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Chapter Snapshot: Effects of Air Pressure on Chapter Snapshot:
Global Circulation and Temperature 395 Hurricane Anatomy 430
Topography 360 Adiabatic Lapse Rates 396 Looking to the Future 436
Condensation and Cloud
13.5 Tides 362 Formation 397 THE BIG PICTURE 437

16
Why Tides Occur 362 Precipitation 397
Tidal Patterns 364
14.7 Clouds and Frontal chapter
13.6 Wave Action and Systems 397
Coastal Processes 365
Wave Motion in the Open Ocean 365
Cloud Classification 398
Cloud Formation Mechanisms 399
Earth’s Climate
Effect of the Wind on Ocean
Waves 366 14.8 Winds 401
The Relationship Between Air Pressure
System 439
Wave Motion Close to Shore 366
and Wind 401
Wave Energy 369 16.1 Want Ice with That? 440
Regional Pressure Gradient 402
13.7 Shoreline Features 370 Climate Change and the Polar Bear
Coriolis Effect 403 Diet 440
The Changing of Coastal Friction 403
Landforms 370 The Consequences of Arctic
Cyclones and Anticyclones 404 Warming 442
The Sediment Budget 373
Wind Energy 405
13.8 Shoreline Protection 374 16.2 Global Air Circulation 443
THE BIG PICTURE 407 Chapter Snapshot:

15
Erosion Prevention Strategies 374
Erosion Adjustment Strategies 376 Climate Data 444
THE BIG PICTURE 377 chapter The Nonrotating Earth Model 446

14
The Rotating Earth Reality 446

chapter Weather 16.3 Global Climate Regions 448

Köppen-Geiger Classification

Systems 409 System 448

The Atmosphere 379 Climate and the Biosphere 449

Energy and the Biosphere 451
15.1 The Weather Around Us 410
16.4 Extreme Climate
14.1 Science and Skydiving 380 Facts About Severe Weather 411
Environments 453
14.2 Air Evolves 381 15.2 The Science of Weather: From Cold Climates 453
An Atmosphere Evolves 381 Folklore to Forecasting 412 Hot Deserts 458
14.3 Structure and Processes The First Meteorologists 412
16.5 Records of Climate
of the Atmosphere 383 Communications Developments 412
Change 460
Heat Versus Temperature 383 Weather Technology Today 413
Weather Records from
The Four Layers of the Atmosphere 384 15.3 Air Masses 414 Instruments 461
14.4 Solar Radiation Source Areas 414 Cultural Records 462
and the Atmosphere 385 Types of Air Masses 414 Short-Term Climate Trends: Annual
Solar Radiation and the Modification of Air Masses 415 Cycles 463
Electromagnetic Spectrum 385 Long-Term Climate Trends:
15.4 Midlatitude Cyclones and Frontal
Earth’s Energy Budget 386 Abrupt Change and Millennial
Systems 416 Cycles 466
Chapter Snapshot: Cold Fronts 417 Interpreting the Climate
The Earth’s Albedo 388 Warm Fronts 419 Record 468
14.5 The Role of Water Occluded Fronts 419 Intervals and Rates of Climate
in the Atmosphere 390 15.5 Severe Weather: Thunderstorms Change 468
Three States of Water 390 and Tornadoes 420 16.6 Natural Causes of
Changing States of Water 391 Thunderstorms 420 Climate Change 470
Humidity 392 Tornadoes 423 Distribution of the Continents 470
14.6 Air Pressure, Condensation, 15.6 Severe Weather: Oceanic Circulation Patterns 471
and Precipitation 394 Hurricanes 427 Variations in Earth’s Orbit 471
Air Pressure and Air Density 394 Building a Hurricane 428 THE BIG PICTURE 473

vii
viii
17
chapter
Global Change
17.1 Alternative Climates, Alternative
Choices 476
17.2 Ozone and the Stratosphere 478
The Nature of Ozone 478
Natural Variations in Ozone
Concentrations 479
17.3 CFCs and Ozone Depletion 480
The Nature of CFCs 480
Reductions in Ozone
Concentrations 480
Why Does Ozone Become Depleted over
the South Pole? 480
Our Ozone Future 481
viii
17.4 Greenhouse Gases Reducing Greenhouse Gas
and Global Change 482 Emissions 499
What Else Can Be Done? 501
Chapter Snapshot:
THE BIG PICTURE 503
475 Carbon Cycle 484
The Global Carbon Cycle 486
Carbon Produced by Human
Activity 487 Appendix A 505
Greenhouse Gas Emissions 487 Conversion Factors
17.5 Modeling Global Climate Appendix B 506
Change 490 The Periodic Table
Forcings and Feedbacks 490 of Elements
Climate Models 492 Appendix C 507
17.6 A Warmer World 493 Answers to Selected
Effects of Warmer Checkpoint Questions
Temperatures 495
Glossary 511
17.7 What Can Be Done? 498
International Agreements
Index 519
to Improve the Environment 498
 Preface
Teaching earth science can be viewed as content instruction,
covering the principles of science and earth systems. But can it
also be considered as an opportunity to engage students in the
nature of scientific inquiry?

A traditional science instructor concentrates on teaching

factual knowledge, with the implicit assumption that expert-
like ways of thinking about the subject come along for free
or are already present. But that is not what cognitive
science tells us. It tells us instead that students need to
develop these different ways of thinking by means of
extended, focused, mental effort.
Carl Wieman
Nobel Prize winner

For many, the wonder of Earth and its features is enough to drive
learning. For these happy few, a readable book with lots of attrac-
tive photographs is almost all that is required. But for many—in
fact most—learning takes more than pretty words and pictures.
Providing high-quality teaching is the most cost-effective, tan-
gible, and timely effort that geoscience instructors can make to
improve student engagement, increase attendance, and add majors.
But how do we do that? There is extensive literature
describing what effective teaching looks like, but most science
instructors have not had access to these articles and books. Fur-
ther, few of us were ever explicitly taught the components of good
teaching. Instead, we were left to figure it out for ourselves on the
basis of our classroom experiences as students.
The Good Earth was published to support both the tradi-
tional earth science class and to serve as an accessible resource © StockTrek/Getty Images
for instructors seeking to apply effective teaching strategies to
enhance learning.

The Good Earth Difference

We wrote The Good Earth to support an active learning approach
to teaching and to provide the necessary resources for instructors
moving through the transition from passive to active learning.
Like you, we want our students to walk away from this course with
an appreciation for science and the ability to make life decisions
based on scientific reasoning.
Our goal was to write a book that was engaging for stu-
dents but that also included resources that illustrated for instruc-
tors how to use teaching practices that have been shown to support
student learning. The materials and methods discussed in the text
and the accompanying Instructor’s Manual have been tried and
tested in our own classes. Our research shows that the integra-
tion of the materials and pedagogy provided in this book not only
improved students’ understanding of earth science as measured
ix
x Preface

by standardized national tests, but it can also improve students’
logical thinking skills by twice as much as a typical “traditional”
lecture class. Such methods are overwhelmingly preferred by stu-
dents and increase student attendance and satisfaction with the
course. Finally, a significant point for us is that these methods
make teaching class more fun for the instructor.
2. Students become better learners when we challenge
I love the voice the authors use. Reading the text is like
listening to a very intelligent but down-to-earth friend
explain a difficult topic. The authors are excellent at
organizing and presenting the material. . . . The illustrations
are superior to other texts in all ways.
Patricia Hartshorn
University of Michigan–Dearborn
 
