Explorations: Introduction to Astronomy (Arny), 6th Edition

Chapter 6: The Earth

Thought Questions

1
Thinking about a stone thrown from the pole toward the equator, convince yourself that if the Earth rotated faster, the Coriolis effect would be larger.
2
As seen from space, the Earth rotates counterclockwise as seen from above the North Pole. Using the thrown stone argument of Question 1, explain why the Coriolis effect deflects objects to the right of their motion in the Northern Hemisphere.
3
When you choose fruit at a supermarket, you may heft the fruit in your hand to test its weight. How does this tell you whether the fruit is dried out inside? How is that similar to using mean density as an indicator of the composition of the Earth's interior?
4
Flicking your finger against your cheek makes a different sound from flicking it against your forehead. How is that similar to studying the interior of the Earth with seismic waves?
5
How does the eventual acceptance of the plate tectonic theory illustrate some aspects of the scientific method?
6
Astronomers are still uncertain about how the Earth's atmosphere formed. How does this illustrate the workings of the scientific method?
7
According to the Guiness Book of Mountains and Mountaineering, the summit of the volcano Chimborazo in Ecuador is the point on the Earth's surface farthest from the center. However, the book also states that the summit of Mount Everest is the highest point above sea level. Is something wrong here? Why?
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