Monday November 7, 2011

1. MondayNovember 7, 2011 (Video – Fearless Planet – Earth Story Part 3)

2. The Launch Pad Monday, 11/7/11 Explain the concept of “continental drift.” In 1915, the German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener first proposed the theory of continental drift, which states that parts of the Earth's crust slowly drift atop a liquid core. The fossil record supports and gives credence to the theories of continental drift and plate tectonics.  Wegener hypothesized that there was a gigantic supercontinent 200 million years ago, which he named Pangaea, meaning “all-earth“. Pangaea started to break up into two smaller supercontinents, called Laurasia and Gondwanaland, during the Jurassic period. By the end of the Cretaceous period, the continents were separating into land masses that look like our modern-day continents.  Wegener published this theory in his 1915 book, On the Origin of Continents and Oceans. In it he also proposed the existence of the supercontinent , and named it Pangaea (means "all the land" in Greek.)  hot sphere of magma

4. Announcements I will not be available today after school.

5. ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2011) — An asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier will fly near Earth on Nov. 8, 2011. While there is no danger of it hitting the planet, a Purdue asteroid impact expert says a similar-sized object hitting Earth would result in a 4,000-megaton blast, magnitude 7.0 earthquake and, should it strike in the deep ocean, 70-foot-high tsunami waves 60 miles from the splashdown site. NASA scientists reported this week that the asteroid 2005 YU55 will pass between Earth and the moon and come within 201,000 miles of Earth on its closest approach. Latest News

6. Video – Fearless Planet Earth Story (Part 3)