Student-Centered Research
The Good Earth can be used as a text for a traditional, teacher-­
centered lecture-based course. In fact, we have taken great care to
write a book that students would find more engaging than a typical
text. But the greatest benefit will come when the book is used as part
of an active-learning, student-centered course. For some instruc-
tors, it may simply be a matter of adding some of our exercises to
an existing active-learning class environment. For others, the book
and accompanying materials will give them an ­opportunity to add
components as they gradually change their pedagogy. If you want a
more interactive class, try one or all of the following three recom-
mendations based on research findings:
1. Students learn key concepts better when they have
opportunities to actively monitor their understanding
during class. Rather than just standing up and talking,
the instructor can break lectures into segments separated
by brief exercises to make sure that students understand
concepts before moving on. Students’ understanding must
be frequently challenged to provide an opportunity to
identify misconceptions and replace them with improved,
more realistic models.
 The Good Earth includes hundreds of Checkpoint
exercises that can also be used as handout-ready PDF
files (located on the text website along with answer
keys). Practice makes perfect: the more opportunities
students have to assess their learning and to practice the
application of new skills, the better their performance.
If you are concerned about reduced time for lecture,
we have found that an emphasis on fostering deeper
understanding and less content coverage in lecture,
combined with greater student responsibility for reading,
produced no decrease in content knowledge attainment
and improved student comprehension of key concepts.
Some exercises can be assigned as homework, and the
answer key in the back of the book can help students to
assess their self-directed-learning.
them to answer questions that require the use of higher-
order thinking skills (for example, analysis, synthesis,
evaluation). Brain research shows that people become
smarter when they experience cognitive challenges.
However, it is important not to throw students into the
deep end without any help. Instead, instructors need to
step through a series of problems of increasing difficulty
(scaffolding) so that they can train students to correctly
apply their newly acquired thinking skills.
Therefore, we have carefully created a series of color-
coded Checkpoint exercises for each section of every
chapter. The exercises are pitched at four skill levels:
basic, intermediate, advanced, and superior, to give
students and instructors an opportunity to scaffold student
understanding of key concepts. The questions represent
four levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. Blue and green questions
typically are comprehension and application-level
questions. Yellow and red checkpoints typically require
analysis, synthesis, or evaluation skills. It is not necessary
to complete all the exercises; instructors can select the
exercises that are most appropriate for their learning goals.
Basic Advanced
Intermediate Superior
comprehension analysis evaluation
knowledge application synthesis
© PhotoAlto/Punchstock
This was kind of a neat idea, and the questions [Checkpoints]
do get quite challenging at higher orders. I feel these are
good things for students to do while studying, with the idea
that if they understand the higher order questions they will
understand concepts better for exams. I thought these
checkpoints have some very well-formulated questions in the
chapters I reviewed.
Swarndeep Gill
California University of Pennsylvania

I like the fact that the authors are mindful and well versed in science education research and pedagogy. This aspect of the author’s
background is evident in the design of the Checkpoint questions.

The use of Concept Maps and Venn Diagrams is fairly cutting edge for introductory Earth Science textbooks that I am familiar with.
This is probably the most innovative aspect of this book and distinguishes it from similar texts, even though the content is presented
very similarly to other texts.
Jeffrey Templeton
Western Oregon University
 b. 4
chemical structure. An important halide, or material with chlo- have found only a few rocks on Earth’s surface that were formed
ms come from. a. The Colorado River begins as a small
rine or stream onisthe
fluorine, slopes
halite, or of Rocky Mountain
common salt. Last,National Park,
phosphate-based close to the time the planet was created.
ny (left) and Monongahela (right) rivers join to form the Ohio minerals
nonsilicate River in Pittsburgh.
are commonly used in agricultural products During their lifetime, minerals and elements in Earth’s
www.mhhe.com/thegoodearth
.5b: © Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images such as fertilizer. Exploration for minerals requires that geologists crust can be recycled through several different rocks. For xi
recognize the telltale evidence that signals the presence of use- example, follow the possible fate of a grain of quartz sand on a
ful mineral deposits. Geologic processes that result in the concen- beach: As the sea level rises, that beach may become flooded,
Sort ... Checkpoint
tration 11.1
of mineral resources
basic
can be dividedintermediate
advanced
into thosesuperior
associated and the sand may be incorporated into a sedimentary rock such
Evaluate the five
ams with as sandstone. Over time, the forces of plate tectonics may cause
Sort the following 12 terms into six pairs of terms that most and
chemical reactions resulting from changing temperatures
the sandstone to be buriedmost deep inimportant
the crust during a period
meltwater) and rain run off the slopes movement of fluids
closely relate through
to one another.rocks and those
Explain formed by the physi-
your choices.
, becoming a source of freshwater. That cal rearrangement of earth materials during erosion, transport, and of mountain building. The factors ...
higher temperatures and pressures
nvisible depressions and carves out small groundwater
deposition. plants may be formed during
The raw materials transpiration
one part of common in regional 332metamorphism may convert the sandstone
m a permanent stream, the source of the thestream ice
rock cycle but concentrated infiltration
during a later stage. Consequently, to quartzite. Magma rising from the mantle may melt the adja-
.5a). More than 30 million people depend it rainfall
becomes important to precipitation
know not only how rocks waterform
vapor but also cent quartzite, assimilating the quartz grain into the magma.
ado River, much of which originates as gas might happen to them
what meltwater runoff
in the millions of years that follow. Checkpoint
The elements of the quartz 12.12
grain (silicon,
basic advanced
oxygen) may recom- intermediate superior
tore twice the freshwater of streams and bine with other elements to form new minerals as the magma
Groundwater Evaluation Rubric
solidifies to form granite within the crust. Erosion eventually
stination) for many rivers. For instance,
ppi River is a relatively small lake (about Checkpoint 11.2 basic advanced exposes the rock, breaking it down to its constituent minerals and
intermediate superior
You are
rock fragments (sediment), asked
which aretocarried
help locate a new aquifer
by streams to the that will supply
uare miles) in Minnesota.
of the water falling as precipitation over
Checkpoint 7.22
Imagine that it rained continuously all over the
basic world
intermediate
for a
advanced
superior coast, where the grainsyouraretown with water.
deposited In examining
on a beach. the potential sites,
And the cycle
month. If we were to measure the depth of the oceans over begins again. you recognize that several different factors will influence
uit to the oceans by surface Match thein
runoff Rock Cycle Diagram
a 5-day period near the end of the month, what would we groundwater
Likewise, an igneous availability
rock can and ata new
remelt to form no single
igne- site are all of the
t take for water that falls as precipitation
lettered
average, the residence time, the length
observe? Explain your choice.
The following diagram illustrates some of the interactions ous rock, a sedimentary rockoptimal.
factors can re-erode and become
You decide another
to create a scoring scheme
5%
ume of water remainsresponses
in streams, is... of thea.rock
Ocean depths
cycle. risethe
Match steadily.
lettered responses to the blank sedimentary rock, and to aevaluate
metamorphic
the mostrock can be heated
important factorsand
that will influence
ates of water infiltration are slow com- ovalsb.onOcean depths fall
the diagram. steadily.
(Note: Some letters are used more transformed over and theover. Each cycleofmay
availability last millions
groundwater. or location
The even that scores
only a small amount of the precipitation than c.once.)
Ocean depths If
Example: stay
youthebelieve
same. that metamorphic rock billions of years. Keepthe
in mind thataccording
highest we are not to
adding new material
the rubric will be selected for the
join water stored in rocks and sediment. is converted to magma by cementation and compaction, to Earth, so any rockswell
forming today must be recycling elements
field. One factor is included as an example in the table
enter “a” in the top left oval. from rocks formed at some time earlier in the planet’s history. Figure 12.20
below; identify five more. U
2005. More tha
a. Cementation and compaction (lithification) Mineral Resources liters) of ground
MGua­dwa (2 ­GGu (3
b. Heat and pressure The term mineral resource FdcwG­nd PGG­ (1 pGiow)
refers to nonfood, nonfuel resources of this was used
pGiownd) pGiownd)
c. Weathering, transportation, deposition such as metals (for example, aluminum, palladium) and industrial Public supplies
d. Cooling and solidification 10/07/16 03:35 PM
minerals (for example, gypsum,
Depth to phosphate). The development other uses. The
e. Melting of mineral resources depends
Deep Intermediate
on more than just the presence of
water table
Shallow
by mining, utilit
a mineral deposit. The average concentration of minerals in the Adapted from US
Magma crust is insufficient to form an economically valuable mineral
deposit. The concentration factor (CF) is the increase in the con- Stephen Long
centration of a mineral required to generate an economic deposit. tion and . . . uni
their subsistenc
irrigation, the G
Metamorphic rock Igneous rock agricultural eco
Checkpoint 7.23 basic
intermediate
advanced
superior
half of the natio
precipitation al
Use information at the Minerals Education Coalition
(www.mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals) or
approximately
the USGS Minerals Yearbook (http://minerals.usgs. ing its 5-month
Confirming Pages However, the ea
gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/myb/) to make a list of
Sedimentary rock Sediment 10 different minerals that are used to manufacture objects (18 inches) of p
that you would use everyday. Try to find at least three part of the state
minerals that you have not heard of before. Irrigatio
Chapter 6 Volcanoes and Mountains taken from a sin
Ogallala) aquife
s (1,310 feet) in height composed of s
of larger shield volca- Checkpoint 6.19 basic
intermediate
advanced
superior
12.4 A Case Study: The High Because it is a
because they are com- Venn Diagram: Shield Volcanoes, infiltrating from
flows may form from Stratovolcanoes, and Cinder Cones Plains Aquifer
I have to compliment you on putting together Checkpoint 3.3. aquifer’s saturat
have been expended. ing its greatest
This was probably the best evaluation tool I have seen for vary along its l
Use the Venn diagram provided here to compare and Learning Objectives 09/30/16 06:30 PM
mcc22886_ch07_172-207.indd 203
contrast the three principal types of volcanoes. Place the Compare determining whether a student really understands the shallow, typical
• Describe the location and properties of the High
n volcanoes collapse number corresponding to features unique to each type in and meaning of the words
Plains aquifer.we use to describe the scientific Ground
the larger areas of the circles; note features they share in 1930s in Texas
a linear fissure (a long
the overlap area in the center of the image. Five items are contrast ... methods•(hypothesis,
Sketch a graph prediction, etc.). in groundwater
showing changes other groundw
h a central vent. Other
provided; identify at least 12 more. levels in the aquifer from 1900 to 2000.
s where groundwater Neil Lundbergquarter of the
• Explain why the High Plains aquifer water table is of groundwater
1. Associated with subduction zones dropping in some places but isFlorida StateinUniversity
not changing other draw water from
ms when a stratovol- 2. Have a triangular shape in profile locations. kilometers (174
llow, empty magma 3. Example: Mount Hood, Oregon
irrigation-susta
Calderas vary in size 4. Mild eruptions
3. Knowledge Approximately two-thirds
is socially of all theand
constructed fresh groundwater
people learn best Just as w
5. Intermediate-silica magma
pumped from aquifers in the United States is used for irrigation is no contempo
basic advanced Stratovolcanoes Shield Volcanoes in(Figure
supportive social
12.20). Much settings.
of this irrigationStudents do not enter
occurs in agricultural landsour The aquifer is
intermediate superior
classrooms as empty
west of the Mississippi Rivervessels to be occupied
in the region filled with
by theknowledge.
Great that occurs from
Plains states
Instead, theyof Texas, Oklahoma,
actively constructKansas, and Nebraska
mental modelsandthat
their of the water in
neighbors. Early explorers dubbed this region the “Great American sands of years a
olcanoes illustrated assimilate new an
Desert.” Leading information
expedition throughwith the previous experiences.
area in 1819, Major the end of the l
seful to review
ee Chapter 4
This construction of knowledge happens most readily
questions. when students work in small collaborative groups (three
to four students), where they can talk and listen to peers
are
as they build their understanding of new concepts.
Students must be provided with opportunities to be self-
mcc22886_ch12_314-341.indd 332

