about two dozen smaller ones that are drifting above the mantle at the rate of 5 to 10
centimeters (2 to 4 inches) per year. The eight large plates are the African, Antarctic, Eurasian, Indian-Australian,
Nazca, North American, Pacific, and South American plates. A few of the smaller plates are the Anatolian, Arabian,
Caribbean, Cocos, Philippine, and Somali plates.
Volcanoes and earthquakes
There are two main types of tectonic plate:
Oceanic plates occur under the oceans.
Continental plates form the land.
Oceanic plates are denser than continental plates. They are pushed down underneath continental plates if they meet.
Volcanic activity
smoking volcano
Volcano
Where tectonic plates meet, the Earth’s crust becomes unstable as the plates slide past each other, push against each
other, or ride under or over one another. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen at the boundaries between
plates. Magma (molten rock) is less dense than the crust. It can rise to the surface through weaknesses in the crust,
forming a volcano.
Geologists study volcanoes to try to predict future eruptions. Volcanoes can be very destructive, but some people
choose to live near them because volcanic soil is very fertile.
Earthquakes
Emergency workers searching for survivors in the rubble
Emergency services searching for survivors
The movement of tectonic plates can be sudden and disastrous, causing an earthquake. It is difficult to predict
exactly when and where an earthquake will happen, even when a lot of data is available.
From the deepest ocean trench to the tallest mountain, plate tectonics explains the features and movement of Earth's
surface in the present and the past.
Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky
inner layer above the core. The plates act like a hard and rigid shell compared to Earth's mantle. This strong outer
layer is called the lithosphere, which is 100 km (60 miles) thick, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. The
lithosphere includes the crust and outer part of the mantle. Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere, which is
malleable or partially malleable, allowing the lithosphere to move around. How it moves around is an evolving idea.
History
Developed from the 1950s through the 1970s, plate tectonics is the modern version of continental drift, a theory first
proposed by scientist Alfred Wegener in 1912. Wegener didn't have an explanation for how continents could move
around the planet, but researchers do now. Plate tectonics is the unifying theory of geology, said Nicholas van der
Elst, a seismologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York.
"Before plate tectonics, people had to come up with explanations of the geologic features in their region that were
unique to that particular region," Van der Elst said. "Plate tectonics unified all these descriptions and said that you
should be able to describe all geologic features as though driven by the relative motion of these tectonic plates."
How many plates are there?

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There are nine major plates, according to World Atlas. These plates are named after the landforms found on them.
The nine major plates are North American, Pacific, Eurasian, African, Indo-Australian, Australian, Indian, South
American and Antarctic.
The largest plate is the Pacific Plate at 39,768,522 square miles (103,000,000 square kilometers). Most of it is
located under the ocean. It is moving northwest at a speed of around 2.75 inches (7 cm) per year.
There are also many smaller plates throughout the world.
How plate tectonics works
The driving force behind plate tectonics is convection in the mantle. Hot material near the Earth's core rises, and
colder mantle rock sinks. "It's kind of like a pot boiling on a stove," Van der Elst said. The convection drive plates
tectonics through a combination of pushing and spreading apart at mid-ocean ridges and pulling and sinking
downward at subduction zones, researchers think. Scientists continue to study and debate the mechanisms that move
the plates.
Mid-ocean ridges are gaps between tectonic plates that mantle the Earth like seams on a baseball. Hot magma wells
up at the ridges, forming new ocean crust and shoving the plates apart. At subduction zones, two tectonic plates
meet and one slides beneath the other back into the mantle, the layer underneath the crust. The cold, sinking plate
pulls the crust behind it downward.
Many spectacular volcanoes are found along subduction zones, such as the "Ring of Fire" that surrounds the Pacific
Ocean.
Plate boundaries
Subduction zones, or convergent margins, are one of the three types of plate boundaries. The others are divergent
and transform margins.
At a divergent margin, two plates are spreading apart, as at seafloor-spreading ridges or continental rift zones such
as the East Africa Rift.
Transform margins mark slip-sliding plates, such as California's San Andreas Fault, where the North America and
Pacific plates grind past each other with a mostly horizontal motion.
Reconstructing the past
While the Earth is 4.54 billion years old, because oceanic crust is constantly recycled at subduction zones, the oldest
seafloor is only about 200 million years old. The oldest ocean rocks are found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and
the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Fragments of continental crust are much older, with large chunks at least 3.8 billion
years found in Greenland.
With clues left behind in rocks and fossils, geoscientists can reconstruct the past history of Earth's continents. Most
researchers think modern plate tectonics began about 3 billion years ago, based on ancient magmas and minerals
preserved in rocks from that period. Some believe it could have started a billion years after Earth's birth, at around
3.5 billion years.
"We don't really know when plate tectonics as it looks today got started, but we do know that we have continental
crust that was likely scraped off a down-going slab [a tectonic plate in a subduction zone] that is 3.8 billion years
old," Van der Elst said. "We could guess that means plate tectonics was operating, but it might have looked very
different from today."
A more recent supercontinent called Pangaea formed about 300 million years ago. Africa, South America, North
America and Europe nestled closely together, leaving a characteristic pattern of fossils and rocks for geologists to
decipher once Pangaea broke apart. The puzzle pieces left behind by Pangaea, from fossils to the matching
shorelines along the Atlantic Ocean, provided the first hints that the Earth's continents move.
Plates bumping into each other can also cause mountain ranges. For example, India and Asia came together about 55
million years ago, which created the Himalaya Mountains, according to National Geographic.
The four large outer worlds — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — are known as the “Jovian planets” (meaning
“Jupiter-like”) because they are all huge compared to the terrestrial planets, and because they are gaseous in nature
rather than having rocky surfaces (though some or all of them may have solid cores, astronomers say). According to
NASA, "two of the outer planets beyond the orbit of Mars — Jupiter and Saturn — are known as gas giants; the
more distant Uranus and Neptune are called ice giants." This is because, while the first two are dominated by gas,
while the last two have more ice. All four contain mostly hydrogen and helium.
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Dwarf planets
The IAU definition of a full-fledged planet goes like this: A body that circles the sun without being some other
object's satellite, is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not so big that it begins to undergo nuclear
fusion, like a star) and has "cleared its neighborhood" of most other orbiting bodies. Yeah, that’s a mouthful.
The problem for Pluto, besides its small size and offbeat orbit, is that it shares its space with lots of other objects in
the Kuiper Belt, beyond Neptune. Still, the demotion of Pluto remains controversial.
The IAU planet definition puts other small, round worlds in the dwarf planetcategory, including the Kuiper Belt
objects Eris, Haumea, and Makemake.
Also now a dwarf planet is Ceres, a round object in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres was actually
considered a planet when discovered in 1801 and then later deemed to be an asteroid. Some astronomers like to
consider Ceres as a 10th planet (not to be confused with Nibiru or Planet X), but that line of thinking opens up the
possibility of there being 13 planets, with more bound to be discovered.
The planetsMercury
The closest planet to the sun, Mercury is only a bit larger than Earth's moon. Its day side is scorched by the sun and
can reach 840 degrees Fahrenheit (450 Celsius), but on the night side, temperatures drop to hundreds of degrees
below freezing. Mercury has virtually no atmosphere to absorb meteor impacts, so its surface is pockmarked with
craters, just like the moon. Over its four-year mission, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has revealed views of the
planet that have challenged astronomers' expectations.
 Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
 Named for: Messenger of the Roman gods
 Diameter: 3,031 miles (4,878 km)
 Orbit: 88 Earth days
 Day: 58.6 Earth days
Venus
The second planet from the sun, Venus is terribly hot, even hotter than Mercury. The atmosphere is toxic. The
pressure at the surface would crush and kill you. Scientists describe Venus’ situation as a runaway greenhouse
effect. Its size and structure are similar to Earth, Venus' thick, toxic atmosphere traps heat in a runaway "greenhouse
effect." Oddly, Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction of most planets.
The Greeks believed Venus was two different objects — one in the morning sky and another in the evening.
Because it is often brighter than any other object in the sky — except for the sun and moon — Venus has generated
many UFO reports.
 Named for: Roman goddess of love and beauty
 Day: 241 Earth days
Earth
The third planet from the sun, Earth is a waterworld, with two-thirds of the planet covered by ocean. It’s the only
world known to harbor life. Earth’s atmosphere is rich in life-sustaining nitrogen and oxygen. Earth's surface rotates
about its axis at 1,532 feet per second (467 meters per second) — slightly more than 1,000 mph (1,600 kph) — at
the equator. The planet zips around the sun at more than 18 miles per second (29 km per second).
 Orbit: 365.24 days
 Day: 23 hours, 56 minutes
Mars researchers are focusing both Earth-based and planet orbiting sensors to better understand sources of methane
on the red planet. Image
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Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute
Mars
The fourth planet from the sun, is a cold, dusty place. The dust, an iron oxide, gives the planet its reddish cast. Mars
shares similarities with Earth: It is rocky, has mountains and valleys, and storm systems ranging from localized
tornado-like dust devils to planet-engulfing dust storms. It snows on Mars. And Mars harbors water ice. Scientists
think it was once wet and warm, though today it’s cold and desert-like.
Mars' atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist on the surface for any length of time. Scientists think ancient
Mars would have had the conditions to support life, and there is hope that signs of past life — possibly even present
biology — may exist on the Red Planet.
 Named for: Roman god of war
 Day: Just more than one Earth day (24 hours, 37 minutes)
Jupiter
The fifth planet from the sun, Jupiter is huge and is the most massive planet in our solar system. It’s a mostly
gaseous world, mostly hydrogen and helium. Its swirling clouds are colorful due to different types of trace gases. A
big feature is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm which has raged for hundreds of years. Jupiter has a strong magnetic
field, and with dozens of moons, it looks a bit like a miniature solar system.
 Named for: Ruler of the Roman gods
 Orbit: 11.9 Earth years
 Day: 9.8 Earth hours

The sixth planet from the sun is known most for its rings. When Galileo Galilei first studied Saturn in the early
1600s, he thought it was an object with three parts. Not knowing he was seeing a planet with rings, the stumped
astronomer entered a small drawing — a symbol with one large circle and two smaller ones — in his notebook, as a
noun in a sentence describing his discovery. More than 40 years later, Christiaan Huygens proposed that they were
rings. The rings are made of ice and rock. Scientists are not yet sure how they formed. The gaseous planet is mostly
hydrogen and helium. It has numerous moons.
 Named for: Roman god of agriculture
 Orbit: 29.5 Earth years
 Day: About 10.5 Earth hoursUranus

The seventh planet from the sun, Uranus is an oddball. It’s the only giant planet whose equator is nearly at right
angles to its orbit — it basically orbits on its side. Astronomers think the planet collided with some other planet-size
object long ago, causing the tilt. The tilt causes extreme seasons that last 20-plus years, and the sun beats down on
one pole or the other for 84 Earth-years. Uranus is about the same size as Neptune. Methane in the atmosphere gives
Uranus its blue-green tint. It has numerous moons and faint rings.
 Discovery: 1781 by William Herschel (was thought previously to be a star)
 Named for: Personification of heaven in ancient myth
 Orbit: 84 Earth years
 Day: 18 Earth hours

