High School Science Bowl Notes for 2016

If 5 seconds elapse between seeing a lightning bolt and hearing its

thunder, then the lightning was about 1 mile away.
Cumulonimbus clouds are a type of cumulus cloud associated with
thunder storms and heavy precipitation. They are also a variation of
nimbus or precipitation bearing clouds. They are formed beneath 20,000
ft. and are relatively close to the ground. This is why they have so much
moisture. Cumulonimbus clouds are also known as thunderheads due to
their unique mushroom shape. The overall charges at the top and bottom,
respectively, of a towering cumulonimbus cloud during a thunderstorm are
positive and negative.
Dictionary: An asterism is a prominent pattern or group of stars, typically
having a popular name but smaller than a constellation. Ex: The Big
Dipper
Wikipedia: In astronomy, an asterism is a pattern of stars recognized in
the Earth's night sky. It may be part of an official constellation or it may be
composed of stars from more than one constellation.
Learn the Mohs Hardness Scale:

The Sun has the greatest apparent magnitude, and Venus has
approximately the same size and density as the Earth.
An albedo (when considering an object) is the ratio of reflected radiation
from the surface to incident radiation upon it. Simply put, it is the
reflecting power of a surface. Its dimensionless nature lets it be expressed
as a percentage and is measured on a scale from 0 for no reflection of a
perfectly black surface to 1 for perfect reflection of a white surface. The
average overall albedo of Earth, its planetary albedo, is 30% to 35%
because of cloud cover, but widely varies locally across the surface
because of different geological and environmental features.
An equinox occurs twice a year, around March 20th and September 22nd.
The simplified meaning is the day when daytime and night are of
approximately equal duration (this is true for the most part, except for at
the poles). The word equinox comes from this definition, derived from the
Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). The Earth's axis is always tilted
at an angle of about 23.5 in relation to the ecliptic, the imaginary plane
created by the Earth's path around the Sun. On any other day of the year,
either the southern hemisphere or the northern hemisphere tilts a little
towards the Sun, but on the two equinoxes, the tilt of the Earth's axis is
perpendicular to the Sun's rays. This means that the sun is directly
overhead the equator.
Declination is the angular distance of a point north or south of the
celestial equator (a.k.a. latitude). The declination of the North and South
Poles, respectively, are +90 and -90. In the equatorial celestial coordinate
system, longitude is synonymous with right ascension (RA).
Intrusive rock, also called plutonic rock, is igneous rock formed from
magma forced into older rocks at depths within the Earths crust, which
then slowly solidifies below the Earths surface, though it may later be
exposed by erosion. Some notable intrusive rocks are diorite, gabbro,
granite and pegmatite. Extrusive igneous rocks form when magma
reaches the Earth's surface a volcano and cools quickly. Most extrusive
(volcanic) rocks have small crystals. Examples include basalt, rhyolite,
andesite, and obsidian.
Granites distinctive, granular texture is formed by interlocking crystals
that develop as molten rock slowly cools underneath the surface of the
Earth, solidifying as individual minerals of quartz and feldspar, along
with mica and small amounts of other minerals. The size of the crystals
depends on the time it takes for the rock to cool.
Ancient astronomers noticed that celestial bodies in the sky moved in a
unique manner. They moved at different speeds from the stars and each
other, following their own paths through the sky. Two moved around the
sky quite quickly (with a noticeably different position every few days)
while others moved rather slowly - taking months or a year to appreciably
change position. Sometimes, these unusual stars even moved backward in
the sky for a few days before resuming their forward wandering. The
backward movement is called retrograde motion. These wandering
stars were named planets (from the Greek word for "wanderer"). The
moon was sometimes considered a planet too, as it clearly also wandered.
The irregular motion of these 5 planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars,
Jupiter, and Saturn puzzled many astronomers at that time.
Cinder cones are the simplest type of volcano. They are built from
particles and blobs of congealed lava ejected from a single vent. As the
gas-charged lava is blown violently into the air, it breaks into small
fragments that solidify and fall as cinders around the vent to form a
circular or oval cone. Most cinder cones have a bowl-shaped crater at the
summit and rarely rise more than a thousand feet or so above their
surroundings.