d with the reflective about their learning and to help them learn how
to learn. Our research confirmed that students in classes
Cinder Cones
where small groups worked to solve challenging problems
outperformed students in classes where they worked on
the same problems independently.
xii
© PhotoAlto/Punchstock
It is set up very user friendly and will make it easy for
instructors to create an interactive learning environment.
Also, the way the chapters and questions are laid out,
students will know exactly what they should be getting from
the chapter and how to test their knowledge and skills.
Jessica Kapp
University of Arizona
Whether you choose to use informal groups (“turn and talk to
your neighbors”) or formal groups determined by experiences
(for example, number of science classes, scores on pretests, aca-
demic rank), collaborative learning is a powerful mechanism for
maintaining attendance, increasing student-instructor dialogue,
and enhancing learning. The Checkpoint exercises (especially
advanced and superior level) and conceptests (conceptual mul-
tiple choice questions) provided with the book will give you many
assignments that you can use as the basis for group work.
For detailed information regarding concept maps, Venn dia-
grams, Bloom’s taxonomy, assessment, and so forth, please consult
the Instructor’s Manual.
Tools for Teaching and Learning Science Literacy
Science can be thought of in three ways: as a body of knowledge, as
the processes that people employ to explain the universe, and as a set
of attitudes and values possessed by those who “do science.” This lat-
ter aspect is often overlooked in college science textbooks. For each
chapter of The Good Earth, the Instructor’s Manual gives sugges-
tions for incorporating into class discussion science attitudes and val-
ues such as open-mindedness, skepticism, persistence, and curiosity.
Additionally, the discussion of the scientific method is woven
throughout the text. We emphasize three scientific themes throughout
the text: 1) scientific literacy, 2) earth science and human experience,
and 3) the science of global change. Numerous examples of human
interaction with Earth serve as introductions to each chapter. Each
chapter includes examples of the connection between science and
technology, and builds on a context or event familiar to the student.
We believe that links to students’ past knowledge and experience are
essential foundations upon which to build deeper understanding.
In addition to the theme of global change permeating the
text, we devote a full chapter to the topic and do not duck the tough
issues related to it. We use data and evidence to help students build
their own understanding and assist them to realize that “Much of
what lies ahead for the good Earth is up to us. Know, care, act.”
Preface
I am pleased to see the final chapter on global change;
most students assume that climate change is a political
debate, so it is nice to see a textbook that discusses the
science behind the news.
Bryan C. Wilbur
Pasadena City College
Ways to Direct Learning
Rather than put key vocabulary terms in bold, we put key concepts
in bold font. Our rationale is that conceptual understanding is the
goal; vocabulary terms alone may not lead to the understanding
that we desire. Research suggests that listing key terms encourages
the memorization of those terms, rather than the understanding of
the associated concepts—rather like learning words in a foreign
language but being unable to put together a sentence. To make stu-
dents fluent in science, we chose to focus on a vocabulary that builds
students’ conceptual understanding of major ideas in earth science.
These ideas were recommended by standards-setting groups, such as
the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Students can use the Checkpoint surveys to self-evaluate
their comprehension of the major concepts in the section. Self-
evaluation is a life skill that persists far longer than the evaluation
imposed by an outside party (that is, the instructor). We believe in
ongoing assessment tied to each key concept while ideas are still
fresh. In contrast, other texts may provide tools for assessment only
at the end of the chapter, after all of the content has been covered.
National Committee on Science Education
Standards and Assessment
National Research Council
LEARNING SCIENCE IS AN ACTIVE PROCESS. Learning science is
something students do, not something that is done to them. In
learning science, students describe objects and events, ask
questions, acquire knowledge, construct explanations of natural
phenomena, test those explanations in many different ways, and
communicate their ideas to others. Science teaching must involve
students in inquiry-oriented investigations in which they interact
with their teachers and peers.
FOCUS AND SUPPORT INQUIRIES. Student inquiry in the science
classroom encompasses a range of activities. Some activities
provide a basis for observation, data collection, reflection, and
analysis of firsthand events and phenomena. Other activities
encourage the critical analysis of secondary sources—including
media, books, and journals in a library.
ENCOURAGE AND MODEL THE SKILLS OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY,
AS WELL AS THE CURIOSITY, OPENNESS TO NEW IDEAS, AND
SKEPTICISM THAT CHARACTERIZE SCIENCE.
USE MULTIPLE METHODS AND SYSTEMATICALLY GATHER DATA
ON STUDENT UNDERSTANDING AND ABILITY. Because
assessment information is a powerful tool for monitoring the
development of student understanding, modifying activities, and
promoting student self-reflection, the effective teacher of science
carefully selects and uses assessment tasks that are also good
learning experiences.
www.mhhe.com/thegoodearth xiii
First Pages