Neptune’s winds travel at more than 1,500 mph, and are the fastest planetary winds in the solar system.
Credit: NASA/JPL
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Neptune
The eighth planet from the sun, Neptune is known for strong winds — sometimes faster than the speed of sound.
Neptune is far out and cold. The planet is more than 30 times as far from the sun as Earth. It has a rocky core.
Neptune was the first planet to be predicted to exist by using math, before it was detected. Irregularities in the orbit
of Uranus led French astronomer Alexis Bouvard to suggest some other might be exerting a gravitational tug.
German astronomer Johann Galle used calculations to help find Neptune in a telescope. Neptune is about 17 times as
massive as Earth.
 Discovery: 1846
 Named for: Roman god of water
 Day: 19 Earth hours
Pluto (Dwarf Planet)
Once the ninth planet from the sun, Pluto is unlike other planets in many respects. It is smaller than Earth's moon. Its
orbit carries it inside the orbit of Neptune and then way out beyond that orbit. From 1979 until early 1999, Pluto had
actually been the eighth planet from the sun. Then, on Feb. 11, 1999, it crossed Neptune's path and once again
became the solar system's most distant planet — until it was demoted to dwarf planet status. Pluto will stay beyond
Neptune for 228 years. Pluto’s orbit is tilted to the main plane of the solar system — where the other planets orbit —
by 17.1 degrees. It’s a cold, rocky world with only a very ephemeral atmosphere. NASA's New Horizons mission
performed history's first flyby of the Pluto system on July 14, 2015. [Related: New Horizons' Pluto Flyby: Latest
News, Images and Video]
 Discovery: 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh
 Named for: Roman god of the underworld, Hades
 Day: 6.4 Earth day
Planet Nine
Planet Nine orbits the sun at a distance that is 20 times farther out than the orbit of Neptune. (The orbit of Neptune is
2.7 billion miles from the sun at its closest point.) The strange world's orbit is about 600 times farther from the sun
than the Earth's orbit is from the star.
Scientists have not actually seen Planet Nine directly. Its existence was inferred by its gravitational effects on other
objects in the Kuiper Belt, a region at the fringe of the solar system that is home to icy objects left over from the
birth of the sun and planets.
ur solar system is filled with a wide assortment of celestial bodies - the Sun itself, our eight planets, dwarf planets,
and asteroids - and on Earth, life itself! The inner solar system is occasionally visited by comets that loop in from
the outer reaches of the solar system on highly elliptical orbits. In the outer reaches of the solar system, we find
the Kuiper Belt and the Oort cloud. Still farther out, we eventually reach the limits of the heliosphere, where the
outer reaches of the solar system interact with interstellar space. Solar system formation began billions of years ago,
when gases and dust began to come together to form the Sun, planets, and other bodies of the solar system.
Lutetia is a medium-sized asteroid. It orbits the Sun in the main asteroid belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter.
This lumpy object is about 96 km (60 miles) in diameter. It isn't a perfect sphere, though. Lutetia is 132 km (82
miles) across one way, but only about 76 km (47 miles) long in another direction. The European space probe Rosetta
flew past Lutetia in July 2010, and gave us our first good look at the asteroid.
The Moon has phases because it orbits Earth, which causes the portion we see illuminated to change. The Moon
takes 27.3 days to orbit Earth, but the lunar phase cycle (from new Moon to new Moon) is 29.5 days. The Moon
spends the extra 2.2 days "catching up" because Earth travels about 45 million miles around the Sun during the time
the Moon completes one orbit around Earth.
At the new Moon phase, the Moon is so close to the Sun in the sky that none of the side facing Earth is illuminated
(position 1 in illustration). In other words, the Moon is between Earth and Sun. At first quarter, the half-lit Moon is
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highest in the sky at sunset, then sets about six hours later (3). At full Moon, the Moon is behind Earth in space with
respect to the Sun. As the Sun sets, the Moon rises with the side that faces Earth fully exposed to sunlight (5).
You can create a mockup of the relationship between Sun, Earth, and Moon using a bright lamp, a basketball, and a
baseball. Mark a spot on the basketball, which represents you as an observer on Earth, then play with various
alignments of Earth and Moon in the light of your imaginary Sun.
When is the Harvest Moon?
The full Moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox is commonly referred to as the "Harvest Moon," since its
bright presence in the night sky allows farmers to work longer into the fall night, reaping the rewards of their spring
and summer labors. Because the equinox always falls in late September, it is generally a full Moon in September
which is given this name, although in some years the full Moon of early October earns the "harvest" designation.
In fact, each full Moon of the year has its own name, most of which are associated with the weather or agriculture.
The most common names used in North America include:
What is a Blue Moon and when is the next one?
Because the time between two full Moons doesn't quite equal a whole month, approximately every three years there
are two full Moons in one calendar month. Over the past few decades, the second full Moon has come to be known
as a "blue Moon." The next time two full Moons occur in the same month (as seen from the United States) will be
July 2015. The most recent "blue Moon" occurred in August 2012.
On average, there's a Blue Moon about every 33 months. Blue Moons are rare because the Moon is full every 29 and
a half days, so the timing has to be just right to squeeze two full Moons into a calendar month. The timing has to be
really precise to fit two Blue Moons into a single year. It can only happen on either side of February, whose 28-day
span is short enough time span to have NO full Moons during the month.
The term "blue Moon" has not always been used this way, however. While the exact origin of the phrase remains
unclear, it does in fact refer to a rare blue coloring of the Moon caused by high-altitude dust particles. Most sources
credit this unusual event, occurring only "once in a blue moon," as the true progenitor of the colorful phrase.
Why do we always see the same side of the Moon from Earth?
The Moon always shows us the same face because Earth's gravity has slowed down the Moon's rotational speed. The
Moon takes as much time to rotate once on its axis as it takes to complete one orbit of Earth. (Both are about 27.3
Earth days.) In other words, the Moon rotates enough each day to compensate for the angle it sweeps out in its orbit
around Earth.
Gravitational forces between Earth and the Moon drain the pair of their rotational energy. We see the effect of the
Moon in the ocean tides. Likewise, Earth's gravity creates a detectable bulge -- a 60-foot land tide -- on the Moon.
Eons from now, the same sides of Earth and Moon may forever face each other, as if dancing hand in hand, though
the Sun may balloon into a red giant, destroying Earth and the Moon, before this happens.
When does the young Moon first become visible in the evening sky?
There is no real formula for determining the visibility of the young Moon. It depends on several factors: the angle of
the ecliptic (the Moon's path across the sky) with respect to the horizon, the clarity of the sky (how much dust and
pollution gunks it up), and even the keenness of the observer's eyesight.
The young Moon becomes visible to the unaided eye much earlier at times when the ecliptic is perpendicular to the
horizon, and the Moon pops straight up into the sky. In these cases, it may be possible to see the Moon as little as 24
hours after it was new, although every hour beyond that greatly increases the chances of spotting it. When the
ecliptic is at a low angle to the horizon, and the Moon moves almost parallel to the horizon as it rises, the Moon
probably doesn't become visible until at least 36 hours past new.
The record for the earliest claimed sighting of the young crescent Moon is around 19 hours, although most experts
are suspicious of any claims of times less than about 24 hours.
What Is an Eclipse?
When Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, a lunar eclipse takes place.
Credits: NASAAn eclipse takes place when one heavenly body such as a moon or planet moves into the shadow of
another heavenly body. There are two types of eclipses on Earth: an eclipse of the moon and an eclipse of the sun.
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What Is a Lunar Eclipse?

The moon moves in an orbit around Earth, and at the same time, Earth orbits the sun. Sometimes Earth moves
between the sun and the moon. When this happens, Earth blocks the sunlight that normally is reflected by the moon.
(This sunlight is what causes the moon to shine.) Instead of light hitting the moon’s surface, Earth's shadow falls on
it. This is an eclipse of the moon -- a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse can occur only when the moon is full.
A lunar eclipse can be seen from Earth at night. There are two types of lunar eclipses: total lunar eclipses and partial
lunar eclipses.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon and the sun are on exact opposite sides of Earth. Although the moon is
in Earth's shadow, some sunlight reaches the moon. The sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, which causes
Earth’s atmosphere to filter out most of the blue light. This makes the moon appear red to people on Earth.
A partial lunar eclipse happens when only a part of the moon enters Earth's shadow. In a partial eclipse, Earth's
shadow appears very dark on the side of the moon facing Earth. What people see from Earth during a partial lunar
eclipse depends on how the sun, Earth and moon are lined up.
A lunar eclipse usually lasts for a few hours. At least two partial lunar eclipses happen every year, but total lunar
eclipses are rare. It is safe to look at a lunar eclipse.
What Is a Solar Eclipse?

Sometimes when the moon orbits Earth, it moves between the sun and Earth. When this happens, the moon blocks
the light of the sun from reaching Earth. This causes an eclipse of the sun, or solar eclipse. During a solar eclipse,
the moon casts a shadow onto Earth.
There are three types of solar eclipses.
The first is a total solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse is only visible from a small area on Earth. The people who see
the total eclipse are in the center of the moon’s shadow when it hits Earth. The sky becomes very dark, as if it were
night. For a total eclipse to take place, the sun, moon and Earth must be in a direct line.
The second type of solar eclipse is a partial solar eclipse. This happens when the sun, moon and Earth are not
exactly lined up. The sun appears to have a dark shadow on only a small part of its surface.
The third type is an annular (ANN you ler) solar eclipse. An annular eclipse happens when the moon is farthest from
Earth. Because the moon is farther away from Earth, it seems smaller. It does not block the entire view of the sun.
The moon in front of the sun looks like a dark disk on top of a larger sun-colored disk. This creates what looks like a
ring around the moon.
During a solar eclipse, the moon casts two shadows on Earth. The first shadow is called the umbra (UM bruh). This
shadow gets smaller as it reaches Earth. It is the dark center of the moon’s shadow. The second shadow is called the
penumbra (pe NUM bruh). The penumbra gets larger as it reaches Earth. People standing in the penumbra will see a
partial eclipse. People standing in the umbra will see a total eclipse.
Solar eclipses happen once every 18 months. Unlike lunar eclipses, solar eclipses only last for a few minutes.
NEVER look directly at the sun: It can permanently damage your eyes! You must use proper safety
equipment to look at any type of solar eclipse.
Why Does NASA Study Eclipses?

Hundreds of years ago, when people observed the moon during an eclipse, they discovered that the shape of Earth is
round. Even after all these years, scientists are still learning about the moon from lunar eclipses. In December 2011,
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NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter gathered data about how quickly the moon’s day side (the side that always
faces Earth) cools during a lunar eclipse. NASA can learn what the moon's surface is made of from this data. If an
area of the moon's surface is flat, it will cool quickly. Scientists use this data to know which areas of the moon are
rough with boulders and which are flat.
NASA also studies solar eclipses. Scientists use solar eclipses as an opportunity to study the sun’s corona. The
corona is the sun's top layer. During an annular eclipse, NASA uses ground and space instruments to view the
corona when the moon blocks the sun’s glare.
When Is the Next Solar Eclipse?

On Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, all of North America will be treated to an eclipse of the sun. Anyone within the path of
totality can see one of nature’s most awe-inspiring sights -- a total solar eclipse. This path, where the moon will
completely cover the sun so the sun's corona can be seen, will stretch from Salem, Oregon, to Charleston, South
Carolina. Observers outside this path will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun's
disk.
REMEMBER: NEVER look directly at the sun: It can permanently damage your eyes! You must use proper
safety equipment to look at any type of solar eclipse.
Many people are not clear about the difference between our Solar System, our Milky Way Galaxy, and the Universe.
Our Solar System consists of our star, the Sun, and its orbiting planets (including Earth), along with numerous
moons, asteroids, comet material, rocks, and dust. Our Sun is just one star among the hundreds of billions of stars in
our Milky Way Galaxy. If we shrink the Sun down to smaller than a grain of sand, we can imagine our Solar System
to be small enough to fit onto the palm of your hand. Pluto would orbit about an inch from the middle of your palm.
On that scale with our Solar System in your hand, the Milky Way Galaxy, with its 200 – 400 billion stars, would
span North America (see the illustration on the right). Galaxies come in many sizes. The Milky Way is big, but some
galaxies, like our Andromeda Galaxy neighbor, are much larger.
The universe is all of the galaxies – billions of them! NASA’s telescopes allow us to study galaxies beyond our own
in exquisite detail, and to explore the most distant reaches of the observable universe. The Hubble Space Telescope
made one of the deepest images of the universe, called the Hubble Extreme Deep Field (image at the top of this
article). Soon the James Webb Space Telescope will be exploring galaxies forming at the very beginning of the
universe.
You are one of the billions of people on our Earth. Our Earth orbits the Sun in our Solar System. Our Sun is one
star among the billions in the Milky Way Galaxy. Our Milky Way Galaxy is one among the billions of galaxies in
our Universe. You are unique in the Universe!
You can observe objects in our solar system and even see other galaxies at a star party near you-and rest assured that
everything you are seeing is a part of the same universe as you! Find out more by using our club and event finder
and connect with your local astronomy club.
Plants are essential to all life on Earth. They are special because they are able to make their own food by a process
called photosynthesis where they take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into sugar. The sugars can
then be used for energy for growth and many more functions but the plant material provides the basis of almost all
food chains.
Plants include a range of different groups that can all photosynthesize but can be very different physically and
genetically. Included in the plant kingdom are the flowering plants or angiosperms, the gymnosperms – woody
plants without flowers but with seed and cones, the ferns, lycophytes – similar to ferns but only have a single vein
through each leaf, the bryophytes (mosses, hornworts and liverworts), and some algae.
Angiosperms
All plants that grow flowers and fruit belong to the group known as the angiosperms. They the most advanced,
diverse and abundant group of plants in the world and include around 200,000 plant species.
Gymnosperms
Gymnosperms are a group of woody, vascular plants with seeds but without flowers or fruit. The seeds of
gymnosperm plants sit exposed on cones rather than enclosed in a fruit as they are with angiosperm plants.
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Ferns and lycophytes
Ferns and lycophytes are two groups of vascular plants without wood, seeds or flowers. They include over 12,000
species from ancient groups that once dominated the forests in many parts of the world.
Cell, in biology, the basic membrane-bound unit that contains the fundamental molecules of life and of which all
living things are composed. A single cell is often a complete organism in itself, such as a bacterium or yeast. Other
cells acquire specialized functions as they mature. These cells cooperate with other specialized cells and become the
building blocks of large multicellular organisms, such as animals and humans. Although cells are much larger
than atoms, they are still very small. The smallest known cells are a group of tiny bacteria called mycoplasmas;
some of these single-celled organisms are spheres about 0.3 micrometre in diameter, with a total mass of
10−14 gram—equal to that of 8,000,000,000 hydrogen atoms. Cells of humans typically have a mass 400,000 times
larger than the mass of a single mycoplasma bacterium, but even human cells are only about 20 micrometres across.
It would require a sheet of about 10,000 human cells to cover the head of a pin, and each human organism is
composed of more than 75,000,000,000,000 cells.

animal cellPrincipal structures of an animal cellCytoplasm surrounds the cell's specialized structures, or organelles.
Ribosomes, the sites of protein synthesis, are found free in the cytoplasm or attached to the endoplasmic reticulum,
through which materials are transported throughout the cell. Energy needed by the cell is released by the
mitochondria. The Golgi complex, stacks of flattened sacs, processes and packages materials to be released from the
cell in secretory vesicles. Digestive enzymes are contained in lysosomes. Peroxisomes contain enzymes that
detoxify dangerous substances. The centrosome contains the centrioles, which play a role in cell division. The
microvilli are fingerlike extensions found on certain cells. Cilia, hairlike structures that extend from the surface of
many cells, can create movement of surrounding fluid. The nuclear envelope, a double membrane surrounding the
nucleus, contains pores that control the movement of substances into and out of the nucleoplasm. Chromatin, a
combination of DNA and proteins that coil into chromosomes, makes up much of the nucleoplasm. The dense
nucleolus is the site of ribosome production.© Merriam-Webster Inc.
Cells are the basic units of life.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
This article discusses the cell both as an individual unit and as a contributing part of a larger organism. As an
individual unit, the cell is capable of metabolizing its own nutrients, synthesizing many types of molecules,
providing its own energy, and replicating itself in order to produce succeeding generations. It can be viewed as an
enclosed vessel, within which innumerable chemical reactions take place simultaneously. These reactions are under
very precise control so that they contribute to the life and procreation of the cell. In a multicellular organism, cells
become specialized to perform different functions through the process of differentiation. In order to do this, each cell
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keeps in constant communication with its neighbours. As it receives nutrients from and expels wastes into its
surroundings, it adheres to and cooperates with other cells. Cooperative assemblies of similar cells form tissues, and
a cooperation between tissues in turn forms organs, which carry out the functions necessary to sustain the life of an
organism.
Special emphasis is given in this article to animal cells, with some discussion of the energy-synthesizing processes
and extracellular components peculiar to plants. (For detailed discussion of the biochemistry of plant
cells, seephotosynthesis. For a full treatment of the genetic events in the cell nucleus, seeheredity.)
Bruce M. Alberts
The Nature And Function Of Cells
A cell is enclosed by a plasma membrane, which forms a selective barrier that allows nutrients to enter and waste
products to leave. The interior of the cell is organized into many specialized compartments, or organelles, each
surrounded by a separate membrane. One major organelle, the nucleus, contains the genetic information necessary
for cell growth and reproduction. Each cell contains only one nucleus, whereas other types of organelles are present
in multiple copies in the cellular contents, or cytoplasm. Organelles include mitochondria, which are responsible for
the energy transactions necessary for cell survival; lysosomes, which digest unwanted materials within the cell; and
the endoplasmic reticulumand the Golgi apparatus, which play important roles in the internal organization of the cell
by synthesizing selected molecules and then processing, sorting, and directing them to their proper locations. In
addition, plant cells contain chloroplasts, which are responsible for photosynthesis, whereby the energy of sunlight
is used to convert molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) into carbohydrates. Between all these
organelles is the space in the cytoplasm called the cytosol. The cytosol contains an organized framework of fibrous
molecules that constitute the cytoskeleton, which gives a cell its shape, enables organelles to move within the cell,
and provides a mechanism by which the cell itself can move. The cytosol also contains more than 10,000 different
kinds of molecules that are involved in cellular biosynthesis, the process of making large biological molecules from
small ones.
Animal cells and plant cells contain membrane-bound organelles, including a distinct nucleus. In contrast, bacterial
cells do not contain organelles.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Specialized organelles are a characteristic of cells of organisms known as eukaryotes. In contrast, cells of organisms
known as prokaryotes do not contain organelles and are generally smaller than eukaryotic cells. However, all cells
share strong similarities in biochemical function.
The molecules of cells

