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Social Studies Study Guide- Grade 7
Chapters 1 & 2
Test- Monday, October 9th
Terms:
1. Latitude: Distance north or south of the Equator, measured in degrees
2. Longitude: Distance east or west of the Prime Meridian, measured in
degrees
3. Prime Meridian: The line of the global grid running from the North Pole
to the South Pole through Greenwich, England; starting point for
measuring degrees of east and west longitude
4. International Date Line: the 180 degree meridian on the opposite side of
the Earth (opposite the Prime Meridian)
5. Equator: Imaginary line that runs around the earth halfway between the
North and South Poles; used as the starting point to measure degrees of
north and south latitude
6. Tropic of Capricorn: When the sun’s direct rays strike the line of
latitude (23 ½ degrees South Latitude)
7. Tropic of Cancer: When the sun appears directly overhead at the line of
latitude(23 ½ degrees North latitude)
8.
North Pole: 90 degrees North latitude
9.
South Pole: 90 degrees South latitude
10. Absolute location: The exact location of a place on the earth described
by global coordinates
11. Relative location: Describing a place in relation to another place
12. Global Positioning System (GPS): A special device that receives signals
from satellites
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13. Map Types
i. Physical: This type of map shows landforms and water features
ii. Political: This type of map shows the names and boundaries of
countries, the location of cities and other human-made features
of a place.
iii. Special purpose: This type of map shows specific topics in details
(could show rainfall, population)
iv. Contour: This type of map is a physical map that shows elevation
14. Landform: Individual features of the land such as mountains and valleys
15. Region: An area that shares common characteristics
16. Fossils: are the remains of animals, plants, and other organisms from the
past
17. Orbit: A path that the planets travel along
18. Summer solstice: The day with the most hours of sunlight and the
fewest hours of darkness; also known as the beginning of summer
19. Winter solstice: This is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight; it
marks the first day of summery in the southern hemisphere
20. Vernal equinox: When there is 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of
night; it’s the start of spring
21. Autumnal equinox: The day the sun is directly over the equator as it
head south
22. Core: The center of the earth that is made up of magma
23. Mantle: A layer of rock which surrounds the core
24. Magma: Melted rock that flows to the surface during a volcanic eruption
25. Crust: The uppermost layer of the earth
26. Plates: Huge slab of rock that makes up the Earth’s crust
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27. Earthquake: A violent and sudden movement of the earth’s crust
28. Glaciers: Giant, slow moving sheets of ice
29. El Nino: A combination of temperature, wind, and water effects in the
Pacific Ocean
30. La Nina: This is the opposite of El Nino; winds from the east become
very strong, cooling more of the Pacific- heavy clouds form in the
western Pacific
31. Atmosphere: Layer of air surrounding the earth
32. Lithosphere: the Earth’s crust
33. Hydrosphere: refers to the Earth’s surface water and groundwater
34. Biosphere: the collection of plants and animals of all types that live on
Earth
35. Rain shadow: when mountains have an effect on rainfall that blocks rain
from reaching interior regions
36. Deforestation: cutting down forests without replanting
Things to Know:
The different seasons of Earth are caused by the Earth’s tilt at 23.5
degrees.
The water cycle is a
process in which water
circulates from the land
to the sky and back down
again. Parts of the water
cycle: precipitation,
collection, evaporation,
condensation.
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The earth is constantly changing for many reasons, one being plate tectonics
where plates have been moving and pushing against each other very slowly
for millions of years. Sometimes the plates slip or move and cause an
earthquake.
We have leap year because the Earth revolves around the sun 365 ¼ days and every
four years, we account for the ¼ day (February 29th).
5 Climate Zones
1. Tropical: the area along the equator between the Tropic of Cancer
(23.5 degrees N. lat) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees S. lat)
a. Hot and humid, abundant rainfall, good amount of sun
2. Mid-Latitude: found in Northern and Southern Hemispheres between
the Tropic of Cancer and 60 degrees N. lat and between the Tropic of
Capricorn and 60 degrees S. lat
a. Most of the world’s population live here, four seasons
3. High Latitude: regions that lie in the high latitudes of each
hemisphere (60 degrees North Pole and 60 degrees South Pole)
a. Temperature = cold
4. Dry: receives little or no rain, hot during the day and cold at night,
found in any latitude (Great Plains in America)
5. Ice Cap/Arctic: found on the polar regions, average temperature is
below 0, vegetation lichens and mosses live on rocks
Benefits from Tropical Rainforest: medicine, toys, food, chocolate,
shelter, furniture (wood), clothing material, helps maintain the temperature
in other parts of the world
Chemicals in air pollution can combine with precipitation which then falls as
acid rain. Acid rain kills fish and eats away at the surfaces of buildings and
can destroy an entire forest.
The difference between weather and climate is that weather can change day by day
(precipitation, wind, temperature, etc) but climate is the average wind, temperature,
and precipitation over a large period of time.
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You can find saltwater in the 4 major oceans. You can find freshwater in
lakes and rivers.
Tropical Rainforest (the world’s largest tropical rainforest area is
found in The Amazon Basin)
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rains all year long
-
full vegetation
-
thick forest
-
has canopy layer (tops of trees that form a ceiling)
-
home to millions of animals and plants
Tropical Savanna
-
grasslands with scattered trees
-
subtropical and tropical latitudes.
-
The dry season is marked by months of drought and fire which are essential
to the maintenance of savannas.
Greenhouse Effect: the buildup of certain gases in the atmosphere that
hold more of the sun’s warmth
The 7 Continents
1. Africa
2. Antarctica
3. Asia
4. Australia
5. North America
6. South America
7. Europe
The 4 Oceans
1. Atlantic
2. Pacific
3. Indian
4. Arctic
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Map Projections: Ways of showing the earth on a flat surface
Goode
- very little distortion
- similar to a peeled grapefruit
- continents are close to their true shapes
and sizes
Robinson
 latitude lines are parallel, but longitude lines are
NOT parallel
 minor distortions but most distorted at North and
South Poles
Mercator
- latitude lines are parallel, longitude lines are parallel
- shows landscapes accurately but not size or distance
- greater distortion the farther from the equator
Winkel Tripel
 neither latitude nor longitude lines are parallel
 land areas are LESS distorted than other
projections
 good overall view of the continents’ shapes and
sizes
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