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Our Home Planet as a System:
The Solid Earth System
Understanding Our Surroundings
How many of you live with nature? or walk on the beach, track on the river or walk in the forest and climb on a mountain? Have you ever gone into a cave? Do you camp ? Are you interested in colourful stones, or in collecting shells on beach? Did you think why so many different rock exist? All of us like to watch a landscape. And everyone love to go to picnic... Did you go to the Abant Lake or Uludag? Mountain? or go to a trip on Toros mountains? After you come home from a trip to Aegean or Mediterranean, if you take pictures and look at them, you realize how beautiful our land and our Earth is... These are the beauties that Earth gives us. There is another face of the Earth, bad side. Think about old stories ! In ancient times, when an erthquake, hurricane happens or a volcano explodes people used to think that Gods were angy...
Have you ever thought that how these happened before? After seeing the
movie Jurassic Park, did you think what happened to dinazors ? Did
dinazors live in Anatolia? Any of us have sailed far from shore that we could
no longer see land then wonder where all that water came from? You may
wonder how the landscape came to be. Was the Earth same as today? Have
you ever thought that the Earth has an age? Well, Earth Scientists study all
these questions and physical activities because our planet, the Earth, does not
stand still. The Earth is an alive system, a giant machine....
The Solid Earth System component of the The Earth System series provides an
integrated view of the lithospheric component of the
Earth system.
The Solid System
The Earth does not stand still.
According to theory of plate tectonics, the Earth’s outer part is broken
into a series of plates. Adjoining plates may slide past, move away from,
or collide with one another. Remember the Izmit earthquake in 1999!
One such movement took place along the North Anatolian Fault. It shook
violently. Fourthyfive seconds later it stopped. The entire region
suffered severe damage as buildings and lives were severely destroyed..
The demage was on the western branch of NAF. In most places and
landslides were triggered by the quake. The most severe damage was to
older structures and those built on bay fill (soil or unconsolidated sand and
clay). Non of the high buildings were demaged because they were built to
meet high quake-resistant standards-the result of engineers studying the
effects of countless earthquakes worldwide. Unconsolidated sediment, such
as bay fill, amplifies an earthquake’s waves, Physical geology is the
large division of earth science concerned with earth materials, changes in thge
surface and interior of the earth, and the dynamic forces that cause those
changes...We will look at how the solid earth system works and then show how
some of major topics of earth science are related to the to the surficial (on
the earth’s surface) and internal processes powered by the giant earth machine..
What is the Scientific Method ?
A physical event deserves a physical explanation
To a scientist a theory is a conceptual framework that explains existing facts and predicts new ones. For instance, today I saw the Sun rise. This is a fact. This fact is explained by the theory that the Earth is round and spins on its axis while orbiting the sun. This theory also explains other facts, such as the seasons and the phases of the moon, and allows me to make predictions about what will happen tomorrow. This means that in some ways the words fact and theory are interchangeable. The organization of the solar system (example of a theory) is normally considered to be a fact that is explained by Newton's Theory of Gravity.
A hypothesis is a tentative theory that has not yet been tested. For example, a scientist invents a hypothesis and then observes if it "happens" by testing it against available data. If the hypothesis does happen, the scientist calls it to be a theory.
Observations => Hypothesis => Tests => Theory
There is a fact that it is impossible for every scientist to independently
do every experiment to confirm every theory. Because life is short, scientists
have to trust other scientists. Most scientific papers contain suggestions for
other scientists to follow
up. Experiments do get repeated as part of other experiments. Usually the
first step in doing this is to repeat the earlier work. So if a theory is the
starting point for a significant amount of work then the initial experiments
will get replicated a number of times.
Some Definitions
Hypothesis
A logical but unproven explanation for a given set of
facts.
A hypothesis must be testable, or it is a worthless
hypothesis.
A hypothesis is tested by comparing results of
experiments with the hypothesis' predictions.
A hypothesis which has been tested numerous times and
found to explain previous observations and make accurate
predictions about future observations.
Theory
A theory typically means ``an unproven and untested guess.''
Keep in mind that, to a scientist, a theory is a hypothesis
which has been tested and found correct numerous
times; a theory is just a guess.
Law
Laws are theories which have been extensively tested
and have never been disproven in any test. An example is ``hot objects
in a cool room will become cool over time unless they
have an input of heat from some source.''
Steps in the Scientific Method
1. Make observations.
2. Develop testable hypotheses to explain your observations
3. Test your hypothesis with more
4. If necessary, revise your hypothesis and test the revised hypothesis
5. Continue testing the new hypothesis.
6. If the hypothesis does not fail to repeated testing, it gets to be a theory.
7. Continue testing the theory.
8. If the theory does not fail to repeated testing, it eventually gets to be a law.
9. Keep continue testing the law.
This is a cycle never ends: Theories are never considered final. Scientists
must remain open minded and keep testing them!