Cells contain a special collection of molecules that are enclosed by a membrane. These molecules give cells the
ability to grow and reproduce. The overall process of cellular reproduction occurs in two steps: cell growth and cell
division. During cell growth, the cell ingests certain molecules from its surroundings by selectively carrying them
17
through its cell membrane. Once inside the cell, these molecules are subjected to the action of highly specialized,
large, elaborately folded molecules called enzymes. Enzymes act as catalysts by binding to ingested molecules and
regulating the rate at which they are chemically altered. These chemical alterations make the molecules more useful
to the cell. Unlike the ingested molecules, catalysts are not chemically altered themselves during the reaction,
allowing one catalyst to regulate a specific chemical reaction in many molecules.
Biological catalysts create chains of reactions. In other words, a molecule chemically transformed by one catalyst
serves as the starting material, or substrate, of a second catalyst and so on. In this way, catalysts use the small
molecules brought into the cell from the outside environment to create increasingly complex reaction products.
These products are used for cell growth and the replication of genetic material. Once the genetic material has been
copied and there are sufficient molecules to support cell division, the cell divides to create two daughter cells.
Through many such cycles of cell growth and division, each parent cell can give rise to millions of daughter cells, in
the process converting large amounts of inanimate matter into biologically active molecules.
Genetics is a field of biology that studies how traits are passed from parents to their offspring. The passing of traits
from parents to offspring is known as heredity, therefore, genetics is the study of heredity. This introduction to
genetics takes you through the basic components of genetics such as DNA, genes, chromosomes and genetic
inheritance.
Genetics is built around molecules called DNA. DNA molecules hold all the genetic information for an organism.
It provides cells with the information they need to perform tasks that allow an organism to grow, survive and
reproduce. A gene is one particular section of a DNA molecule that tells a cell to perform one specific task.
Heredity is what makes children look like their parents. During reproduction, DNA is replicated and passed from a
parent to their offspring. This inheritance of genetic material by offspring influences the appearance and behavior
of the offspring. The environment that an organism lives in can also influence how genes are expressed.
DNA
DNA - introduction to geneticsDNA is the cornerstone of genetics and is the perfect place to start for an
introduction to genetics. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid and it is the molecule that holds the genetic
information for a cell and an organism.
A DNA molecule contains a code that can be used by a cell to express certain genes. Specific sections of a DNA
molecule provides the information to build specific proteins which can then be used by a cell to express the desired
gene.
A DNA molecule is a nucleic acid, one of the four molecules of life. It comes in the form of a long, linear
molecule referred to as a strand. Each strand of DNA is bonded to a second strand of DNA to form a DNA double
helix. In eukaryotic cells, DNA is found in the nucleus as a tightly coiled double helix.
DNA molecules are replicated during cell division. When a cell divides, the two new cells contain all the same
DNA that the original cell had.
In sexual reproduction with two parents, half of the DNA of the offspring is provided by each of the parents. The
genetic material of a child is made from 50% of their mother’s DNA and 50% their father’s DNA.
GENES
A gene is a specific segment of a DNA molecule that holds the information for one specific protein. DNA
molecules have a unique code for each gene which codes for their specific protein. Some organisms can have more
than 100,000 different genes so they will have 100,000 unique sequences of DNA ‘code’.
Genes are the basic unit of heredity. The genes of an individual are determined by their parent or parents. A
bacteria that is born by one parent cell splitting into two cells and has the exact same genes as their one parent cell.
Eye color - introduction to geneticsA human, on the other hand, has two copies of each gene – one set from their
mother and a second set from their father. Different forms of the same gene are called alleles. For each gene, a
human can have two different alleles or two of the same alleles – one from each parent.
Physical traits such as eye color or height are often determined by the combination of multiple genes. The
environment an individual lives in also impacts how genes are expressed.
CHROMOSOMES
A chromosome is a structure made from tightly packed strands of DNA and proteins called histones. Strands of
DNA are tightly wrapped around the histone proteins and form into long worm-shaped structures called
‘chromatids’. Two chromatids join together to form a chromosome.
ChromosomeChromosomes are formed in the nucleus of a cell when a cell is dividing. It is possible to see
chromosomes under an ordinary light microscope if the cell is in the right stage of cell division.
The number of chromosomes varies between species. Humans have 46 chromosomes. Some species can have
many more than 100 chromosomes while others can have as little as two.
GENETIC INHERITANCE
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Inheritance is the backbone of genetics and is an important topic to cover in an introduction to genetics. Long
before DNA had been discovered and the word ‘genetics’ had been invented, people were studying the inheritance
of traits from one generation to the next.
Genetic inheritance occurs both in sexual reproduction and asexual reproduction. In sexual reproduction, two
organisms contribute DNA to produce a new organism. In asexual reproduction, one organism provides all the
DNA and produces a clone of themselves. In either, genetic material is passed from one generation to the next.
Experiments performed by a monk named Gregor Mendel provided the foundations of our current understanding
of how genetic material is passed from parents to their offspring.
Anatomy, a field in the biological sciences concerned with the identification and description of the body structures
of living things. Gross anatomy involves the study of major body structures by dissection and observation and in
its narrowest sense is concerned only with the human body. “Gross anatomy” customarily refers to the study of
those body structures large enough to be examined without the help of magnifying devices, while microscopic
anatomy is concerned with the study of structural units small enough to be seen only with a light microscope.
Dissection is basic to all anatomical research. The earliest record of its use was made by the Greeks, and
Theophrastus called dissection “anatomy,” from ana temnein, meaning “to cut up.”
Comparative anatomy, the other major subdivision of the field, compares similar body structures in different
species of animals in order to understand the adaptive changes they have undergone in the course of evolution.
READ MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Common leaf morphologies.
morphology: Anatomy
The best known aspect of morphology, usually called anatomy, is the study of gross structure, or form, of organs
and organisms. It should not be inferred however, that even the human body, which has been extensively studied,
has been so completely explored that nothing…
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Gross Anatomy
This ancient discipline reached its culmination between 1500 and 1850, by which time its subject matter was
firmly established. None of the world’s oldest civilizations dissected a human body, which most people regarded
with superstitious awe and associated with the spirit of the departed soul. Beliefs in life after death and a
disquieting uncertainty concerning the possibility of bodily resurrection further inhibited systematic study.
Nevertheless, knowledge of the body was acquired by treating wounds, aiding in childbirth, and setting broken
limbs. The field remained speculative rather than descriptive, though, until the achievements of the Alexandrian
medical school and its foremost figure, Herophilus (flourished 300 BCE), who dissected human cadavers and thus
gave anatomy a considerable factual basis for the first time. Herophilus made many important discoveries and was
followed by his younger contemporary Erasistratus, who is sometimes regarded as the founder of physiology. In
the 2nd century CE, Greek physician Galen assembled and arranged all the discoveries of the Greek anatomists,
including with them his own concepts of physiology and his discoveries in experimental medicine. The many
books Galen wrote became the unquestioned authority for anatomy and medicine in Europe because they were the
only ancient Greek anatomical texts that survived the Dark Ages in the form of Arabic (and then Latin)
translations.
Using a balanced chemical equation to calculate amounts of reactants and products is called stoichiometry. It is a
super technical-sounding word that simply means using ratios from the balanced equation. In this article, we will
discuss how to use mole ratios to calculate the amount of reactants needed for a reaction.
Balanced reactions and mole ratios
The stoichiometric coefficients are the numbers we use to make sure our equation is balanced. We can make ratios
using the stoichiometric coefficients, and the ratios will tell us about the relative proportions of the chemicals in our
reaction. You might see this ratio called the mole ratio, the stoichiometric factor, or the stoichiometric ratio. The
mole ratio can be used as a conversion factor between different quantities.
Problem solving tip: The first and most important step for all stoichiometry problems is the same no matter what
you are solving for—make sure your equation is balanced! If the equation is not balanced, the mole ratios will be
wrong, and the answers will not be correct.
For example, the stoichiometric coefficients for the following balanced equation tell us that 1 mole of \text{Fe}_2
\text O_3Fe2O3F, e, start subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start subscript, 3, end subscript will react with 2 moles
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of \text{Al}AlA, l to yield 2 moles of \text{Fe}FeF, e and 1 mole of \text{Al}_2 \text O_3Al2O3A, l, start
subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start subscript, 3, end subscript.
[Why are some coefficients missing?]
\text{Fe}_2 \text O_3F, e, start subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start subscript, 3, end subscript\text{Al}_2 \text
O_3A, l, start subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start subscript, 3, end subscript
\text {Fe}_2 \text O_3(s) + \blueD{2} \text {Al} (s) \rightarrow \redD{2} \text {Fe} (l) + \text {Al}_2 \text
O_3(s)Fe2O3(s)+2Al(s)→2Fe(l)+Al2O3(s)F, e, start subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start subscript, 3, end subscript,
left parenthesis, s, right parenthesis, plus, start color blueD, 2, end color blueD, A, l, left parenthesis, s, right
parenthesis, right arrow, start color redD, 2, end color redD, F, e, left parenthesis, l, right parenthesis, plus, A, l, start
subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start subscript, 3, end subscript, left parenthesis, s, right parenthesis
If we have a known mass of the reactant \text{Fe}_2 \text O_3Fe2O3F, e, start subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start
subscript, 3, end subscript, we can calculate how many moles of \text{Al}AlA, l we need to fully react with
the \text{Fe}_2 \text O_3Fe2O3F, e, start subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start subscript, 3, end subscript using the
ratio of their coefficients:
\text{Mole ratio between Al and Fe}_2\text{O}_3=\dfrac{\blueD{2}\,\text {mole Al}}{1 \,\text{mole Fe}_2 \text
O_3}Mole ratio between Al and Fe2O3=1mole Fe2O32mole AlM, o, l, e, space, r, a, t, i, o, space, b, e, t, w, e, e, n,
space, A, l, space, a, n, d, space, F, e, start subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start subscript, 3, end subscript, equals,
start fraction, start color blueD, 2, end color blueD, space, m, o, l, e, space, A, l, divided by, 1, space, m, o, l, e,
space, F, e, start subscript, 2, end subscript, O, start subscript, 3, end subscript, end fraction
Example: Using mole ratios to calculate mass of a reactant
For the following unbalanced reaction, how many grams of \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H will be required to fully
react with 3.10 grams of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start subscript, 4,
end subscript?
\text {NaOH}(aq) + \text H_2 \text{SO}_4 (aq) \rightarrow \text H_2 \text O + \text {Na}_2
\text{SO}_4(aq)~~~~~~~\text{Not balanced!}NaOH(aq)+H2SO4(aq)→H2O+Na2SO4(aq) Not balanced!
For this reaction, we have 1 \text{Na}NaN, a and 3 \text HHH on the reactant side and 2 \text{Na}NaN, a and
2 \text HHHon the product side. We can balance our equation by multiplying \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H by
two—so that there are 2 \text{Na}NaN, a on each side—and multiplying \text H_2 \text OH2OH, start subscript, 2,
end subscript, O by two—so there are 6 \text OOO and 4 \text HHH on both sides. That gives the
following balanced reaction:
2 \text {NaOH}(aq) + \text H_2 \text{SO}_4 (aq) \rightarrow 2\text H_2 \text O + \text {Na}_2
\text{SO}_4(aq)~~~~ \text{Balanced, hooray!}2NaOH(aq)+H2SO4(aq)→2H2O+Na2SO4(aq) Balanced, hooray!
Once we have the balanced equation, we can ask ourselves the following questions:
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 For which reactant(s) do we already know the amount of the chemical?
 What are we trying to calculate?
In this example, we know the amount of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start
subscript, 4, end subscript is 3.10 grams, and we would like to calculate the mass of \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H.
Armed with the balanced equation and a clear sense of purpose—hopefully—we can use the following strategy to
tackle this stoichiometry problem:
Step 1: Convert known reactant amount to moles.
The known quantity in this problem is the mass of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end subscript,
S, O, start subscript, 4, end subscript. We can convert the mass of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2,
end subscript, S, O, start subscript, 4, end subscript to moles using the molecular weight. Given that the molecular
weight of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start subscript, 4, end subscript is
98.09 g/mol, we can find the moles of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start
subscript, 4, end subscript as follows:
3.10gH2SO4×1molH2SO498.09gH2SO4=3.16×10−2mol H2SO4
[Why did you move the decimal in the answer?]
\timestimes^{-2}start superscript, minus, 2, end superscript
Step 2: Use mole ratio to find moles of other reactant.
We are interested in calculating the amount of \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H, so we can use the mole ratio
between \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H and \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O,
start subscript, 4, end subscript. Based on our balanced chemical equation, we need 2 moles of NaOH for every 1
mole of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start subscript, 4, end subscript,
which gives the following ratio:
\text{Mole ratio between NaOH and H}_2 \text{SO}_4=\dfrac{2\,\text{mol NaOH}}{1\,\text{mol H}_2 \text
{SO}_4}Mole ratio between NaOH and H2SO4=1mol H2SO42mol NaOHM, o, l, e, space, r, a, t, i, o, space, b, e, t,
w, e, e, n, space, N, a, O, H, space, a, n, d, space, H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start subscript, 4, end
subscript, equals, start fraction, 2, space, m, o, l, space, N, a, O, H, divided by, 1, space, m, o, l, space, H, start
subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start subscript, 4, end subscript, end fraction
We can use the ratio to convert moles of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start
subscript, 4, end subscript from step one to moles of \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H:
3.16×10−2molH2SO4×2mol NaOH1mol H2SO4=6.32×10−2mol NaOH
Notice that we can write the mole ratio in two ways:

