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Transcript
ScienceNet Questions and Answers Question Number: 275 What is the Earth made of? 1. How are the plates of the Earth’s crust similar to frozen peas in a boiling pot of water? Plates float on a semi-molten mantle of hotter rocks. Circulation of the molten rock causes the plates to move across the surface of the Earth where they can be dragged under at the edges of other plates just like the peas moving in boiling water. 2. The rate at which plates move is about 2 - 5 cm/yr . 3. How were the Alps and Himalayan mountain ranges formed? The Alps were formed when Africa crashed into Europe about 100 million years ago. The Himalayas were formed when India crashed into Asia 60 million years ago. 4. Name the three basic types of rocks and give examples of each. Sedimentary – limestone Metamorphic – marble (made from limestone) Igneous – granite (w/ large crystals) basalt (w/ small crystals) 5. Explain how the study of earthquake waves improves our understanding of the Earth’s interior. Earthquake waves pass through different parts of the Earth's interior at different speeds and when they pass through different layers they change direction slightly. The place that the wave emerges on the other side of the Earth, and the time it takes to get there, tells us something about the Earth's interior.