Self-Reflection Survey: Section 1.1 that is currently generating research in a wide variety of disciplin
relating to all components of the earth system, including geolog
Respond to the following questions as a means of uncovering ecology, oceanography, and climatology. This work involves tho
what you already know about Earth and earth science. 477
sands of scientists across the globe and has implications for th
Often students have some fundamental
long-term quality of life for you and your families and is likely
knowledge of earth science and, when 1. Which of the following earth science phenomena have you
Self-Reflection Survey:
require Section
challenging 17.1decisions within your lifetime. Futu
social
experienced? Which would you most like to experience?
reminded, are able to apply this information to0.5 Northern Hemisphere economic, cultural, and political choices in all the world’s nation

Departures in temperature (°C)

from the 1961 to 1990 average
Can you think of three more things to add to the list? Answer the following questions as a means of uncovering
will depend on the rate and degree of change. We will follow th
the introduction of new concepts. Each • A volcanic eruption
theme of
what you already global
know change
about through
global change.many of the chapters of The Goo
chapter includes a Self-Reflection Survey to 0.0 • A glacier
Earth and use it to show the links among the components of th
• A river in flood
promote awareness of personal experiences. earthtosystem.
1. Respond As youquestions
the following will see, there
takenisfrom
littlerecent
that happens on Ear
• A cave system CNNthat
anddoesn’t
Gallup involve multiple
polls, and compareearth system
your answerscomponents.
to
• An underground mine
−0.5 those of other respondents. (See footnote to compare
• A canyon responses.*)

−1.0
• An earthquake
• Data
Anfromerosional coastline
thermometers (red) and(rocky cliffs)
from tree rings, i. 1.2 The Scope of (Earth) Science
Which of the following statements comes closest
• corals, ice cores and historical
A depositional coastlinerecords (blue)
(beaches) to your view of global warming?
1000 1200• A hot desert 1600
1400 1800 2000 Learning
a. Global Objectives
warming is a proven fact and is mostly
• A continental divide • Describe
caused the principal
by emissions from carsearth system components.
and industrial
Figure 17.2 Instrumental and proxy global
• Rock layers with fossils temperature record. facilities such as power plantsdefinition
and factories.
Temperatures are compared to aassembled
standard represented by a
• Write a one-sentence of the term science
• A big, dinosaur skeleton b. Global warming is a proven
30-year mean temperature between
• A meteor 1961 and
shower 1990. Recent
or comet • Identify examples of fact
the and is that
tools mostly
scientists use to
caused by natural
learn about changes
Earth. that have nothing
temperatures have been • higher
The aurora than borealis
at any point
(the in the previous
northern lights) to do with emissions from cars and industrial
1,000 years. • A meteorite crater facilities.
• A mountain range over 3,000 meters (over
c.Earth
GlobalSystem
warming isBasics
a theory that has not yet
10,000 feet) in elevation
is one which affects at thetop
• The sameof atime an entire community or
cloud In been proved.
The Good Earth, we introduce you to the study of earth scienc
neighborhood,
2. orWhat
any considerable
three questions number of persons,
about although
Earth would you like to d.Earth is a complex system of interacting rock, water, air, and life whe
Unsure.
the extent of the annoyance
be able toor damage
answer byinflicted
the endupon individuals
of this course? the components and interactions cycle energy and mass throughout th
ii. In thinking about the issue of global warming,
may be unequal. system at a variety of timescales. Changes in one part of this comple
sometimes called the greenhouse effect, how well
California Legislative Council. Civil Code do you feel you understand this issue?
Section 3479-3486.5
a. b. a. Very well. Figure 1.3 The
Can global warming be considered a public nuisance for Flor- b. Fairly well. four components of
ida homeowners visited by three hurricanes in 2 years? How about a the earth system:
c. Not very well.
ski resort community in the Colorado Rockies where less snow falls atmosphere,
d. Not at all. hydrosphere,
than in the past and then melts a month earlier than expected? What
about the residents of a coastal city in California threatened by rising iii. Which of the following statements reflectsbiosphere,
your and
seas? In recent years, several states and cities have sued a group of view of when the effects of global warminggeosphere.
will All
US power companies, claiming that their carbon dioxide emissions begin to happen? components interact
represent a public nuisance. These companies produce 10 percent of with the solar radiation
a. They have already begun to happen.
US emissions, equivalent to the total carbon dioxide production of and other elements
b. They will start happening within a few from
years.space. How
nations such as Canada or the United Kingdom.
Visuals are of great importance for understanding Areearth powerscience companiesconcepts.
liable for theThe GoodofEarth
production green- many components
c. They will start happening within my lifetime.
are featured in each
features two-page Snapshots to emphasizehouse gases in the same
an important concept way as cigarette
in every companies
chapter. have been held d. They will not happen within my lifetime, but
image?
responsible for lung cancer? If a company continues to produce they will affect the future.
1.3a: USGS; 1.3b: NOAA;
greenhouse gases, despite evidence that these gases cause changes e. They will never happen. 1.3c: USDA; 1.3d:
to global climate, can it be held legally responsible for the conse- © Dr. Parvinder Sethi
quences? On the other hand, is everyone who drives a car equally
THE SOLAR SYSTEM c.
guilty . . . or just SUV owners? The US Supreme Court decision
placed responsibility for regulating greenhouse gases in the hands
d. 2. Make a list of at least three advantages and three
disadvantages of an increase in temperatures in the
URANUS
region where you live. ThenPLUTO
Uranus’ s axis is tilted at 98 degrees. Its poles
do the same for Earth as
are pointed towards the sun. Due to its 84-year long The average temperature

COMET of the Environmental Protection Agency, raising the potential for orbit, the planet’s poles experience 21 years of night
a whole.
or day depending on their position.
on icy “dwarf planet” Pluto is
-233° C. Sunlight on Pluto is only
future
Some comets orbit the sun every few years;
others take as long as 30 million years to rules about how much carbon dioxide and other gases can 0.0001 times as strong as on Earth.

are less than 10 km (6 miles) across. be released from vehicles, power plants, and industries.
complete an orbit. The nuclei of most comets
3. Make a list of three reasons that could explain why a
In Chapter 1, we described research on the changes in global larger proportion of the public now believe that global
climates as an example of “big science” that involved JUPITERthe work of warming is occurring.
thousands of researchers around the world. There Romanare seven broad
Jupiter is named for the king of the
gods and makes up two-thirds of NEPTUNE
EARTH all the planetary mass in the solar system. Neptune is so far from the sun that it
Withoutresearch
our moon, Earth categories—atmospheric composition, the carbon cycle, *Poll results are: i) a. 54%; b. 22%; c. 23%; d. 1%. ii)still
a. has
21%; b. 59%; c. 18%; d. 2%. iii) a. 61%;
not made a complete orbit
would wobble on its
axis, changing how much solar radiation was
b. 4%; c. 10%; d. 13%; e. 11%. (Totals
since may not
it was add to 100%
discovered in 1846.due to rounding.)
receivedecosystems,
over different parts of population
its surface, resulting and global change, the global water cycle,
in a much more unstable climate system.

MERCURY
ancient climates, and Earth’s climate system—that are essential to
Mercury is just a little bigger than Earth’s
moon and travels around the sun faster
our understanding of global change. Keep that list in mind as you book, by glimpsing SATURN
at a future, warmer world and examining how
than any other planet, at an average speed
of 172,000 km/h (107,000 mph).
read this chapter, which describes how scientists have worked to Earth might look if Saturn’s
the predicted temperature changes occur over
density is less than that of water.
Saturn’s rings cover a distance nearly equal to

understand how all the components of the earth system interact to the next century. Reader, you will have to decide if these changes
the distance from Earth to the moon.

influence life on this good Earth. We finish the chapter, and the are for better or worse.
MARS
mcc22886_ch01_001-023.indd 7 10/07/16 03:21 P
If Earth were the size
of a nickel, Mars would
be the size of an
aspirin tablet.

Orbits not to scale.