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\dfrac{2\,\text{mol NaOH}}{1\, \text{mol H}_2 \text {SO}_4}~~ \greenD{\checkmark}~~~1mol H2SO4
2mol NaOH ✓ or~~~ \dfrac{1\, \text{mol H}_2 \text {SO}_4}{2\,\text{mol NaOH}}~~\redD{\mathsf X}
2mol NaOH1mol H2SO4 X
Each format gives a different answer! However, only one ratio will allow the units of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4
H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start subscript, 4, end subscript to cancel out properly. The important
message here is always check your units! For a video explaining how units can be treated as numbers for easier
bookkeeping, you can watch this video on dimensional analysis.
Step 3: Convert moles to mass.
We can convert the moles of \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H from Step 2 to mass in grams using the molecular
weight of \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H:
6.32×10−2molNaOH×40.00g NaOH1mol NaOH=2.53g NaOH
We will need 2.53 grams of \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H to fully react with 3.10 grams of \text H_2
\text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end subscript, S, O, start subscript, 4, end subscript in this reaction.
Shortcut: We could also combine all three steps into a single calculation, with the caveat that we should pay extra
close attention to our units. In order to convert the mass of \text H_2 \text{SO}_4H2SO4H, start subscript, 2, end
subscript, S, O, start subscript, 4, end subscript to mass of \text{NaOH}NaOHN, a, O, H, we could solve the
following expression:
3.10gH2SO4 × 1molH2SO498.09gH2SO4
× 2mol NaOH1mol H2SO4 × 40.00g NaOH1mol
NaOH = 2.53g NaOH Step 1 Step
2 Step 3 Find mol of H2SO4 Use mole ratio Find grams of
NaOH
If we look carefully at the expression, we can break it down into steps 1 to 3 above. The only difference is that
instead of doing each conversion separately, we did them all at once.
Summary
The coefficients from the balanced chemical reaction tell us the proportions of the reactants and products. We can
use ratios of the coefficients to convert between amounts of reactants and products in our reaction.
he motion of an aircraft through the air can be explained and described by physical principals discovered over 300
years ago by Sir Isaac Newton. Newton worked in many areas of mathematics and physics. He developed the
theories of gravitation in 1666, when he was only 23 years old. Some twenty years later, in 1686, he presented his
three laws of motion in the "Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis." The laws are shown above, and the
application of these laws to aerodynamics are given on separate slides.
Newton's first law states that every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled
to change its state by the action of an external force. This is normally taken as the definition of inertia. The key
point here is that if there is no net force acting on an object (if all the external forces cancel each other out) then the
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object will maintain a constant velocity. If that velocity is zero, then the object remains at rest. If an external force
is applied, the velocity will change because of the force.
The second law explains how the velocity of an object changes when it is subjected to an external force. The law
defines a force to be equal to change in momentum (mass times velocity) per change in time. Newton also
developed the calculus of mathematics, and the "changes" expressed in the second law are most accurately defined
in differential forms. (Calculus can also be used to determine the velocity and location variations experienced by an
object subjected to an external force.) For an object with a constant mass m, the second law states that the force F is
the product of an object's mass and its acceleration a:
F=m*a
For an external applied force, the change in velocity depends on the mass of the object. A force will cause a change
in velocity; and likewise, a change in velocity will generate a force. The equation works both ways.
The third law states that for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, if
object A exerts a force on object B, then object B also exerts an equal force on object A. Notice that the forces are
exerted on different objects. The third law can be used to explain the generation of lift by a wing and the production
of thrust by a jet engine.
Light is a transverse, electromagnetic wave that can be seen by humans. The wave nature of light was first illustrated
through experiments on diffraction and interference. Like all electromagnetic waves, light can travel through a
vacuum. The transverse nature of light can be demonstrated through polarization.
 In 1678, Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) published Traité de la Lumiere, where he argued in favor of the wave
nature of light. Huygens stated that an expanding sphere of light behaves as if each point on the wave front were
a new source of radiation of the same frequency and phase.
 Thomas Young (1773–1829) and Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) disproved Newton's corpuscular theory.
sources
Light is produced by one of two methods…
 Incandescence is the emission of light from "hot" matter (T ≳ 800 K).

 Luminescence is the emission of light when excited electrons fall to lower energy levels
(in matter that may or may not be "hot").
speed
Just notes so far. The speed of light in a vacuum is represented by the letter c from the Latin celeritas — swiftness.
Measurements of the speed of light.
e non l'ho sperimentata, salvo che in lontananza piccola, cioè manco In fact I have tried the experiment only at a short distance, less than a mil
o, dal che non ho potuto assicurarmi se veramente la comparsa del lume which I have not been able to ascertain with certainty whether the appear
ia instantanea; ma ben, se non instantanea, velocissima…. the opposite light was instantaneous or not; but if not instantaneous it is
extraordinarily rapid….
Galileo Galilei, 1638 Galileo Ga

Ole Rømer (1644–1710) Denmark. "Démonstration touchant le mouvement de la lumière trouvé par M. Roemer de
l'Académie des Sciences." Journal des Scavans. 7 December 1676. Rømer's idea was to use the transits of Jupiter's
moon Io to determine the time. Not local time, which was already possible, but a "universal" time that would be the
same for all observers on the Earth, Knowing the standard time would allow one to determine one's longitude on the
Earth — a handy thing to know when navigating the featureless oceans.
Unfortunately, Io did not turn out to be a good clock. Rømer observed that times between eclipses got shorter as earth
approached Jupiter, and longer as earth moved farther away. He hypothesized that this variation was due to the time
it took for light to travel the lesser or greater distance, and estimated that the time for light to travel the diameter of
the Earth's orbit, a distance of two astronomical units, was 22 minutes.
 The speed of light in a vacuum is a universal constant in all reference frames.

 The speed of light in a vacuum is fixed at 299,792,458 m/s by the current definition of the meter.
 The speed of light in a medium is always slower the speed of light in a vacuum.
 The speed of light depends upon the medium through which it travels.The speed of anything with mass is
always less than the speed of light in a vacuum.
other characteristics
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The amplitude of a light wave is related to its intensity.
 Intensity is the absolute measure of a light wave's power density.

 Brightness is the relative intensity as perceived by the average human eye.
The frequency of a light wave is related to its color.
 Color is such a complex topic that it has its own section in this book.
 Monochromatic light is described by only one frequency.
o Laser light is effectively monochromatic.
o There are six simple, named colors in English (and many other languages) each associated with a band of
monochromatic light. In order of increasing frequency they are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.
o Light is sometimes also known as visible light to contrast it from "ultraviolet light" and "infrared light"
o Other forms of electromagnetic radiation that are not visible to humans are sometimes also known
informally as "light"
 Polychromatic light is described by many different frequencies.
o Nearly every light source is polychromatic.
o White light is polychromatic.
A graph of relative intensity vs. frequency is called a spectrum (plural: spectra).
Although frequently associated with light, the term can be applied to any wave phenomena.
 A continuous spectrum is one in which every frequency is present within some range.
o Blackbody radiators emit a continuous spectrum.
 A discrete spectrum is one in which only a well defined set of isolated frequencies are present.
(A discrete spectrum is a finite collection of monochromatic light waves.)
o The excited electrons in a gas emit a discrete spectrum.
The wavelength of a light wave is inversely proportional to its frequency.
 Light is often described by it's wavelength in a vacuum.

 Light ranges in wavelength from 400 nm on the violet end to 700 nm on the red end of the visible spectrum.
Phase differences between light waves can produce visible interference effects.
(There are several sections in this book on interference phenomena and light.)
Leftovers about animals.
 Falcon can see a 10 cm. object from a distance of 1.5 km.

 Fly's Eye has a flicker fusion rate of 300/s. Humans have a flicker fusion rate of only 60/s in bright light and
24/s in dim light. The flicker fusion rate is the frequency with which the "flicker" of an image cannot be
distinguished as an individual event. Like the frame of a movie… if you slowed it down, you would see
individual frames. Speed it up and you see a constantly moving image. Octopus' eye has a flicker fusion
frequency of 70/s in bright light.
 Penguin has a flat cornea that allows for clear vision underwater. Penguins can also see into the ultraviolet
range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
 Sparrow Retina has 400,000 photoreceptors per square. mm.
 Reindeer can see ultraviolet wavelengths, which may help them view contrasts in their mostly white
environment.
A force is a push or pull upon an object resulting from the object's interaction with another object. Whenever
there is an interaction between two objects, there is a force upon each of the objects. When
the interaction ceases, the two objects no longer experience the force. Forces only exist as a result of an
interaction.
The Newton
Force is a quantity that is measured using the standard metric unit known as the Newton. A Newton is abbreviated
by an "N." To say "10.0 N" means 10.0 Newton of force. One Newton is the amount of force required to give a 1-kg
mass an acceleration of 1 m/s/s. Thus, the following unit equivalency can be stated:
1 Newton = 1 kg • m/s2
Force is a Vector Quantity

A force is a vector quantity. As learned in an earlier unit, a vector quantity is a quantity that has both magnitude and
direction. To fully describe the force acting upon an object, you must describe both the magnitude (size or numerical
value) and the direction. Thus, 10 Newton is not a full description of the force acting upon an object. In contrast, 10
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Newton, downward is a complete description of the force acting upon an object; both the magnitude (10 Newton)
and the direction (downward) are given.
Because a force is a vector that has a direction, it is common to represent forces using
diagrams in which a force is represented by an arrow. Such vector diagrams were
introduced in an earlier unit and are used throughout the study of physics. The size of
the arrow is reflective of the magnitude of the force and the direction of the arrow
reveals the direction that the force is acting. (Such diagrams are known as free-body
diagrams and are discussed later in this lesson.) Furthermore, because forces are
vectors, the effect of an individual force upon an object is often canceled by the
effect of another force. For example, the effect of a 20-Newton upward force acting
upon a book is canceled by the effect of a 20-Newton downward force acting upon
the book. In such instances, it is said that the two individual forces balance each
other; there would be no unbalanced force acting upon the book.
Other situations could be imagined in which two of the individual vector forces
cancel each other ("balance"), yet a third individual force exists that is not
balanced by another force. For example, imagine a book sliding across the rough
surface of a table from left to right. The downward force of gravity and the
upward force of the table supporting the book act in opposite directions and thus
balance each other. However, the force of friction acts leftwards, and there is no
rightward force to balance it. In this case, an unbalanced force acts upon the
book to change its state of motion.
Sound is a longitudinal, mechanical wave.
Sound can travel through any medium, but it cannot travel through a vacuum. There is no sound in outer space.
Sound is a variation in pressure. A region of increased pressure on a sound wave is called a compression (or
condensation). A region of decreased pressure on a sound wave is called a rarefaction (or dilation).
The sources of sound
vibrating solids
rapid expansion or compression (explosions and implositons)
Smooth (laminar) air flow around blunt obstacles may result in the formation of vorticies (the plural of vortex) that
snap off or shed with a characteristic frequency. This process is called vortex shedding and is another means by
which sound waves are formed. This is how a whistle or flute produces sound. Aslo the aeolian harp effect of
singing power lines and fluttering venetian blinds.
What are the different characteristics of a wave? What are the things that can be measured about waves?
Amplitude, frequency (and period), wavelength, speed, and maybe phase. Deal with each one in that order.
amplitude, intensity, loudness, volume

