Week 10

    In lab, we started with a formative assessment about what is considered a rock. My biggest take away from this lab about rocks is that they have to be naturally made to be called a rock. Convection cells were also discussed in lab and how this looks within the structure of our Earth. Heat rises, and the core is very hot, so the heat coming from the core goes up to the crust, and the coolness from the crust goes back down to the core. This causes the plates to move and cause different outcomes. When plates come together, it creates mountains. When plates slip past each other, it creates earthquakes. The last thing we did in lab was create the three different kinds of rocks with starbursts. 

    My biggest take away from the lecture was discussing the layers of the Earth. I have never had these memorized before and I feel as though they have been barely discussed with my previous schooling. I find looking at it as a hard boiled egg is a great way to look at it. The crust would be the shell of the egg, the mantle would be the egg white, then the core would be the yolk (inner core and outer core). This helps me remember the breakdown and how each layer of the Earth would look compared to one another. 

    In the press book, I enjoyed looking over the difference between convergent and divergent plates, which was also discussed in lecture. It was nice to read this chapter before coming into lecture because I feel that it gave me a better understanding. Convergent plates are when plate tectonics collide, which can come from many different scenarios- continental plates converging, oceanic plates converging, and an oceanic and continental plate converging. Divergent plates are when two plates move apart from one another. Convergent and divergent plates cause different outcomes when they occur. Convergent plates create mountains, trenches, and volcanoes. Divergent plates result in earthquakes.