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Name:__________________________ Science Class Period: _______ Date:_____________ Adapted from Michael Osborn Fayetteville-Manlius HS Lab 7: Planet Earth in Cross Section Objectives: Devise a model of the layers of the Earth to scale. Materials: Calculator Ruler Pencil Meter Stick Register Tape Colored Pencils Background: Planet Earth is organized into layers of varying thickness. This solid, rocky planet becomes denser as one travels into its interior. Gravity has caused the planet to differentiate, meaning the denser material has been pulled towards Earth’s center and less dense material mitigates to the surface. What follows is a brief description of each layer beginning at the center of the Earth and working out towards the atmosphere. Inner Core – The solid innermost sphere of the Earth, about 1271 kilometers in radius. Outer Core – A layer surrounding the inner core that is about 2270 kilometers thick and has the properties of a liquid. Mantle – A solid, 2885 kilometers thick layer of ultra mafic rock located below the crust. This layer is the thickest layer of the earth. Asthenosphere – a partially melted layer of ultra mafic rock in the mantle located below the lithosphere. Tectonic plates slide along this layer. Lithosphere – The solid outer portion of the Earth that is capable of movement. The lithosphere is a rock layer composed of the crust (felsic continental crust and mafic ocean crust and the portion of the mafic upper mantle situated above the asthenosphere. Hydrosphere – Refers to the water portion at or near the Earths surface. The hydrosphere is primarily composed of oceans, but also includes lakes streams and ground water. Atmosphere – the layer of gases that surround our planet. Earth’s atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen and oxygen and is broken down into distinctive layers based on temperature differences. Troposphere – a 10-12 kilometer layer of the atmosphere next to the Earths surface in which temperature generally decreases rapidly with altitude. Stratosphere – The layer above the troposphere in which temperature increases with an increase in elevation. The stratosphere contains the ozone layer. Mesosphere – The layer above the stratosphere in which temperature decreases with altitude. Thermosphere – The outermost layer of the atmosphere located above the mesosphere. In this layer temperature rapidly increases with altitude. In this lab a model of the layers of the Earth will be constructed to scale using a cash register tape. The tape will represent a “column” of the Earth from its center to the outermost portion of its atmosphere. This crosssection model will be constructed to a scale of 1 centimeter is equal to 100 kilometers. Note at this scale one centimeter of register tape equals 100 kilometers. The average width of a line drawn by a sharp pencil varies from 0.05 to 0.08 cm. Therefore, with the width of a pencil used to draw a layer will range from 5 to 10 kilometers. Method: 1. Cut a 90 cm piece of register tape. You may wish to secure each end of the paper to a table top with a piece of tape. 2. Use a ruler and neatly draw a line perpendicular to the length of the tape roughly 10 centimeters from one end. This will be the starting line for all the layers. Starting point (picture not drawn to scale) Inner core Outer core Mantle 3. Calculate the scale distance for the Earth (non atmosphereic layers) and note it in the table below. To do this, divide the average thickness of the layer by 100 and round to the nearest tenth!. Below is an example. 4. The radius of the inner core is 1276 km. Thus, 1276 / 100 = 12.7 cm thick layer drawn on the register tape. Note the scale distance for all the layers on the data table below. LAYER Inner core AVERAGE THICKNESS 1271 km Outer core 2270 km Mantle 2885 km Asthenosphere 200 km Lithosphere 100 km SCALE IN CENTIMETERS 12.7 5. Using a pencil, mark the layers of the Earth onto the register tape based on your calculations. Begin from the center of the Earth and add each successive layer in order. Label each layer. (Refer to the table and diagram above for clarification). 6. Calculate the scale distances for the atmosphere using the table below. Draw the layers of the atmosphere by marking the boundaries and “pauses”. Remember, 1 centimeter is equal to 100 kilometers. BOUNDARY Troposphere AVERGE THICKNESS 12 km Stratosphere 50 km Mesosphere 80 km Thermosphere 140 km SCALE DISTANCE IN CM 7. Using page 10 of your ESRT’s, label on the model the density of the inner core, outer core and mantle 8. Finally, color the inner core yellow, the outer core orange, the mantle red, the asthenosphere light brown and lightly pencil shade the lithosphere. Color the troposphere light blue, the stratosphere green, the mesosphere dark blue and the thermosphere dark green. Shade the remaining space black. Directions – Answer the following questions using the model, a ruler, a calculator and your Earth Science Reference Tables. 1. How are the different layers of the solid Earth separated? (Hint: Why is the inner core on the “bottom” and the Lithosphere in the “top”?) 2. If the actual radius of the earth is 6,378 km but a student measured it to be 6,006 km. What is the students percent deviation (percent error)? Show all work and express answers to the nearest tenth! Formula Used Plug in the numbers Answer with proper label. Using page 10 of the ESRT’s, answer the following questions 1) The outer core begins at a depth of ______________and ends at _________________________ km 2) The density of the continental crust is _______? The density of the stiffer mantle is _________? 3) At 3000 km, pressure = ______________________ temp = _____________________________. 4) At 5000 km, pressure = _______________________temp = _____________________________. 5) What layer of the Earths interior contains convection currents, which are believed to be the driving force behind plate tectonics. ______________________________? 6) What is the inner core inferred to be composed of? __________________ _____________________ Using Pages 11 and 14 of the ESRT’s, answer the following questions 1) What are the two most abundant elements by mass in the earths crust? _________________________ 2) Which layer of our atmosphere is the troposphere? ________________________________________ 3) What is the least abundant element by volume in the crust? (“other” is not an element) ?___________ 4) What is the most abundant element in the Earths troposphere? _______________________________ 5) What is the third most abundant element by volume in the Earths crust? _______________________ Using Page 14 of your ESRT’s, answer the following questions. 1. What happens to pressure as altitude increases within our atmosphere? ________________________ 2. What is the only layer in our atmosphere that contains water vapor? __________________________ 3. As altitude increases within the Stratosphere, what is happening to air temperature? ______________ 4. What is altitude of the stratopause? _______________________ miles _______________________kilometers