Amplitude goes with intensity, loudness, or volume. That's the basic idea. The details go in a separate section.
[ISO 226:2003]
Unlike our ears and hydrophones, fish ears don’t detect sound pressure, which is the compression of molecules.
Instead, they perceive something called particle motion, the tiny back-and-forth movements of particles in
response to sound waves.
speed of sound
The speed of sound depends upon the type of medium and its state. It is generally affected by two things: elasticity
and inertia. This is the Newton-Laplace equation. Laplace added the γ (gamma) correction factor for ideal gases.
solids
v=√ E
ρ
E= young's modulus
ρ= density
fluids
v=√ K
ρ
K = bulk modulus
ρ= density
ideal gases
v=√ K =√ γP =√ γRT =√ γkT

ρ ρ M m
K = bulk modulus
25
γ= cP/cV (specific heat ratio)

P= absolute pressure
ρ= density
T= absolute temperature
R= gas constant
M = molar mass
k= boltzmann's constant
m = molecular mass
Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climates (ATOC)
in water, sounds below 1 kHz travel much farther than higher frequencies
"shipping noise is loudest in the 30 to 200 Hz range [lowest piano note to middle of cello]"
"blue and fin wales are the loudest sound in the 17 to 30 Hz range"
"In pre-industrial times, the low frequency range of 15 to 300 Hz in which most of the baleen whales sing was the
quietest part of the sound spectrum, nestled between the subsonic ramblings of earthquakes and the higher pitched
rattle of wind, waves and rain." Bob Holmes. "Noises Off." New Scientist. 1 March 1997: 30–33.
echoes
scraps
As with any wave the speed of sound depends on the medium in which it is propagating.
Sound generally travels faster in solids and liquids than in gases.
The speed of sound is faster in materials that have some stiffness like steel and slower in softer materials like
rubber.
Factors Which Affect the Speed of Sound in Air.
The speed of sound in air is approximately 330 m/s (about 1,200 kph or 700 mph).
The speed of sound in air is nearly the same for all frequencies and amplitudes.
It increases with temperature.
Determining the Distance to a Lightning Bolt: Sound waves take approximately 5 seconds to travel 1 mile. Using
this information, it is possible to measure one's distance from a lightning bolt. Begin counting immediately after
you see the flash. Every five seconds counted is roughly equivalent to one mile of distance.
Frequency of selected sounds
human hearing and speech
Humans are generally capable of hearing sounds between 20 Hz and 20 kHz (although I can't hear sounds above 13
kHz). Sounds with frequencies above the range of human hearing are called ultrasound. Sounds with frequencies
below the range of human hearing are called infrasound.
Typical sounds produced by human speech have freqeuncies on the order of 100 to 1,000 Hz.
The peak sensitivity of human hearing is around 4000 Hz.
locating the source of sound
Interaural Time Difference (ITD)
Interaural Phase Difference (IPD) Phase differences are one way we localize sounds. Only effective for
wavelengths greater than 2 head diameters (ear-to-ear distances).
Interaural Level Difference (ILD) Sound waves diffract easily at wavelengths larger than the diameter of the
human head (around 500 Hz wavelength equals 69 cm). At higher frequencies the head casts a "shadow". Sounds
in one ear will be louder than the other.
infrasound
avalanches: location, depth, duration

meteors: altitude, direction, type, size, location
ocean waves: storms at sea, magnitude, spectra
severe weather: location, intensity
tornadoes: detection, location, warning, core radius, funnel shape, precursors
turbulence: aircraft avoidance, altitude, strength, extent
earthquakes: precursors, seismic-acoustic coupling
volcanoes: location, intensity
Elephants, whales, hippos, rhinoceros, giraffe, okapi, and alligator are just a few examples of animals that create
infrasound.
Some migratory birds are able to hear the infrasonic sounds produced when ocean waves break. This allows them
to orient themselves with coastlines.
An elephant is capable of hearing sound waves well below our the human hearing limitation (approximately 30
Hertz). Typically, an elephant's numerous different rumbles will span between 14 and 35 Hertz. The far reaching
use of high pressure infrasound opens the elephant's spatial experience far beyond our limited capabilities.
Silent Thunder, Katy Payne
ultrasound
animal echolocation
microchiropterans a.k.a. microbats: carnivorous bats (not fruit bats or flying foxes)
cetaceans: dolphins, porpoises, orcas, whales
two bird species: swiftlets and oilbirds
some visually impared humans have learned this technique
sonar (an acronym for sound navigation and ranging) including
bathymetry
echo sounding
26
fish finders
medical ultrasonography (the images generated are called sonograms).
A wave can be described as a disturbance that travels through a medium from one location to another location.
Consider a slinky wave as an example of a wave. When the slinky is stretched from end to end and is held at rest, it
assumes a natural position known as the equilibrium or rest position. The coils of the slinky naturally assume this
position, spaced equally far apart. To introduce a wave into the slinky, the first particle is displaced or moved from
its equilibrium or rest position. The particle might be moved upwards or downwards, forwards or backwards; but
once moved, it is returned to its original equilibrium or rest position. The act of moving the first coil of the slinky
in a given direction and then returning it to its equilibrium position creates a disturbance in the slinky. We can then
observe this disturbance moving through the slinky from one end to the other. If the first coil of the slinky is given
a single back-and-forth vibration, then we call the observed motion of the disturbance through the slinky a slinky
pulse. A pulse is a single disturbance moving through a medium from one location to another location. However, if
the first coil of the slinky is continuously and periodically vibrated in a back-and-forth manner, we would observe
a repeating disturbance moving within the slinky that endures over some prolonged period of time. The repeating
and periodic disturbance that moves through a medium from one location to another is referred to as a wave.
What is a Medium?
But what is meant by the word medium? A medium is a substance or material that carries the wave. You have
perhaps heard of the phrase news media. The news media refers to the various institutions (newspaper offices,
television stations, radio stations, etc.) within our society that carry the news from one location to another. The
news moves through the media. The media doesn't make the news and the media isn't the same as the news. The
news media is merely the thing that carries the news from its source to various locations. In a similar manner, a
wave medium is the substance that carries a wave (or disturbance) from one location to another. The wave medium
is not the wave and it doesn't make the wave; it merely carries or transports the wave from its source to other
locations. In the case of our slinky wave, the medium through that the wave travels is the slinky coils. In the case
of a water wave in the ocean, the medium through which the wave travels is the ocean water. In the case of a sound
wave moving from the church choir to the pews, the medium through which the sound wave travels is the air in the
room. And in the case of the stadium wave, the medium through which the stadium wave travels is the fans that are
in the stadium.
Particle-to-Particle Interaction
To fully understand the nature of a wave, it is important to consider the medium as a collection of interacting
particles. In other words, the medium is composed of parts that are capable of interacting with each other. The
interactions of one particle of the medium with the next adjacent particle allow the disturbance to travel through
the medium. In the case of the slinky wave, the particles or interacting parts of the medium are the individual coils
of the slinky. In the case of a sound wave in air, the particles or interacting parts of the medium are the individual
molecules of air. And in the case of a stadium wave, the particles or interacting parts of the medium are the fans in
the stadium.
Consider the presence of a wave in a slinky. The first coil becomes disturbed and begins to push or pull on the
second coil; this push or pull on the second coil will displace the second coil from its equilibrium position. As the
second coil becomes displaced, it begins to push or pull on the third coil; the push or pull on the third coil displaces
it from its equilibrium position. As the third coil becomes displaced, it begins to push or pull on the fourth coil.
This process continues in consecutive fashion, with each individual particle acting to displace the adjacent particle.
Subsequently, the disturbance travels through the medium. The medium can be pictured as a series of particles
connected by springs. As one particle moves, the spring connecting it to the next particle begins to stretch and
apply a force to its adjacent neighbor. As this neighbor begins to move, the spring attaching this neighbor to its
neighbor begins to stretch and apply a force on its adjacent neighbor.
A Wave Transports Energy and Not Matter
When a wave is present in a medium (that is, when there is a disturbance moving through a medium), the
individual particles of the medium are only temporarily displaced from their rest position. There is always a force
acting upon the particles that restores them to their original position. In a slinky wave, each coil of the slinky
ultimately returns to its original position. In a water wave, each molecule of the water ultimately returns to its
original position. And in a stadium wave, each fan in the bleacher ultimately returns to its original position. It is for
this reason, that a wave is said to involve the movement of a disturbance without the movement of matter. The
particles of the medium (water molecules, slinky coils, stadium fans) simply vibrate about a fixed position as the
pattern of the disturbance moves from one location to another location.
Waves are said to be an energy transport phenomenon. As a disturbance moves through a medium from one
particle to its adjacent particle, energy is being transported from one end of the medium to the other. In a slinky
wave, a person imparts energy to the first coil by doing work upon it. The first coil receives a large amount of
energy that it subsequently transfers to the second coil. When the first coil returns to its original position, it
possesses the same amount of energy as it had before it was displaced. The first coil transferred its energy to the
second coil. The second coil then has a large amount of energy that it subsequently transfers to the third coil. When
27
the second coil returns to its original position, it possesses the same amount of energy as it had before it was
displaced. The third coil has received the energy of the second coil. This process of energy transfer continues as
each coil interacts with its neighbor. In this manner, energy is transported from one end of the slinky to the other,
from its source to another location.
This characteristic of a wave as an energy transport phenomenon distinguishes waves from other types of
phenomenon. Consider a common phenomenon observed at a softball game - the collision of a bat with a ball. A
batter is able to transport energy from her to the softball by means of a bat. The batter applies a force to the bat,
thus imparting energy to the bat in the form of kinetic energy. The bat then carries this energy to the softball and
transports the energy to the softball upon collision. In this example, a bat is used to transport energy from the
player to the softball. However, unlike wave phenomena, this phenomenon involves the transport of matter. The
bat must move from its starting location to the contact location in order to transport energy. In a wave
phenomenon, energy can move from one location to another, yet the particles of matter in the medium return to
their fixed position. A wave transports its energy without transporting matter.
Waves are seen to move through an ocean or lake; yet the water always returns to its rest position. Energy is
transported through the medium, yet the water molecules are not transported. Proof of this is the fact that there is
still water in the middle of the ocean. The water has not moved from the middle of the ocean to the shore. If we
were to observe a gull or duck at rest on the water, it would merely bob up-and-down in a somewhat circular
fashion as the disturbance moves through the water. The gull or duck always returns to its original position. The
gull or duck is not transported to the shore because the water on which it rests is not transported to the shore. In a
water wave, energy is transported without the transport of water.
The same thing can be said about a stadium wave. In a stadium wave, the fans do not get out of their seats and
walk around the stadium. We all recognize that it would be silly (and embarrassing) for any fan to even
contemplate such a thought. In a stadium wave, each fan rises up and returns to the original seat. The disturbance
moves through the stadium, yet the fans are not transported. Waves involve the transport of energy without the
transport of matter.
In conclusion, a wave can be described as a disturbance that travels through a medium, transporting energy from
one location (its source) to another location without transporting matter. Each individual particle of the medium is
temporarily displaced and then returns to its original equilibrium positioned.
Matter and Energy: A False Dichotomy