Some of the Earth's grandest mountains are composite volcanoes--

sometimes called stratovolcanoes. They are typically steep-sided,
symmetrical cones of large dimension built of alternating layers of lava
flows, volcanic ash, cinders, blocks, and bombs and may rise as much as
8,000 feet above their bases. Most composite volcanoes have a crater at
the summit which contains a central vent or a clustered group of vents.
Lavas either flow through breaks in the crater wall or issue from fissures
on the flanks of the cone. Lava, solidified within the fissures, forms dikes
that act as ribs which greatly strengthen the cone. The essential feature of
a composite volcano is a conduit system through which magma from a
reservoir deep in the Earth's crust rises to the surface. The volcano is built
up by the accumulation of material erupted through the conduit and
increases in size as lava, cinders, ash, etc., are added to its slopes.
Shield volcanoes, the third type of volcano, are built almost entirely of
fluid lava flows. Flow after flow pours out in all directions from a central
summit vent, or group of vents, building a broad, gently sloping cone of
flat, domical shape, with a profile much like that of a warrior's shield. They
are built up slowly by the accretion of thousands of highly fluid lava flows
called basalt lava that spread widely over great distances, and then cool
as thin, gently dipping sheets. Lavas also commonly erupt from vents
along fractures (rift zones) that develop on the flanks of the cone. Some of
the largest volcanoes in the world are shield volcanoes.
Volcanic or lava domes are formed by relatively small, bulbous masses
of lava too viscous to flow any great distance; consequently, on extrusion,
the lava piles over and around its vent. A dome grows largely by
expansion from within. As it grows its outer surface cools and hardens,
then shatters, spilling loose fragments down its sides. Some domes form
craggy knobs or spines over the volcanic vent, whereas others form short,
steep-sided lava flows known as "coulees." Volcanic domes commonly
occur within the craters or on the flanks of large composite volcanoes.
Polaris, or the North Star, is seen in the constellation Ursa Minor
(commonly known as the Little Dipper). Dubhe and Merak are the two
outermost stars in Ursa Major (the Big Dipper), and they always point
towards Polaris in the Ursa Minor, thus making them a point of reference
in the night sky.
The south celestial pole lacks a bright star like Polaris to mark its position.
At present, the naked-eye star nearest to this imaginary point is the faint
Sigma Octantis, which is sometimes known as the South Star.

Learn the Eras of the Geological Time Scale:

The color of a star, not its brightness, is the best way to
determine what temperature it is. Distance between stars is
measured in light years (about 1016 meters) or parsecs (about 3.26 light
years).
Learn about how to classify low and high clouds:

