Earth Science Games

Does Earth represent an open environmental system or a closed environmental system?

• Earth is a closed environmental system because energy can enter or leave the system but no significant amount of matter can enter or leave the system.

• Earth is a closed environmental system because no significant amount of energy or matter can enter or leave the system.

• Earth is an open environmental system because energy can enter or leave the system even though no significant amount of matter can enter or leave the system.

Which sentence best describes the Earth system?

• It is a very stable, simple system that does not change much over time.

• It is an isolated system that does not gain or lose energy to other systems.

• It is a dynamic system with parts that interact with each other over short and long periods of time.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

NGSS.MS-ESS3-4

Which of these is an example of different scales in system interactions?

• A drought in an area causes farmers to need to irrigate their fields.

• A decreased amount of rain results in decreased crop heights in a backyard garden, leading to smaller produce

• The global atmosphere is warmer one winter, leading to a decreased snow pack in a mountain region, leading to a decreased water level of a lake in the region in the spring.

The sun and Earth form a system in space in which different factors interact to drive processes. Which answer correctly matches the driving factor of each process?

• heat drives the motion of Earth's orbit and Gravity drives the formation of clouds

• Gravity drives the motion of Earth's orbit and rotation drives the formation of clouds

• rotation drives the motion of Earth's orbit and heat drives the formation of clouds

• Gravity drives the motion of Earth's orbit and heat drives the formation of clouds

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-2

Why is it important for scientists to study multiple systems on Earth at the same time instead of studying them separately?

• They save time by studying similar parts of more than one system

• They get a better sense of what the boundaries of the systems are

• They avoid errors because processes are similar in different systems

• They can observe how parts of the different systems affect each other.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

Rainwater washing away sediment on a hillside is primarily an interaction between which of Earth’s spheres?

• Biosphere and hydrosphere

• Atmosphere and biosphere

• Geosphere and atmosphere

• Hydrosphere and geosphere

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

How can you determine which way a river is flowing on a topographic map?

• It flows parallel to the curves on the map

• It flows perpendicular to the curves on the map

• It flows from lines that are closer together to lines that farther apart

• It flows from lines that are farther apart to lines that are closer

Earth rotates on an axis. The diagram shows how the tilt of this axis can shift over a cycle of tens of thousands of years based on gravitational pull from the sun. What change will Earth most likely experience as the axis tilt approaches 24.5º?

• Ocean temperatures will decrease, and land temperatures will decrease.

• Winter temperatures will increase, and summer temperatures will decrease.

• Summer temperatures will increase, and winter temperatures will decrease.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

Sedimentary rock can be classified into two major groups: clastic and chemical. From which of these do chemical sedimentary rocks most likely originate?

• Lakes and oceans rich in dissolved elements

• Chemically pure water carrying silt and sand

• Sand blowing and being deposited in a desert environment

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

The rock cycle is a system with inputs and outputs. Which of these is an OUTPUT of a rock cycle process?

• Erosion of igneous rock

• Melting of metamorphic rock

• Newly formed metamorphic rock

• Heat that melts igneous rock