Matt Strassler [April 12, 2012]
It is common that, when reading about the universe or about particle physics, one will come across a phrase that
somehow refers to “matter and energy”, as though they are opposites, or partners, or two sides of a coin, or the two
classes out of which everything is made. This comes up in many contexts. Sometimes one sees poetic language
describing the Big Bang as the creation of all the “matter and energy” in the universe. One reads of “matter and anti-
matter annihilating into `pure’ energy.” And of course two of the great mysteries of astronomy are “dark matter” and
“dark energy”.
As a scientist and science writer, this phraseology makes me cringe a bit, not because it is deeply wrong, but because
such loose talk is misleading to non-scientists. It doesn’t matter much for physicists; these poetic phrases are just
referring to something sharply defined in the math or in experiments, and the ambiguous wording is shorthand for
longer, unambiguous phrases. But it’s dreadfully confusing for the non-expert, because in each of these contexts a
different definition for `matter’ is being used, and a different meaning — in some cases an archaic or even incorrect
meaning of `energy’ — is employed. And each of these ways of speaking implies that either things are matter or
they are energy — which is false. In reality, matter and energy don’t even belong to the same categories; it is like
referring to apples and orangutans, or to heaven and earthworms, or to birds and beach balls.
On this website I try to be more precise, in order to help the reader avoid the confusions that arise from this way of
speaking. Admittedly I’m only partly successful, as I’ll mention below.
Summing Up
This article is long, but I hope it is illuminating and informative for those of you who want details. Let me give you
a summary of the lessons it contains:
 Matter and Energy really aren’t in the same class and shouldn’t be paired in one’s mind.
 Matter, in fact, is an ambiguous term; there are several different definitions used in both scientific literature
and in public discourse. Each definition selects a certain subset of the particles of nature, for different
reasons. Consumer beware! Matter is always some kind of stuff, but which stuff depends on context.
 Energy is not ambiguous (not within physics, anyway). But energy is not itself stuff; it is something that all
stuff has.
 The term Dark Energy confuses the issue, since it isn’t (just) energy after all. It also really isn’t stuff; certain
kinds of stuff can be responsible for its presence, though we don’t know the details.
 Photons should not be called `energy’, or `pure energy’, or anything similar. All particles are ripples in
fields and have energy; photons are not special in this regard. Photons are stuff; energy is not.
 The stuff of the universe is all made from fields (the basic ingredients of the universe) and their particles. At
least this is the post-1973 viewpoint.
What’s the Matter (and the Energy)?
First, let’s define (or fail to define) our terms.
28
The word Matter. “Matter” as a term is terribly ambiguous; there isn’t a universal definition that is context-
independent. There are at least three possible definitions that are used in various places:
 “Matter” can refer to atoms, the basic building blocks of what we think of as “material”: tables, air, rocks,
skin, orange juice — and by extension, to the particles out of which atoms are made, including electrons and
the protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus of an atom.
 OR it can refer to what are sometimes called the elementary “matter particles” of nature: electrons, muons,
taus, the three types of neutrinos, the six types of quarks — all of the types of particles which are not the
force particles (the photon, gluons, graviton and the W and Z particles.) Read here about the known
apparently-elementary particles of nature. [The Higgs particle, by the way, doesn’t neatly fit into the
classification of particles as matter particles and force particles, which was somewhat artificial to start with;
I have a whole section about this classification below.]
 OR it can refer to classes of particles that are found out there, in the wider universe, and that on average
move much more slowly than the speed of light.
With any of these definitions, electrons are matter (although with the third definition they were not matter very early
in the universe’s history, when it was much hotter than it is today.) With the second definition, muons are matter
too, and so are neutrinos, even though they aren’t constituents of ordinary material. With the third definition, some
neutrinos may or may not be matter, and dark matter is definitely matter, even if it turns out to be made from a new
type of force particle. I’m really sorry this is so confusing, but you’ve no choice but to be aware of these different
usages if you want to know what “matter” means in different people’s books and articles.
Now, what about the word Energy. Fortunately, energy (as physicists use it) is a well-defined concept that everyone
in physics agrees on. Unfortunately, the word in English has so many meanings that it is very easy to become
confused about what physicists mean by it. I’ve briefly describe the various forms of energy that arise in physics in
more detail in an article on mass and energy. But for the moment, suffice it to say that energy is not itself an
object. An atom is an object; energy is not. Energy is something which objects can have, and groups of objects can
have — a property of objects that characterizes their behavior and their relationships to one another. [Though it
should be noted that different observers will assign different amounts of energy to a given object — a tricky point
that is illustrated carefully in the above-mentioned article on mass and energy.] And for this article, all we really
need to know is that particles moving on their own through space can have two types of energy: mass-energy (i.e.,
E= mc2 type of energy, which does not depend on whether and how a particle moves) and motion-energy (energy
that is zero if a particle is stationary and becomes larger as a particle moves faster).
Magnetism is one aspect of the combined electromagnetic force. It refers to physical phenomena arising from the
force caused by magnets, objects that produce fields that attract or repel other objects.
A magnetic field exerts a force on particles in the field due to the Lorentz force, according to Georgia State
University's HyperPhysics website. The motion of electrically charged particles gives rise to magnetism. The force
acting on an electrically charged particle in a magnetic field depends on the magnitude of the charge, the velocity of
the particle, and the strength of the magnetic field.
All materials experience magnetism, some more strongly than others. Permanent magnets, made from materials such
as iron, experience the strongest effects, known as ferromagnetism. With rare exception, this is the only form of
magnetism strong enough to be felt by people.
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Opposites attract
Magnetic fields are generated by rotating electric charges, according to HyperPhysics. Electrons all have a property
of angular momentum, or spin. Most electrons tend to form pairs in which one of them is “spin up” and the other is
“spin down,” in accordance with the Pauli Exclusion Principle, which states that two electrons cannot occupy the
same energy state at the same time. In this case, their magnetic fields are in opposite directions, so they cancel each
other. However, some atoms contain one or more unpaired electrons whose spin can produce a directional magnetic
field. The direction of their spin determines the direction of the magnetic field, according to the Non-Destructive
Testing (NDT) Resource Center. When a significant majority of unpaired electrons are aligned with their spins in
the same direction, they combine to produce a magnetic field that is strong enough to be felt on a macroscopic
scale.
Magnetic field sources are dipolar, having a north and south magnetic pole. Opposite poles (N and S) attract, and
like poles (N and N, or S and S) repel, according to Joseph Becker of San Jose State University. This creates a
toroidal, or doughnut-shaped field, as the direction of the field propagates outward from the north pole and enters
through the south pole.
The Earth itself is a giant magnet. The planet gets its magnetic field from circulating electric currents within the
molten metallic core, according to HyperPhysics. A compass points north because the small magnetic needle in it is
suspended so that it can spin freely inside its casing to align itself with the planet's magnetic field. Paradoxically,
what we call the Magnetic North Pole is actually a south magnetic pole because it attracts the north magnetic poles
of compass needles.
Ferromagnetism
If the alignment of unpaired electrons persists without the application of an external magnetic field or electric
current, it produces a permanent magnet. Permanent magnets are the result of ferromagnetism. The prefix “ferro”
refers to iron because permanent magnetism was first observed in a form of natural iron ore called magnetite, Fe3O4.
Pieces of magnetite can be found scattered on or near the surface of the earth, and occasionally, one will be
magnetized. These naturally occurring magnets are called lodestones. “We still are not certain as to their origin, but
most scientists believe that lodestone is magnetite that has been hit by lightning,” according to the University of
Arizona.
People soon learned that they could magnetize an iron needle by stroking it with a lodestone, causing a majority of
the unpaired electrons in the needle to line up in one direction. According to NASA, around A.D. 1000, the Chinese
29
discovered that a magnet floating in a bowl of water always lined up in the north-south direction. The magnetic
compass thus became a tremendous aid to navigation, particularly during the day and at night when the stars were
hidden by clouds.
Other metals besides iron have been found to have ferromagnetic properties. These include nickel, cobalt, and
some rare earth metals such as samarium or neodymium which are used to make super-strong permanent magnets.
Other forms of magnetism
Magnetism takes many other forms, but except for ferromagnetism, they are usually too weak to be observed except
by sensitive laboratory instruments or at very low temperatures. Diamagnetism was first discovered in 1778 by
Anton Brugnams, who was using permanent magnets in his search for materials containing iron. According to
Gerald Küstler, a widely published independent German researcher and inventor, in his paper, “Diamagnetic
Levitation — Historical Milestones,” published in the Romanian Journal of Technical Sciences, Brugnams
observed, “Only the dark and almost violet-colored bismuth displayed a particular phenomenon in the study; for
when I laid a piece of it upon a round sheet of paper floating atop water, it was repelled by both poles of the
magnet.”
Bismuth has been determined to have the strongest diamagnetism of all elements, but as Michael Faraday discovered
in 1845, it is a property of all matter to be repelled by a magnetic field.
Diamagnetism is caused by the orbital motion of electrons creating tiny current loops, which produce weak magnetic
fields, according to HyperPhysics. When an external magnetic field is applied to a material, these current loops tend
to align in such a way as to oppose the applied field. This causes all materials to be repelled by a permanent magnet;
however, the resulting force is usually too weak to be noticeable. There are, however, some notable exceptions.
Pyrolytic carbon, a substance similar to graphite, shows even stronger diamagnetism than bismuth, albeit only along
one axis, and can actually be levitated above a super-strong rare earth magnet. Certain superconducting materials
show even stronger diamagnetism below their critical temperature and so rare-earth magnets can be levitated above
them. (In theory, because of their mutual repulsion, one can be levitated above the other.)
Paramagnetism occurs when a material becomes magnetic temporarily when placed in a magnetic field and reverts
to its nonmagnetic state as soon as the external field is removed. When a magnetic field is applied, some of the
unpaired electron spins align themselves with the field and overwhelm the opposite force produced by
diamagnetism. However, the effect is only noticeable at very low temperatures, according to Daniel Marsh, a
professor of physics at Missouri Southern State University.
Other, more complex, forms include antiferromagnetism, in which the magnetic fields of atoms or molecules align
next to each other; and spin glass behavior, which involve both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions.
Additionally, ferrimagnetism can be thought of as a combination of ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism due to
many similarities shared among them, but it still has its own uniqueness, according to the University of California,
Davis.
Electromagnetism
When a wire is moved in a magnetic field, the field induces a current in the wire. Conversely, a magnetic field is
produced by an electric charge in motion. This is in accordance with Faraday’s Law of Induction, which is the basis
for electromagnets, electric motors and generators. A charge moving in a straight line, as through a straight wire,
generates a magnetic field that spirals around the wire. When that wire is formed into a loop, the field becomes a
doughnut shape, or a torus. According to the Magnetic Recording Handbook (Springer, 1998) by Marvin Cameras,
this magnetic field can be greatly enhanced by placing a ferromagnetic metal core inside the coil.
In some applications, direct current is used to produce a constant field in one direction that can be switched on and
off with the current. This field can then deflect a movable iron lever causing an audible click. This is the basis for
the telegraph, invented in the 1830s by Samuel F. B. Morse, which allowed for long-distance communication over
wires using a binary code based on long- and short-duration pulses. The pulses were sent by skilled operators who
would quickly turn the current on and off using a spring-loaded momentary-contact switch, or key. Another operator
on the receiving end would then translate the audible clicks back into letters and words.
A coil around a magnet can also be made to move in a pattern of varying frequency and amplitude to induce a
current in a coil. This is the basis for a number of devices, most notably, the microphone. Sound causes a diaphragm
to move in an out with the varying pressure waves. If the diaphragm is connected to a movable magnetic coil around
a magnetic core, it will produce a varying current that is analogous to the incident sound waves. This electrical
signal can then be amplified, recorded or transmitted as desired. Tiny super-strong rare-earth magnets are now being
used to make miniaturized microphones for cell phones, Marsh told Live Science.
When this modulated electrical signal is applied to a coil, it produces an oscillating magnetic field, which causes the
coil to move in and out over a magnetic core in that same pattern. The coil is then attached to a movable speaker
cone so it can reproduce audible sound waves in the air. The first practical application for the microphone and
speaker was the telephone, patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. Although this technology has been
improved and refined, it is still the basis for recording and reproducing sound.
The applications of electromagnets are nearly countless. Faraday’s Law of Induction forms the basis for many
aspects of our modern society including not only electric motors and generators, but electromagnets of all sizes. The
same principle used by a giant crane to lift junk cars at a scrap yard is also used to align microscopic magnetic
particles on a computer hard disk drive to store binary data, and new applications are being developed every day.
Stars are giant, luminous spheres of plasma. There are billions of them — including our own sun — in the Milky
Way Galaxy. And there are billions of galaxies in the universe. So far, we have learned that hundreds also have
planets orbiting them.
30
History of observations
Since the dawn of recorded civilization, stars played a key role in religion and proved vital to
navigation. Astronomy, the study of the heavens, may be the most ancient of the sciences. The invention of the
telescope and the discovery of the laws of motion and gravity in the 17th century prompted the realization that stars
were just like the sun, all obeying the same laws of physics. In the 19th century, photography and spectroscopy —
the study of the wavelengths of light that objects emit — made it possible to investigate the compositions and
motions of stars from afar, leading to the development of astrophysics.
The temperature of the stars measured across the bottom of the scale are measured in Kelvin. Zero Kelvin equals -
273 degrees Celsius, -459 degrees Fahrenheit.
Red Dwarf stars are smaller than our sun. And since they are smaller, they also have less mass. Because of
their small size, these stars burn their fuel very slowly, which allows them to live a very long time. This also
causes these stars to not shine as brightly as others. Some red dwarf stars will live trillions of years before
they run out of fuel.
Why are red dwarf stars red?