VENUS mcc22886_ch17_474-504.indd 477
Orbits viewed from an angled-perspective above the orbital
10/14/16 03:13 PM
Venus is the hottest planet in the Neptune
solar system. Its clouds reflect so much
Mars
sunlight that Venus is the brightest
planet in the night sky.
ASTEROID BELT Pluto
All the asteroids mashed together would make
THE SUN up a body about one-tenth the size of our moon.
Asteroids that pass close to Earth are known
Our sun is one of 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Saturn Jupiter
as near-Earth objects.
stars in the universe. The sun’s interaction with
Earth drives our ocean currents, weather
patterns, and climate. Uranus

JUPITER
VENUS EARTH SATURN Rock
Solid core
MARS URANUS
MERCURY NEPTUNE Water, ammonia,
Liquid core methane ices

Liquid, metallic
Mantle hydrogen

Liquid hydrogen
Crust

Hydrogen, helium,
methane gas
20,000 km 50,000 km
xiv Preface
Confirming Pages

We frequently hear complaints that students don’t get the Big Picture and become lost in the vocabulary or in trying to
memorize facts. We responded to this concern by connecting a chapter- opening “Big Picture” question and photo to the
end-of-chapter
170
summary, titled The Big Picture, to help students link the key concepts before moving to a new chapter.
Chapter 6 Volcanoes and Mountains

the big picture

When Mount St. Helens began rumbling in 1980, teams of sci-
entists rushed to the mountain with truckloads of instruments to tephra would ever reach Tacoma. In addition,
monitor the activity. Still, the May 18 eruption came as a surprise. lava flows and pyroclastic debris would not
Despite the experience of the scientists and the sophistication of extend beyond the foot of the mountain, stay-
the devices they deployed, little detailed information on the erup- ing tens of kilometers short of Tacoma. Still,
tive history of the volcano had been gathered beforehand and few large lahars have the potential to reach the
monitoring instruments had been collecting data. That is no longer northern suburbs of the city and enter neighboring Puget Sound.
the case. In the past quarter-century, scientists have made a con- Even if Tacoma is safe, many smaller towns lie in stream valleys
certed effort to place a variety of instruments around the volcano, just a 10-minute trip from the volcano by lahar. It is the residents
and even in space, to monitor every rumble and movement. Even of towns such as Ashford, Packwood, and Orting (Figure 6.33)
with what they know today, it is unlikely that volcanologists would who need an early warning system for volcanoes.
have predicted the precise time of the May 18 eruption. But they
would have known enough to have more vigorously encouraged
the authorities to move people farther from the volcano itself, dra-
matically reducing the loss of life.
Educating the public is an important factor in reducing the
effects of hazards such as volcanoes. Education should provide a
scientifically literate population with the necessary skills to criti-
cally respond to scientists’ assertions. Deciding what evidence to
dismiss and what to pay attention to might mean the difference
between life and death for those who live in the shadow of an
active volcano. The people living near Mount St. Helens in 1980
weighed the evidence and the accompanying call to action. Some
heeded the call to evacuate, while others ignored the evidence pro-
vided by the volcanologists, chose to hold their ground, and paid
for their decision with their lives.
Mount St. Helens is one of only a few US volcanoes with
such a high degree of monitoring. However, the US Geological
Survey plans to create a National Volcano Early Warning System
that would identify the most threatening volcanic hazards, includ-
ing the number of people and the extent of property endangered.
A preliminary assessment of volcanic threat identified more than
50 volcanoes as high-threat or very-high-threat sites and recom-
mended that each volcano have an extensive network of monitoring
equipment to identify the first signs of unrest. Few such networks
are currently deployed, and some of these volcanoes have no mon-
Confirming Pages
itoring systems at all.
One of the volcanoes in the very-high-threat group is Mount
Rainier, pictured looming over Tacoma, Washington, at the begin-
ning of this chapter. At 4,392 meters (14,410 feet), Mount Rainier is
the tallest and most imposing volcano in Washington. It is located
171
about 70 kilometers (43 miles) southeast of Tacoma. What ques-
tions would you ask if you lived in Tacoma?
Volcanoes and mountains are both part of the geosphere in the Himalaya Mountains and other young mountain belts.
Historical records indicate that Mount Rainier does not FigureHowever,
6.33 Lahar
component of the earth system. bothhazards associated
have the poten- with AMount
recentRainier,
magnitude-7.9 quake in south-central China, at the east-
erupt with the frequency of Mount St. Helens. The distance of Washington.
tial to influence, or be influenced by, all other components of ern end of the Himalayas, demolished whole towns, killed more
the peak and the prevailing westerly winds make it unlikely that USGS
the system. While scenic mountains may seem relatively benign, than 88,000 people, and left nearly 5 million homeless. The unrest
they are formed by movements on faults, movements that gener- continues; Earth at this very moment is shifting, rumbling, build-
ate damaging earthquakes. Building a mountain range like the ing, and decaying. We must carefully observe and prepare.
Himalayas involves thousands of faults that generate millions of
earthquakes. Unfortunately, major earthquakes are still common Volcanoes and Mountains: Concept Map
Complete the following concept map to evaluate your understand-
ing of the interactions between the earth system and volcanoes
Interaction Letter and mountains. Match the following interactions with the lettered
Eruption melted ice on Nevado del Ruiz to
labels on the figure, using the information from this chapter.
cause fatal lahars.
Sulfur dioxide blocks incoming sunlight.
Added water causes partial melting of
mantle. Exosphere
Volcanoes add CO2 and sulfur dioxide to
atmosphere. A B
Commercial airlines are at risk from tephra
mcc22886_ch06_138-171.indd 170
clouds. 10/07/16 07:29 PM C
Solar radiation heats Tibetan plateau. Atmosphere Hydrosphere
Rain strips CO2 from atmosphere. D
Krakatau eruption generated massive
tsunami.
Tephra is carried downwind over cities. K L
Some 500 million people are in risk zones
I J E F
for volcanoes; trees are knocked down.
Industrial materials are swept into rivers and M
lakes from mudflows.
N
Monsoon rains result from air rising over
Himalayas.
G
Weathering processes break down rocks in Geosphere Biosphere
mountains.
H
Instrumentation of volcanoes.
www.mhhe.com/thegoodearth
157
xv

Numerous diagrams, photos,

and tables support visual
processes and concepts.

Confirming Pages

a.

Figure
110 6.15 Hawaiian lava. a. A lava tube transports hot, fluid, Chapter 5 Earthquakes
low-viscosity basalt lava toward the front of a lava flow on
whichvolcano,
Kilauea have populations
Hawaii. b. in excessKalapana
Walter’s of 500,000 each
Store (Figure
and 5.3).
Drive-in
wasBecause
burned ofandthis threat,
buried locala few
within building
weekscodes in these
in 1990 areas
as lava fromnow Checkpoint 5.4 basic
intermediate
advanced
superior

therequire
Kilaueastricter
volcano foundation designs, redundant
invaded communities alongcollapse-prevention
the southern Are earthquake insurance rates based on inductive or deductive
a.
mechanisms
coast of Hawaii.inNote
buildings, and greater
the height of the separation between
original sign. buildings
How deep is reasoning? Explain your choice. (Review information on
theso they
lava at don’t crash into one another when they sway.
this location? inductive and deductive reasoning from Chapter 1 if necessary.) Figure 8.
If6.15b
6.15a: USGS, these(top):
newUSGS;
building codes
6.15b are not
(middle): followed,
USGS; many people
6.15b (bottom): Canyon.
could die in an earthquake. For example, following an earthquake
USGS; of the ho
in 1999 in Izmit, Turkey, engineers discovered that some contrac- in the ca
tors had failed to use proper materials to construct multistory 5.3 Faults, Earthquakes, record fo
apartment complexes. Those buildings collapsed, killing most of eon (Pha
the occupants. In contrast, buildings in Seattle and the surrounding and Plate Tectonics Adapted f
communities sustained relatively little structural damage follow- Kaibab Fo
ing a strong 2001 earthquake because building codes had been fol- Learning Objectives Toroweap
lowed. Nobody was killed, and only a handful of people received b. • Define what is meant by the terms focus, epicenter, Coconino
anything more than minor injuries. and fault.
Hermit Fo
Supai Gro
• Explain how faults are classified.
Checkpoint 5.3 basic
intermediate
advanced
superior
• Discuss how plate movements measured in b.
Redwall L

