Exam 4: The Habitability of Earth

The radioactive isotope ¹³¹I (atomic number 53) decays to the isotope ¹³¹Xe (atomic number 54). What type of radioactive decay is this?

When a metamorphic rock is melted and then re-solidifies it turns into

If originally there were X atoms of radioactive isotope present and now there are only X/4 atoms, how many half-lives have elapsed?

If originally there were X atoms of radioactive isotope present and now there are only X/8 atoms, how many half-lives have elapsed?

The Hawaiian Islands were formed when

The Earth's tectonic plates move at a rate of

Differentiation is a process by which

In radioactive decay, the original nucleus before decay is referred to as the

A fossil is found in a layer of strata above another layer dated at 10 million years and below another layer dated at 5 million years. From this we can deduce the age of the fossil to be

Which of the following is a greenhouse gas?

The East African rift zone was formed by

Isotopic analysis of a rock can tell us

Sandstone is a common type of

Radioactive decay is

Which of the following may have played an important role in triggering snowball Earth events?

The end of the last snowball Earth phase roughly coincides with

When heat and pressure are applied to an igneous rock it turns into

Although fossils can be made in numerous ways, only a tiny fraction of living organisms leave behind any kind of fossil remnant because

Plate boundary faults occur where plates are

The first few hundred million years of the solar system's history is referred to as the