Because red dwarf stars only burn a little bit of fuel at a time, they are not very hot compared to other
stars. Think of a fire. The coolest part of the fire is at the top of the flame where it glows red, the hotter part
in the middle glows yellow, and the hottest part near the fuel glows blue. Stars work the same way. Their
temperature determines what color they are. Thus, we can determine how hot a star is just by its color.
Red dwarf stars are by far the most common type of star in outer space. However, very few stars that you see in the
sky are red dwarfs. This is because they are so small and make very little light. Imagine standing on a mountain.
Pretend that there are one million kids 5 miles away holding flashlights, and 20 miles away there is a lighthouse for
ships. You will most likely not see any of the flashlights, while you will very easily see the lighthouse. If the
flashlights all glowed as brightly as the lighthouse they would blind you. Likewise, if all the red dwarf stars glowed
as bright as the bigger stars, our nighttime sky would be very bright.
Remember when we talked about sun-sized stars? We said that at the end of their lives these stars expand,
taking up much more space than before. This is exactly what a Giant Star is.
As a sun-sized star gets old, it starts to run out of its hydrogen fuel. When the process of burning hydrogen in
the star's core begins to slow down, the core gets more compact and dense. This means all the stuff in the
middle of the star gets really close together. As the center gets smaller and smaller it starts to heat up again.
When it gets hot enough it will start to burn a new fuel called helium.
Once ignited, helium burns much hotter than hydrogen. The additional heat pushes the outer layer of the star
out much further than it used to be, making the star much larger. Imagine a hot air balloon. As the air inside
the balloon gets hotter, it stretches the balloon out further and further. As the giant star gets hotter, its
outside stretches out further and further. When our own sun begins to stretch into a giant star, it will engulf
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Many of the stars you see at night are giant stars. This is because like a lighthouse, giant stars glow very brightly.
When the Sun becomes a giant star, it's light will shine much further into space than it does right now.
A super giant star is the exact same thing as a giant star only much bigger. Remember that as a star gets
older it begins to run out of fuel. As the star runs out of fuel, it will start to burn out.
Just like the sun-sized stars, blue giant stars also begin to burn helium. As they do these stars get much
hotter. This extra heat makes the outside of an old blue giant star stretch out further. Remember how hot air
balloons stretch out as the air in them gets hotter?
The only difference between Giant Stars and Super Giant Stars is their size. Super Giant Stars are much
bigger. If the Sun were replaced by a super giant star, it would extend from the center of our Solar System
almost all the way out to Uranus.
31
Dead super giant stars/blue giant stars often turn into black holes. A
black hole is a very compact object. Learn more about black holes How
does this happen? As the star dies it explodes in a huge explosion
called a supernova. The supernova blasts away most of the star.
Anything left behind begins to fall into the middle of the star. It gets
more and more compact, and smaller and smaller. If there is enough of
the star left after the explosion, the star will be heavy enough to squash
it down to the size of an atom, or even smaller.
Blue stars are large and compact, this causes them to burn their fuel quickly which in turn makes their
temperature very hot. These stars often run out of fuel in only 10,000 - 100,000 years.
A blue giant is extremely bright. Like a lighthouse, they shine across a great distance. Even though blue
giant stars are rare, they make up many of the stars we see at night because they shine so brightly.
Blue giant stars die in a spectacular way. They grow larger just like the sun-sized stars, but then instead of
shrinking and forming a planetary nebula, they explode in what is called a supernova. Supernova explosions
can be brighter than an entire galaxy, and can be seen from very far away.
Because blue giant stars only live a short time, scientists use them to find places in outer space where new stars are
forming.
What do you see when you look at the night sky? Depending on where you live, you see mostly stars. If you look at
the sky without a telescope, you see white stars, maybe some faintly blue or even sometimes some yellow or orange
ones. The color depends on the star's surface temperature.
For example, our sun's surface temperature is about 6,000 Kelvin. Although it looks yellow from Earth, the light of
the sun would actually look very white if we were in space. This white light coming off of the sun is because its
temperature is 6,000 Kelvin. If the sun were cooler, it would give off light more in the red range, and if the sun were
hotter, it would look more blue.
The coolest stars in the universe are the red dwarf stars. These are very tiny stars, some of the tiniest, so they don't
burn as hot and their surface temperature is only 3,500 Kelvin. The light they give off looks mostly red to us.
Red is also the color you see with red giant stars, huge stars that ran out of hydrogen fuel and bloated up many times
their original size. The luminosity of the star is spread out over the much larger surface area of the red giant, making
this star cooler than other large stars.
On the opposite end of the color spectrum are the blue stars. These stars are giants and hypergiants - much, much
bigger than the sun, and also much, much hotter (between 10,000 and 40,000 K). For us on Earth, though, most stars
in the sky, except for the brightest ones, appear white or bluish white because they don't emit enough light for our
eyes to see color.
Spectral Classification
Scientists have been studying stars for a long time, and over time they have learned to tell a lot about a star just by
determining its temperature and atmospheric pressure. The temperature tells them the surface brightness of a star,
and the pressure tells them an approximate size of the star, which tells them whether the star is a giant, a dwarf or
something in between. These two measurements taken together can often give information on the star's age and
distance from the earth.
Scientists like to organize and classify things; they developed a classification system called the spectral code and
have used it since 1943. To those who can read it, the spectral code tells just what kind of object a star really is: its
color, size and luminosity compared to other stars, in addition to its peculiarities, history and future.
32
The spectral code classification system is used to organize stars

into groups.
Let's learn a bit of the classification system. Scientists classify stars by temperature and the elements they absorb,
which are called their spectra. They have divided stars into seven main types.
There are seven main types of stars: O, B, A, F, G, K and M. The O stars are the bright, hot, blue stars and the M
stars are the dimmer, cooler, red stars. A common mnemonic for remembering the order of the classifications is: 'Oh
Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me.' But I like this mnemonic better: 'Oh Boy, An F Grade Kills Me.'

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 Tom Hanks is very versatile.

Use this link to get a list of adjectives.

 The carvings are intricate.

 As usual, the Stormtroopers missed their shot.

The different types of adverbs are:

 Micah is hiding under the bed.

Examples of Conjunctions: and, yet, but, for, nor, or, and so

 This cup of tea is delicious and very soothing.

 Ouch! That must have hurt.

To illustrate the power of modifiers, consider the following simple sentence:

Sarah was a sure fit for junior prom queen.

They bought a car for my sister they call Pumpkin.

They bought a car they call Pumpkin for my sister.

Only Jessica wants pizza.

Jessica wants pizza only.

Types of Figures of Speech

'Presentiment - is that long shadow - on the lawn -

Indicative that Suns go down -

The notice to the startled Grass

That Darkness - is about to pass -'

leaving behind the dog

since she laughs at diffident men

since she laughs at diffident men

since she laughs at diffident men

Volcanoes are a sign that our planet is immensely hot inside.

Types of seismic waves

Divisions in the Earth's Interior

The Lithosphere & Plate Tectonics

Crustal Plate Boundaries

Volcanoes and earthquakes

There are two main types of tectonic plate:

Oceanic plates occur under the oceans.

Continental plates form the land.

Emergency workers searching for survivors in the rubble

Emergency services searching for survivors

How many plates are there?

There are also many smaller plates throughout the world.

How plate tectonics works

Reconstructing the past

 Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye

 Named for: Messenger of the Roman gods

 Diameter: 3,031 miles (4,878 km)

 Orbit: 88 Earth days

 Day: 58.6 Earth days

 Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye

 Named for: Roman goddess of love and beauty

 Diameter: 7,521 miles (12,104 km)

 Orbit: 225 Earth days

 Day: 241 Earth days

 Diameter: 7,926 miles (12,760 km)

 Orbit: 365.24 days

 Day: 23 hours, 56 minutes

Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute

 Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye

 Named for: Roman god of war

 Diameter: 4,217 miles (6,787 km)

 Orbit: 687 Earth days

 Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye

 Named for: Ruler of the Roman gods

 Diameter: 86,881 miles (139,822 km)

 Orbit: 11.9 Earth years

 Day: 9.8 Earth hours

 Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye

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