Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
4th Edition
ISBN: 9780134089089
Author: Jeffrey O. Bennett, Seth Shostak
Publisher: PEARSON
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Textbook Question
Chapter 4, Problem 35TYU
We learn about the heavy bombardment by studying (a) craters and rocks from the Moon; (b) zircon mineral grains; (c) Earth’s oldest igneous rocks.
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A sample from a meteorite that landed on Earth has been analyzed, and the result shows that out of every 1,000 nuclei of potassium-40 originally in the meteorite, only 125 are
still present, meaning they have not yet decayed. How old is the meteorite (in yr)? (Hint: See the figure below.) (Note: The half-life of potassium-40 is 1.3 billion years.)
Figure
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A mineral sample
containing radioactive
atoms :, which decay
into daughter atoms
100
Percentage of
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50
100
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remaining
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Potassium has a radioactive isotope, K-40, with a half-life of 1.25 billion years, and a natural abun-
dance of 0.012% (120 parts per million). Sea-water contains about 380 ppm of potassium (0.38
grams per litre), essential for life. Calculate the radioactivity of sea-water due to the potassium,
giving your answer in Bq m
-3
A sample from a meteorite that landed on Earth has been analyzed, and the result shows that out of every 1,000 nuclei of potassium-40 originally in the meteorite, only 125 are still present, meaning
they have not yet decayed. How old is the meteorite (in yr)? (Hint: See the figure below.) (Note: The half-life of potassium-40 is 1.3 billion years.)
Figure
Graph
Bar charts
A mineral sample
containing radioactive
atoms :, which decay
into daughter atoms ::
100
Percentage of
radioactive and
50
daughter atoms
in the mineral
100
Percentage of
50
-radioactive atoms
remaining
2
3
Age in half-lives
yr
Percentage remaining
:---1/2 remain----ER
1/4 remain---- ---:
1/8 remain-------
Chapter 4 Solutions
Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
Ch. 4 - Briefly describe three aspects of geology that are...Ch. 4 - What do we mean by the geological record? Why is...Ch. 4 - Describe the three basic types of rock and the...Ch. 4 - How are sedimentary strata made, and how do they...Ch. 4 - Describe the technique of radiometric dating, and...Ch. 4 - How do fossils form? Do most living organisms...Ch. 4 - Summarize the geological time scale. What are...Ch. 4 - Prob. 8RQCh. 4 - Briefly describe how outgassing led to the origin...Ch. 4 - What was the heavy bombardment, and what effect...
Ch. 4 - Briefly describe Earths core-mantle-crust...Ch. 4 - Briefly describe the conveyorlike action of plate...Ch. 4 - Describe how plate tectonics shapes important...Ch. 4 - What evidence do we have for the operation of...Ch. 4 - What are the three requirements for a planetary...Ch. 4 - Briefly describe the mechanism by which the...Ch. 4 - What has happened to most of the carbon dioxide...Ch. 4 - What are ice ages, and what may cause them? What...Ch. 4 - Briefly summarize the key ways in which geology is...Ch. 4 - How do we think the Moon formed, and what evidence...Ch. 4 - We can expect that if there are paleontologists a...Ch. 4 - Nearly all the rocks I found in the lava fields of...Ch. 4 - Prob. 23TYUCh. 4 - Although Earth contains its densest material in...Ch. 4 - If you had a time machine that dropped you off on...Ch. 4 - If there were no plate tectonics on Earth, our...Ch. 4 - Without the greenhouse effect, there probably...Ch. 4 - If nitrogen were a greenhouse gas, our planet...Ch. 4 - We can learn a lot about Earths early history by...Ch. 4 - Prob. 30TYUCh. 4 - A rocks type (igneous, metamorphic, or...Ch. 4 - To learn a rocks age, we must (a) determine its...Ch. 4 - Radiometric dating now allows us to determine...Ch. 4 - Earths oceans formed (a) during the late stages of...Ch. 4 - We learn about the heavy bombardment by studying...Ch. 4 - Earth has retained a lot of internal heat...Ch. 4 - Plate tectonics is best described as a process...Ch. 4 - Earth has far less atmospheric carbon dioxide than...Ch. 4 - If Earth had more greenhouse gases in its...Ch. 4 - Snowball Earth refers to (a) one of a series of...Ch. 4 - The Age of Earth. Some people still question...Ch. 4 - Dating Planetary Surfaces. We have discussed two...Ch. 4 - Earth Without Differentiation. Suppose Earth had...Ch. 4 - Earth Without Plate Tectonics. Suppose plate...Ch. 4 - Feedback Processes in the Atmosphere. As the Sun...Ch. 4 - Geological Time. Geological time scales are often...Ch. 4 - Dating Lunar Rocks. You are analyzing Moon rocks...Ch. 4 - Carbon-14 Dating. The half-life of carbon-14 is...Ch. 4 - Martian Meteorite. Some unusual meteorites thought...Ch. 4 - Internal vs. External Heating. In daylight, Earths...Ch. 4 - Plate Tectonics. Typical motions of one plate...Ch. 4 - More Plate Tectonics. Consider a seafloor...Ch. 4 - Plate Tectonics and Us. Based on what you learned...
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- How do impacts by comets and asteroids influence Earth’s geology, its atmosphere, and the evolution of life?arrow_forwardA rock sample which originally contained 400 grams of radioactive isotope X now contains 25 grams of the material. The half-life of isotope X is 10,000 years. How old is the rock sample? (Give your answer without any punctuation or lables. For example: 15000).arrow_forwardHow are the inferred properties of Earths original atmosphere related to the location and timescale of Earths formation from the solar nebula?arrow_forward
- If all life were destroyed on Earth by a large impact, would new life eventually form to take its place? Explain how conditions would have to change for life to start again on our planet.arrow_forwardWhat produced the iron and heavier elements such as gold and silver in Earths core and crust?arrow_forwardYou analyze a sample of a meteorite that landed on Earth and find that 7/8 of the uranium-238 radioactive atoms have decayed into lead-206. What is the age of the sample (in years) if the half-life of uranium-238 is 4.5 billion years?arrow_forward
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