Download Spheres of the Earth

• Lithosphere is Greek for “rocky sphere”
• The solid, outermost shell of a rocky planet
• In Earth, the Lithosphere includes the crust
and upper mantle
• Is about 100 km. thick
• Thickness dependent on age (older
lithosphere is bigger)
• Part magma
• Lava from volcanoes forms into more
lithosphere
• Made up of many plates (plate tectonics)
• Plates move 5 to 10 cm. a year and cause
earthquakes
• Some people believe that the whole world
was part of the same land mass- separated
through cracking of Earth’s crust (continental
drift)
• Layers of the Atmosphere are: Ionosphere,
Mesosphere, Ozone Layer, Stratosphere, Tropopause,
and the Troposphere (from top to bottom)
• Functions: protects Earth from radiation from space
and the sun’s rays
• Protects Earth from rapid cooling at night and heating
in the day
• Reservoir for carbon dioxide and oxygen
• Protects Earth from meteors
• The closer you are to the Earth, the more pressure
there is, because there is more gravity
• Contains: all habitats of life
• The life itself
• Extends to upper areas of the Atmosphere
where birds and insects can be found
• Also to underwater caves where fish can be
found
• Extends to any place on Earth that any kind of
animal can be found
• Examples: humans(biosphere) build a dam out of
rock materials(Lithosphere). Lake filled with
water(Hydrosphere). Water either sinks into
ground(Lithosphere) or evaporates into
air(Atmosphere)
• Atmosphere gives oxygen to Biosphere
• Plants(Biosphere) take carbon dioxide
from Atmosphere
• Biosphere cannot exist without
water(Hydrosphere)
• People(Biosphere)use minerals(Lithosphere) for
many things