HISTORICAL GEOLOGY
106
Internet
Exercise # 1
The Movers and the Shakers in Geology
The main focus of our efforts in ‘Historical Geology’ centers on
understanding and getting comfortable with TIME.
In our society today, TIME has become compressed: we communicate
instantly around the globe; we communicate with spacecraft billions of miles
away in minutes; and travel across the continents in four hours. Our politicians
think of TIME in terms of four-year or two-year terms, and we budget our
spending on fiscal cycles ranging from paychecks every two weeks to paying taxes
every year. Unfortunately, our
growing sense of “instant gratification” causes us to lose touch with the real
TIME. By that I mean DEEP
TIME…Millions and Billions of years.
DEEP TIME is the common thread that runs through this entire class.
We begin our discussion with a look at some of the really important
people who helped build the scientific consensus on geologic principles and
processes. In fact, this is a
history lesson. As you do your
research on the internet, keep our main theme in the back of your mind…TIME.
Most of the scientific movers and shakers you’re going to meet made their
incredible contributions to scientific thought over the last 1500 years or so.
Given that we believe that the earth is at least 4.5 billion years old,
does that 1500- year span of history seem like a long time to you?
Also, keep thinking about how big the world really was to these people in
their TIME.
Let’s meet the players.
Internet Exercise #1
Do not forget!
Only hand written answers are acceptable.
Google for your answers!
1.
Aristotle:
a.
When did he live? ________________
c.
What major discoveries did he make that bear on geological thought?
________________________________________________________________
d.
Did his theories have an immediate impact on his society? Was his
thinking ‘politically correct’ ?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.
Leonardo da Vinci
a.
When did he live? _________________.
b.
What contributions did he make to geological thought?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c.
Do you think his ideas were readily accepted in his time? With whom do
you think he had the greatest arguments?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3.
Nicholas Steno:
a.
Where was Steno from? _____________________________
b.
Did he predate da Vinci? _____________________________
c.
What contributions did he make to our growing geological awareness?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
d.
One of his ideas wasn’t really original, somebody else thought of it
first but didn’t fully explain it the way he did. What idea was that and who
really thought of it first?
________________________________________________________________
4.
Georges-Louis Leclerc:
a.
When did he live? ____________
b.
Do you think his ideas were ‘politically correct’ at the time he wrote
his works?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.
William Paley:
a. Were
Paley and Leclerc contemporaries?_______________________________
b.
Do you think Leclerc could have had an influence on Paley?
________________________________________________________________
c.
What influence did Paley have on Charles Darwin?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6.
James Hutton: (I suggest watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ybBPqwWF4Q&feature=youtube_gdata)
a.
When did Hutton do his work? ________________________________________
b.
What were his contributions to geology? ________________________________
c.
Were his ideas readily accepted ?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
d. Go to the James Hutton trail and check the famous places
out. Print out the one you thought was the most exciting!
7.
Charles Lyell: (I suggest
http://www.victorianweb.org/science/lyell.html as a start)
a.
When did he live? _____________
b.
What were his contributions?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c.
Did he influence any other great thinkers of his time? Who?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8.
Radioactivity Exercise:
(http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/radioactivity.php)
a.
How did Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discover x rays?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
b.
How did Antoine Henri Becquerel discover radioactivity?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c.
Learn about Marie Sklodowska. She was the first woman to do what? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vTRrZU-LKQ&feature=related)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
d.
What effects did radiation have
on Marie health.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e.
How many Nobel Prizes did Marie Curie receive? ________________________
f.
When did she visit the USA? _______________________.
g.
Print the basic information from the Nuclear Science link.
h.
What is the difference between fusion and fission?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
i. From the radiocarbon link, identify three applications and describe them.
( http://www.c14dating.com/applic.html )
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________