The main asteroid belt in our solar system is located between Mars and
Jupiter.
Luster is the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or
mineral. Some basic luster classifications are metallic (having the look of
polished metal), submetallic (having the look of a metal that is dulled by
weathering or corrosion), non-metallic (not looking like a metal at all),
adamantine (having the hard, sparkly look of a diamond), resinous (having
the look of amber not quite glassy), glassy/vitreous (having the look of
glass), pearly (having the iridescent look of mother-of-pearl; often found
on the cleavage face of a mineral having perfect cleavage), greasy/oily
(having the look of an oil-coated substance), silky (having the look of silk,
fine parallel fibers of mineral), dull (having a plain looking surface that is
not submetallic), and earthy (having the look of soil or clay).
Cleavage and fracture are descriptions of how a mineral breaks into
pieces. Cleavage describes how a mineral breaks into flat surfaces
(usually one, two, three or four surfaces). Cleavage is determined by the
crystal structure of the mineral (cubic, octahedral, rhombohedral,
pinacoidal, etc.). Not all minerals have cleavage. All minerals will have
some form of fracture. Fracture describes how a mineral breaks into forms
or shapes other than flat surfaces. Common fracture descriptions are
conchoidal (describes a curved, nearly rounded, smooth fracture that
looks like the inside of a shell; this is seen best in the igneous rock,
obsidian, but also in massive pieces of the mineral quartz), fibrous
(describes minerals, such as chrysotile asbestos that break into fibers),
splintery (describes minerals that break into stiff, sharp, needle-like
pieces), hackly (describes fractures that have rough edges), and
uneven/irregular (describes minerals that break into rough, uneven
surfaces).
Streak is the color of the mineral in powdered form. Streak shows the
true color of the mineral. In large solid form, trace minerals can change
the color appearance of a mineral by reflecting the light in a certain way.
Trace minerals have little influence on the reflection of the small powdery
particles of the streak. The streak of metallic minerals tends to appear
dark because the small particles of the streak absorb the light hitting
them. Non-metallic particles tend to reflect most of the light so they
appear lighter in color or almost white. Because streak is a more accurate
illustration of the minerals color, streak is a more reliable property of
minerals than color for identification.
The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest significant galaxy to the Milky
Way. It takes up a spiral shape, just like our own Milky Way.
In 1930, the International Astronomical Union officially listed 88 modern
and ancient constellations (one of the ancient constellations was divided
into 3 parts) and drew a boundary around each. The boundary edges
meet, dividing the imaginary sphere the celestial sphere surrounding
Earth into 88 pieces. Astronomers consider any star within a constellation
boundary to be part of that constellation, even if it is not part of the
actual picture.
When the sun, moon and earth all line up at new or full moon then we get
the highest possible high tides which are called spring tides, as well as
the lowest possible low tides. When the moon is at the first or third
quarter, then the moon and sun are exerting forces from two different
directions and the overall effect on the water is less. The high tides are
lower than average and the low tides are higher than the average and we
call these low tides neap tides.
Earth has the most nitrogen rich atmosphere in our solar system.
Elliptical galaxies are shaped like a spheroid, or elongated sphere. In
the sky, where we can only see two of their three dimensions, these
galaxies look like elliptical, or oval, shaped disks. The light is smooth, with
the surface brightness decreasing as you go farther out from the center.
Elliptical galaxies are given a classification that corresponds to their
elongation from a perfect circle, otherwise known as their ellipticity. The
larger the number, the more elliptical the galaxy is. So, for example a
galaxy of classification of E0 (minimum) appears to be perfectly circular,
while a classification of E7 (maximum) is extremely flattened. Elliptical
galaxies have no particular axis of rotation.
Spiral galaxies have three main components: a bulge, disk, and halo.
The bulge is a spherical structure found in the center of the galaxy. This
feature mostly contains older stars. The disk is made up of dust, gas, and
younger stars. The disk forms arm structures. Our Sun is located in an arm
of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The halo of a galaxy is a loose, spherical
structure located around the bulge and some of the disk. The halo
contains old clusters of stars, known as globular clusters.
Spiral galaxies are classified into two groups, ordinary and barred. In
normal spirals, the arms originate directly from the nucleus, or bulge,
whereas in the barred spirals, there is a bar of material that runs through
the nucleus that the arms emerge from. Both of these types are given a
classification according to how tightly their arms are wound.
Irregular galaxies have no regular or symmetrical structure. They are
divided into two groups, IrrI (1) and IrrII (2). IrrI (1) type galaxies have HII
(2) regions, which are regions of elemental hydrogen gas, and many
Population I (1) stars, which are young hot stars. IrrII (2) galaxies simply
seem to have large amounts of dust that block most of the light from the
stars. All this dust makes is almost impossible to see distinct stars in the
galaxy.
Dwarf galaxies are the most abundant type of galaxy in the universe but
are difficult to detect due to their low luminosity, low mass and small size.
They are most commonly found in galaxy clusters, often as companions to
larger galaxies.
Rain, snow, sleet, and hail are some of the most common types of
precipitation.
Rain is defined as when drops of liquid water fall from the clouds when
water vapor condenses around dust particles in the clouds, forming tiny
droplets that eventually get too big for the cloud to hold so they fall,
growing larger as they collect more water on their way down.
Snow is ice that falls from the sky. Each snowflake is a delicately complex
arrangement of ice crystals. A snowflake forms when water vapor
sublimates, or turns directly from a gas into its solid form, ice.
Hail is ice that falls from the sky, often in round shapes. Hailstones form
within thunderstorm clouds when upward moving air keeps pellets of
frozen water from falling. The pellets grow larger as drops of very cold
water hit them and freeze. Eventually the balls of ice become so large and
heavy that they fall to the ground as hailstones.
Sleet is like slush falling from the sky. Sleet forms when raindrops freeze
into ice as they fall to the ground. They are usually smaller and wetter
than hailstones.
Jovian planets are also known as gas giants. There are four Jovian
planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These four planets also
comprise the outer planets. Unlike the inner planets, the Jovian planets do
not have solid surfaces. Instead, they are composed primarily of hydrogen
and helium, with traces of methane, ammonia, water, and other gases in
their atmospheres. These gases make up a deep atmosphere and become
tightly compressed around relatively tiny cores of rock. When compared to
our Earth, the Jovian planets are gigantic. Despite their size, the Jovian
planets have low densities because of their gaseous composition.
However, the Jovian planets colors differ due to their temperature,
composition, and cloud height.

The Jovian planets get their heat from the Sun and from their interiors.
Jupiter creates a lot of internal heat and releases this heat by emitting
thermal radiation. In fact, Jupiter creates so much internal heat that it
emits almost twice as much energy as it receives from the Sun. Saturn
and Neptune also appear to be emitting more energy than they receive
from the Sun. Uranus is the only Jovian planet not emitting excess internal
energy.
There are three major magma types: basalt, andesite and rhyolite.
Basaltic magma is characterized by high temperature (1200 C), lack of
silica content, low viscosity, and low gas content. It creates thin lava
flows, which often form shields. Andesitic magma is characterized by
moderate temperatures (800C - 1000C), moderate amounts of silica
content, moderate viscosity, and moderate gas content. It creates thick,
rubbly lava flows that are moderately explosive. Rhyolite magma has a
low temperature (750C - 850C), high silica content, high viscosity, and
high gas content. Lava only flows when magma is low on gas, and it is
very explosive.
A terminator, twilight zone or "grey line" is a moving line that separates
the illuminated day side and the dark night side of a planetary body. A
terminator is defined as the locus of points on a Moon or planet where the
line through a Sun is tangent.
Learn about When Constellations are Best Visible in the Northern
Hemisphere:
[Link]
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Most of the dust that covers the moon came from pulverized rock after
multiple impacts.
The mass of a star is most directly responsible for how long it will
continue fusion.