The discovery of the potential for megathrust earthquakes centimeters per

Ashyear
and can result in earthquakes Temple Bu
on the Cascadia subduction zone is an example of how Crater rim generatedvolcanic gases
by faults that move several meters at a8.15
Figure time.Recently discovered Tiktaalik fossil. a. This is
scientific explanations are developed. Briefly explain how • Describe the global distribution of earthquakes.
a transitional fossil between fish and amphibians. The fossil
the development of this hypothesis illustrated the following
• Crater wall was
Compare and contrast the characteristics of discovered on Ellesmere Island, Canada, in 375 million-
characteristics of scientific explanations:
earthquakes that occur along convergentyear-old
and rocks. Several individuals were found, some up
divergent plate boundaries. to nearly 3 meters (9 feet) long. b. A re-creation of what
1. It was provisional (tentative). Exposed layers Muav Lim
Steam Tiktaalik may have looked like in life.
2. It was based on observations. of volcanic rockfractures, similar to the cracks in a sidewalk,
Faults are 8.15a: © where
Ted Daeschler/VIREO; 8.15b: Zina Deretsky, National Bright Ang
To further
3. aid in predictable
It was the understanding
and testable. of earth
processes, many figures
two blocks of rock move past each other. Faults are Science
foundFoundation
any- Tapeats S
4. It offered a natural cause for natural events. where in a tectonic plate where sections of lithosphere can move
include a simple drawing to portray a Geologist’s View.
relative to one another (Figure
Lava 5.5). A majority of earthquakes

Newest section Grand Ca

Crater rim Supergrou
Lava dome of dome these mammal species, such as the woolly mammoth or the giant
ground sloth, went extinct when climate conditions changed about
12,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age.
b. c.
Zoroaster
Figure 6.16 Mount St. Helens. a. View of Mount St. Helens crater. b. As more lava comes to the surface, the dome cracks The Grand Canyon: Geologic Record. Our first look at the
and expands.
c. This releases small volumes of gas and tephra (ash). thick section of sedimentary rocks preserved in the Grand Can-
6.16: USGS; 6.16 (enlargement): Elliot Endo/USGS yon (see Figure 8.2) suggests that each of the 12 periods of the
Phanerozoic eon must be present in the layers of the canyon
walls. However, closer examination of the canyon’s fossils reveals
that the sedimentary rocks represent just five periods, all in the
Paleozoic era, and none of those completely ( Figure 8.16). It is a
little like reading a book with missing pages—you find yourself
mcc22886_ch06_138-171.indd 157 jumping
10/07/16ahead
07:29 PMwithout knowing what happened. In the case of

the Grand Canyon, large parts of the geologic record were subse-
quently removed by erosion or were never preserved in the first
place. Consequently, no matter how thorough our analysis of the organism
canyon’s rocks, it can never give us more than a partial record of Many A
Fault
Earth’s history. when the
covered
Lewis an
a. b. Mass Extinctions grazing o
Geologist’s View While William Smith was at work in England, across the English a profess
Figure 5.5 Signs of movement on a fault. Movement on a The lower part of the slope Channel in France, Georges Cuvier was about to stir things up was the
has moved downward relative in the world of paleontology. Up until this time, most scientists, modern
44-kilometer-long (27-mile-long) fault caused the Hebgen earthquake to the top of the ridge.
in Montana in 1959. a. The fault broke the surface near a ranch including Hutton, had believed that fossils were the remains of ferent sp
(background). b. The fault can be followed for several kilometers along
the south flank of Kirkwood Ridge in the center of the image.
5.5a: USGS, 5.5b: USGS

mcc22886_ch08_208-235.indd 225

mcc22886_ch05_104-137.indd 110 10/07/16 04:27 PM

xvi
How Is This Text Organized?
The Good Earth covers the primary topics included in other earth
science texts. However, there are a few notable differences in its
content compared to other textbooks.
The Good Earth begins with an introduction (­Chapter 1), then
takes up the topic of astronomy (Chapters 2, 3), and moves on to solid
earth (Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and the surficial processes (­Chapters 9,
10, 11, 12), which overlap with the hydrosphere (­Chapters 11, 12, 13),
before dealing with the atmosphere (­Chapters 14, 15, 16) and fin-
ishing with a wrap-up chapter on global change (Chapter 17) that
incorporates elements of all the previous chapters.
Astronomy is dealt with early in the text (Chapters 2 and
3) from the context of Earth’s position in space. By beginning with
Earth’s place in the universe, we give students a “big picture,” set
the context for looking at the uniqueness of this planet in contrast
to our neighbors in space, and hopefully, inspire a bit of wonder
in the reader. In both chapters, we grab the reader’s attention by
emphasizing space from a human perspective. We believe this pro-
vides a more appealing beginning to an earth science class than
the traditional several weeks spent discussing minerals, rocks,
and weathering. Chapter 2, in particular, guides students to see
methods that scientists employ as they build our knowledge of the
planet and its place in the universe.
Plate tectonics appears early (Chapter 4). We introduce this
important unifying concept at the beginning of the text and then use
it as a foundation to introduce other solid earth topics (for example,
earthquakes, volcanoes). Because an understanding of plate tecton-
ics is pivotal to all the content that follows in subsequent chapters,
we revisit this concept several times in subsequent chapters, thereby
showing students the interrelationships among the other solid earth
topics, such as rock formation, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
Driven by recent research findings, we have chosen to
emphasize some topics that are discussed briefly or not at all in
other earth science texts. We have included chapters on the threat
of a collision with near-Earth objects (Chapter 3), Earth’s climate
system (Chapter 16), and global change (Chapter 17). In addition,
the continuing debate about the teaching of creationism in the pub-
lic schools has lead us to address this topic head-on in our treat-
ment of geologic time (Chapter 8).
New in This Edition
Updated material in this edition includes references to recent natu-
ral hazards such as the Oso landslide in Washington and frequent
earthquakes in Oklahoma; new data on topics such as US energy
Preface
use, near earth objects (NEOs), changing global temperatures and
sea ice distribution; and references to significant events such as
landing a probe on a comet.
There are many structural changes evident in this edition.
The e-text is now easily used on mobile devices as well as tablets
and PCs.
Additional updates to this edition include:
∙ Many photos have been updated and changed to be more
current and better illustrate concepts
∙ References and discussions have been updated to include:
∙ More complete descriptions of geo-scientific ways of
thinking and habits of mind
∙ Additional concepts related to the characteristics of
complex systems and the Earth as a system
∙ More data and discussion related to extra-solar planets
∙ A narrative related to the 2014 landing of the Philae on
a comet
∙ More examples that illustrate the impacts of
earthquakes on society including a 2015 study related
to Los Angeles
∙ Recent examples of the impact of rivers on society
including the 2015 floods in Texas, Oklahoma and
Death Valley and 2016 floods in the Mississippi River
watershed
∙ New information related to the Flint Michigan water
crisis related to lead in the water supply
∙ Updated statistics related to renewable energy and
electrical generation from wind power
∙ Added information related to global cloud cover and
the impact of clouds on reflecting solar radiation
∙ Updated information on weather hazards and more
recent examples of weather-related deaths from recent
heat waves, floods and other extreme weather events
∙ Updates on changes to sea ice extent in the Arctic and
the impacts on local and global ecosystems
∙ Updated data related to “healing” of the ozone hole
and global trends in CFC concentrations in the
atmosphere
∙ Expanded discussion of global sea level changes and
temperature changes
∙ Additional information relate to global emissions and
how they compare to the past
∙ Figures have been updated and/or replaced throughout
the text to better illustrate key concepts and to provide
updated data.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank the following individuals who wrote and/or
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would like to thank Tom Angelo who guided us through a detailed
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Trent
course on teaching and learning, and gave us many of the tools
McDowell
that helped us link together our teaching goals with appropriate
University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Tristan J. Kloss
learning exercises. We will always be grateful for what we learned
University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Gina Seegers
under his thoughtful instruction. In addition, we are grateful for
Szablewski
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Elise Uphoff
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University of North Carolina—Greensboro,
Jeffrey C. Patton
University of North Carolina—Greensboro,
Michael Lewis
University of North Florida, Jane MacGibbon
Western Oregon University, Don Ellingson
Western Oregon University, Jeffrey Templeton
xx

about the authors The original version of The Good Earth was a product of a team of educa-
tors from the geosciences, science education, and cognitive psychology
whose combined expertise created this text to teach essential earth science
content in an engaging and cognitively supportive way. We wish to thank
our colleagues Kathie Owens, Cathy Knight, and Lisa Park for their contri-
butions to the textbook through the first two editions. The writing team was
reduced to the two principal authors starting with the third e­dition of
the book.

