DIVINA PASTORA COLLEGE

Basic Education Department (2022-2023)

SCIENCE 8
QUARTER 2
(CONCEPT NOTES)

Every year, the Philippines is hit by typhoons. Every part of the Philippines is
included, no part of the country is spared. All provinces have been visited by a typhoon
at one time or another. In recent years, the Philippines experienced catastrophic and
devastating super typhoons.

Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one
of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. Typhoon Haiyan was a super
typhoon with sustained winds of over 150 mph.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services

Administration (PAGASA), about 20 tropical cyclones enter the Philippine Area of
Responsibility each year.

WHAT IS A TYPHOON?
“Typhoon” is a Western Pacific region-specific name for a strong tropical cyclone.
“Bagyo” is a Philippine local term for a tropical cyclone. This word arose after a 1911
storm in the city of Baguio had a rainfall record of 46 inches within a 24-hour period.
Oceans and seas have great influence on the weather of continental masses. A
large portion of the solar energy reaching the sea surface is expended in the process of
evaporation.
Tropical cyclone is defined as a non-frontal, synoptic-scale cyclone developing
over tropical and sub-tropical waters at any level and having a definitely organized
circulation. In other parts of the world, these are referred to as hurricanes, typhoons or
simply tropical cyclones depending on the region. In the North Atlantic, Eastern North
Pacific and South Pacific Ocean, they are called "hurricanes". In the Bay of Bengal,
Arabian Sea and Western South Indian Ocean, the name is "cyclones". In the eastern
part of the Southern Indian Ocean, it is "willy-willy", and in the Western North Pacific
Ocean, they are called "typhoons".
The Philippines is prone to tropical cyclones due to its geographical location
which generally produce heavy rains and flooding of large areas and also strong winds
resulting in heavy casualties to human life and destructions to crops and properties.
Thus, it is of utmost importance to have sufficient knowledge on such maritime
phenomena.
PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY
When a weather disturbance enters the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR),
the weather bureau begins to monitor it. The PAGASA starts tracking a tropical cyclone
the moment it enters the PAR. Once a tropical cyclone is located, PAGASA can tell
which areas are likely to be affected by it in the next 24 hours.
To be fully prepared for tropical cyclones, you should also put together an
emergency kit which includes the following: drinking water, canned goods, can opener,
radio, flashlight, extra batteries, clothes, blanket, and first aid kit. You never know when
you will need them. You must learn how to rely on yourself. In times of disaster, it may
take a while before help arrives.
Shown here are the tracks (paths) of four tropical cyclones that entered the PAR in the
past years. The tracks were plotted by PAGASA. Study these maps.

As you can observe, all four tropical cyclones struck the northern part of the Philippines.
Three of the tropical cyclones mentioned in the maps weakened and died out near land.
Agaton dissipated in Luzon, Yoyong in Taiwan, and Huaning near Mainland China. This
means that when tropical cyclones reach land, they die out because they are cut off
from the warm ocean waters that keep them going.

There are many planetary systems like ours in the universe, with planets orbiting a host
star.
Comets and asteroids are referred to by astronomers as Near-Earth Objects (NEO).
Comets are icy bodies or objects while asteroids are rocky fragments. They are
remnants from the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Comets and
asteroids both orbit the Sun and move relatively slow when viewed from Earth.
Characteristic Comet Asteroid
Origin Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud Main Asteroid Belt

Shape Varied/Irregular Varied/Irregular

 Size range of diameter 1-10 (nucleus only) 1 – 100++
(kilometer)
Chemical composition Ice (frozen water); frozen Silicates (olivine and
gases (ammonia, methane pyroxene), iron, nickel
and carbon dioxide); other
organic compounds (carbon-
containing compounds)
Orbit Highly elliptical More rounded
Orbital period (years) 75 to 100,000++ 1-100
Table 1. Comparison of some characteristics of comets and asteroids

Comet Halley, the most famous comet of the 20 th century, is the only known short-
period comet. It takes 75-79 years for Comet Halley to orbit the Sun. We see it in the
sky every time it makes its nearest approach to the Sun.
The composition of a comet is important in helping scientists understand how
Earth has liquid water, which in turn makes the planet livable. During Earth’s formation,
scientists theorized that the planet must have been too hot to have liquid water on its
surface. By studying comets’ orbits and the chemical composition of materials found in
impact craters found all over Earth, with soil and ice samples collected from drilling
down Earth’s crust and marine layers, scientists theorized that the early impact of
comets on Earth brought liquid water to the planet.
The chemical composition of an asteroid is important in providing clues for
scientists to discover more about the chemical composition of Earth and the other
planets in the Solar System, as well as how life on Earth was affected by impacts in the
past. It is the scientists’ belief that Earth, other planets and asteroids are essentially
similar in composition. In fact, asteroids are also called minor planets or planetoids.
Asteroids are mostly composed of metals like iron and nickel, the same metals that are
theorized to make up Earth’s core.

Meteoroid, meteor and meteorite

A meteoroid can be as small as a grain of sand or as big as a boulder. When it enters
Earth’s atmosphere, the air in front of the meteoroid heats up, causing materials to burn
up. From Earth, these glowing materials appear as a streak of light or a fast-moving
bright object that appears to have a tail just like a comet. What differentiates the two
when we see them in the sky is that a comet moves slowly and appears in the sky for a
longer time.
A meteoroid usually all burns up when it enters Earth’s atmosphere. When a fragment
from the meteoroid survives and makes it to the ground, this space rock fragment is
now called a meteorite. When Earth orbits the Sun and passes through the orbit of a
comet where these comet fragments are found, you observe many streaks of light from
Earth which is called a meteor shower.
Remember that a meteor and a meteor shower are light phenomena, they are not
stars.
Celestial visitors like comets, asteroids and meteors have always captured the
imagination of ancient civilizations. They have been thought of as bad omens or signs of
great change or challenge such as ushering disasters and wars. With new scientific
processes and tools, as well as greater access to scientific information, these celestial
visitors have gained the appreciation and interest of many people, scientists and non-
scientists included, all over the world.