David McConnell grew up in Londonderry,

Northern Ireland, and was hooked on geology
when he took his first course in high school with
an inspirational teacher. His earliest geological
exercises involved examining rocks along the
rugged coastlines of Ireland. He graduated with
a degree in geology from Queen’s University, Bel-
fast, before moving to the US to obtain graduate
degrees from Oklahoma State and Texas A&M © Katherine Ryker

Universities. David spent much of his career at the

University of Akron, Ohio, where he met David Steer, beginning a research
partnership that eventually resulted in the book you are now holding. David
relocated to North Carolina State University to build a geoscience educa-
tion research group that continues to examine how to improve the student
learning experience in large general education science classes.
David has taught a dozen different courses from introductory geo-
science classes to advanced graduate courses. He has received several
teaching awards, and he and his collaborators and graduate students have
made many presentations and published articles on their educational
research. When pressed for some personal information, David will tell you
that he loves collecting vinyl records, is way too attached to Tottenham
Hotspur football club, and enjoys spending weeks each summer hiking
trails through a mountain range somewhere.

David Steer was fascinated with rocks as a

child in Ohio. That interest was nurtured by his
participation in a National Science Foundation–­
sponsored geology field camp for high school
students that took him to the Black Hills of
South Dakota. David’s plan to become a geolo-
gist had to wait when he accepted an appoint-
ment to West Point and then served for a decade
as an Army Corps of Engineers officer. While Courtesy of David
Steer
in the military, David attended Cornell Univer-
sity, earning a Master’s of Engineering degree. He was then assigned

xx
www.mhhe.com/thegoodearth
to West Point Military Academy, where he taught physics. After leav-
ing the service, David returned to Cornell University to pursue his
early geological interests at the Ph.D. level, albeit in the field of geo-
physics. He began his appointment at the University of Akron in 1999.
Several years ago, David began employing student-­
centered
learning techniques in his large introductory earth science classes.
He has extensive experience in using conceptual questions, physical
models, and other active learning techniques. His education research,
allowing him to identify at-risk students very early in the course
so that effective intervention can occur, has produced scholarly
­publications in the Journal of Geoscience Education and numerous
national and regional conference presentations. David has been recog-
nized for his extensive research and teaching scholarship at the institu-
tional and national ­levels. He and David McConnell were recognized
together as National Association of Geoscience Teachers Distinguished
Speakers and travel the country making presentations about their
­ Kathie says that being a member of The Good
educational research.
On a more personal note, David frequently experiments with using
golf clubs as seismic energy sources and travels the country with his fam-
ily with a goal of visiting every national park in the continental United
States. David brings military discipline to the team and is one of the prin-
cipal g­ eo-science content writers. David made this comment about his
participation: “Writing this text has been both rewarding and humbling.
That endeavor constantly reminded me how much I still have to learn
about our planet.”
xxi
Contributing Authors
Catharine Knight originally hails from Minne-
apolis, Minnesota. Cathy has become an expert
in effective teaching and learning, and in cogni-
tive support of learning for humans. Her research
has focused on making the science of cognitive
development accessible, practical, and applicable
to teachers and instructors in the real world. © Dr. Walter J.
She has devoted more than 25 years to the Kuleck
study of how students learn and develop, and how instructors can effec-
tively teach, given the characteristics of both students and the concepts and
content to be learned.
Katharine Owens or Kathie, as she’s called infor-
mally, is the other education member of the team.
Earth writing team is one of the highlights of her
long career in education. She reports that her inter-
est in science began when she watched the Apollo
8 astronauts circle the moon and greet everyone on
“the good Earth” from their vantage point millions
of miles away. Courtesy Lisa Park
Kathie is convinced that how a subject is
taught is equally as important as what is taught and that, if the instructor’s
methods make the content dull and boring or the students are not chal-
lenged to think through the content, much is lost.
 1

The Good Earth

Although we have long understood Earth’s position in space, the unique nature of our
planet was not fully appreciated until we were able to look at our home from some
distance. The astronauts aboard the Apollo 8 spacecraft were the first people to travel
to the moon and were the first to glimpse our home planet from distant space. This view
of Earth, commonly known as “Earthrise,” was one of the most well-known images of
the twentieth century. The photograph was taken by astronaut William Anders during
Apollo 8’s fourth orbit of the moon on Christmas Eve 1968. (The original image was
actually rotated so that the moon’s surface was near-vertical and to the right of Earth.)
A few hours after snapping the photograph, the Apollo crew read the first 10 verses of the
book of Genesis during a broadcast to Earth. At the end of the reading, Commander Frank
Borman closed communications with “. . . Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of
you on the good Earth.” For many at home, those early views of the planet from the inky
darkness of space illustrated the unique wonders of the fragile environment we share on
spaceship Earth.

—Frank Borman

NASA
 “The materials of science are the materials of life itself. Science
is part of the reality of living; it is the what, the how, and the why
of everything in our experience. It is impossible to understand
man without understanding his environment and the forces that
have molded him physically and mentally. The aim of science is to
discover and illuminate truth.”
—Rachel Carson, marine biologist

© Imago Stock&people/Newscom
Another random document with
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backwards and forwards so as to suit the focus. Within the box
should be a plain mirror reclining backwards from the tube at an
angle of forty-five degrees. At the top of the box is a square of
unpolished glass, upon which from beneath the picture will be
thrown, and may be seen by raising the lid. To use the camera place
the tube with the lens on it opposite to the object, and having
adjusted the focus, the image will be thrown upon the ground-glass
as above stated, where it may be easily copied by a pencil or in
colors.
The camera obscura used in a public exhibition is a large wooden
box stained black in the inside, and capable of containing from one
to eight persons. It contains a sliding piece, having a sloping mirror
and a double convex lens which may with the mirror be slid up or
down so as to accommodate the lens to near and distant objects.
When the rays proceeding from an object without fall upon the mirror
they are reflected upon the lens, and brought to fall on the bottom of
the box, or upon a table placed horizontally to receive them, which
may be seen by the spectator.

THE MAGIC LANTERN.

This is one of the most pleasing of all optical instruments, and it is
used to produce enlarged pictures of objects, which being painted on
a glass in various colors are thrown upon a screen or white sheet
placed against the wall of a large room. It consists of a sort of tin
box, within which is a lamp, the light of which passes through a great
plano-convex lens fixed in the front. This strongly illuminates the
objects which are painted on the slides or slips of glass, and placed
before the lens in an inverted position, and the rays passing through
them and the lens fall on a sheet or other white surface, placed to
receive the image. The glasses on which the figures are drawn are
inverted, in order that the images of them may be erect.

PAINTING THE SLIDES.

The slides containing the objects usually shown in a magic lantern,
are to be bought at opticians with the lantern, and can be procured
cheaper and better in this way than by any attempt at manufacturing
them. Should, however, the young optician wish to make a few slides
of objects of particular interest to himself, he may proceed as
follows:
Draw first on paper the figures you wish to paint, lay it on the table,
and cover it over with a piece of glass of the above shape; now draw
the outlines with a fine camel’s hair pencil in black paint mixed with
varnish, and when this is dry fill up the other parts with the proper
colors, shading with bister also mixed with varnish. The transparent
colors are alone to be used in this kind of painting.

TO EXHIBIT THE MAGIC LANTERN.

The room for the exhibition ought to be large, and of an oblong
shape. At one end of it suspend a large sheet so as to cover the
whole of the wall. The company being all seated, darken the room,
and placing the lantern with its tube in the direction of the sheet,
introduce one of the slides into the slit, taking care to invert the
figures; then adjust the focus of the glasses in the tube by drawing it
in or out as required, and a perfect representation of the object will
appear.

EFFECTS OF THE MAGIC LANTERN.

Most extraordinary effects may be produced by means of the magic
lantern; one of the most effective of which is a

TEMPEST AT SEA.
This is effected by having two slides painted, one with the tempest
as approaching on one side, and continuing in intensity till it reaches
the other. Another slide has ships painted on it, and while the lantern
is in use, that containing the ships is dexterously drawn before the
other, and represents ships in the storm.
The effects of sunrise, moonlight, starlight, etc., may be imitated
also, by means of double slides, and figures may be introduced
sometimes of fearful proportions.
Heads may be made to nod, faces to laugh; eyes may be made to
roll, teeth to gnash; crocodiles may be made to swallow tigers;
combats may be represented; but one of the most instructive uses of
the slides is to make them illustrative of astronomy, and to show the
rotation of the seasons, the cause of eclipses, the mountains in the
moon, spots on the sun, and the various motions of the planetary
bodies, and their satellites.

THE PHANTASMAGORIA.
Between the phantasmagoria and the magic lantern there is this
difference: in common magic lanterns the figures are painted on
transparent glass, consequently the image on the screen is a circle
of light having figures upon it; but in the phantasmagoria all the glass
is made opaque, except the figures, which, being painted in
transparent colors, the light shines through them, and no light can
come upon the screen except that which passes through the figure.
There is no sheet to receive the picture, but the representation is
thrown on a thin screen of silk or muslin placed between the
spectators and the lantern. The images are made to appear
approaching and receding by removing it further from the screen, or
bringing it nearer to it. This is a great advantage over the ordinary
arrangements of the magic lantern, and by it the most astonishing
effects are often produced.

DISSOLVING VIEWS.
The dissolving views, by which one landscape or scene appears to
pass into the other while the scene is changing, are produced by
using two magic lanterns placed side by side, and that can be a little
inclined towards each other when necessary, so as to mix together
the rays of light proceeding from the lenses of each, which produces
that confusion of images, in which one view melts as it were into the
other, which gradually becomes clear and distinct; the principle being
the gradual extinction of one picture, and the production of another.
 HOW TO RAISE A GHOST.
The magic lantern, or phantasmagoria, may be used in a number of
marvelous ways, but in none more striking than in raising an
apparent specter. Let an open box, about three feet long, a foot and
a half broad, and two feet high, be prepared. At one end of this place
a small swing dressing-glass, and at the other let a magic lantern be
fixed with its lenses in a direction towards the glass. A glass should
now be made to slide up and down in the groove, to which a cord
and pulley should be attached, the end of the cord coming to the
back part of the box. On this glass the most hideous specter that can
be imagined may be painted, but in a squat or contracted position,
and when all is done, the lid of the box must be prepared by raising a
kind of gable at the end of the box, and in its lower part an oval hole
should be cut sufficiently large to suffer the rays of light reflected
from the glass to pass through them. On the top of the box place a
chafing-dish, upon which put some burning charcoal. Now light the
lamp in the lantern, sprinkle some powdered camphor or white
incense on the charcoal, adjust the slide on which the specter is
painted, and the image will be thrown upon the smoke. In performing
this feat the room must be darkened, and the box should be placed
on a high table, that the hole through which the light comes may not
be noticed.

THE THAUMATROPE.
This word is derived from two Greek words, one of which signifies
wonder, and the other to turn. It is a very pretty philosophical toy,
and is founded upon the principle in optics that an impression made
upon the retina of the eye lasts for a short interval after the object
which produced it has been withdrawn. The impression which the
mind receives lasts for about the eighth part of a second, as may be
easily shown by whirling round a lighted stick, which if made to
complete the circle within that period, will exhibit not a fiery point, but
a fiery circle in the air.

THE BIRD IN THE CAGE.

Cut a piece of cardboard of the size of a penny piece, and paint on
one side a bird, and on the other a cage; fasten two pieces of thread,
one on each side at opposite points of the card, so that the card can
be made to revolve by twirling the threads with the finger and thumb:
while the toy is in its revolution, the bird will be seen within the cage.
A bat may in the same manner be painted on one side of the card,
and a cricketer upon the other, which will exhibit the same
phenomenon, arising from the same principle.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE PHANTASMASCOPE.

The above named figure is a Thaumatrope, as much as the one we
are about to describe, although the term Phantasmascope is
generally applied to the latter instrument; which consists of a disc of
darkened tin-plate, with a slit or narrow opening in it, about two
inches in length. It is fixed upon a stand, and the slit placed upwards,
so that it may easily be looked through. Another disc of pasteboard,
about a foot in diameter, is now prepared and fixed on a similar
stand, but with this difference, that it is made to revolve round an
axis in the center. On this pasteboard disc, paint in colors a number
of frogs in relative and progressive positions of leaping; make
between each figure a slit of about a quarter of an inch deep: and
when this second disc is made to revolve at a foot distance behind
the first, and the eye is placed near the slit, the whole of the figures,
instead of appearing to revolve with the disc, will all appear in the
attitudes of leaping up and down, increasing in agility as the velocity
of the motion is increased. It is necessary, when trying the effect of
this instrument, to stand before a looking-glass, and to present the
painted face of the machine toward the glass.
A very great number of figures may be prepared to produce similar
effects—horses with riders in various attitudes of leaping, toads
crawling, snakes twisting and writhing, faces laughing and crying,
men dancing, jugglers throwing up balls, etc.; all of which, by the
peculiar arrangement above detailed, will seem to be in motion. A
little ingenuity displayed in the construction and painting of the
figures upon the pasteboard disc will afford a great fund of
amusement.
 CURIOUS OPTICAL ILLUSIONS.
One of the most curious facts relating to the science of vision is the
absolute insensibility of a certain portion of the retina to the
impression of light, so that the image of any object falling on that
point would be invisible. When we look with the right eye, this point
will be about fifteen degrees to the right of the object observed, or to
the right of the axis of the eye, or the point of most distinct vision.
When looking with the left eye, the point will be as far to the left. The
point in question is the basis of the optic nerve, and its insensibility to
light was first observed by the French philosopher, Mariotte. This
remarkable phenomenon may be experimentally proved in the
following manner:—
Place on a sheet of writing-paper, at the distance of about three
inches apart, two colored wafers; then, on looking at the left-hand
wafer with the right eye, at the distance of about a foot, keeping the
eye straight above the wafer, and both eyes parallel with the line
which forms the wafers, the left eye being closed, the right-hand
wafer will become invisible; and a similar effect will take place if we
close the right eye, and look with the left.

ANOTHER.
Cut a circular piece of white paper, about two inches in diameter, and
affix it to a dark wall. At the distance of two feet on each side, but a
little lower, make two marks; then place yourself directly opposite the
paper, and hold the end of your finger before your face, so that when
the right eye is open it shall conceal the mark on your left, and when
the left eye is open the mark on your right. If you then look with both
eyes at the end of your finger the paper disc will be invisible.

ANOTHER.
Fix a similar disc of paper, two inches in diameter, at the height of
your eye on a dark wall; a little lower than this, at the distance of two
feet on the right hand, fix another of about three inches in diameter;
now place yourself opposite the first sheet of paper, and, shutting the
left eye, keep the right eye still fixed on the first object, and when at
the distance of about ten feet, the second piece of paper will be
invisible.

THE PICTURE IN THE AIR.

One of the numerous optical illusions which have from time to time
been evolved by scientific minds, is that of making an image or
picture appear in the air. This is produced by means of a mirror, and
an object in relief, upon which a strong light is thrown—the mirror
being set at such an angle as to throw up the reflection of the image
to a certain point in the view of the spectator. This illusion is
produced as follows: Let a screen be constructed in which is an
arched aperture, the center of which may be five feet from the floor;
behind the screen is placed a large mirror of an elliptical form. An
object is now placed behind the screen, upon which the light of a
strong lamp is thrown from a point above the mirror, and is received
by the mirror and reflected to the center of the arched cavity in the
screen, where it will appear to the spectator. Care should be taken to
place the image in an inverted position, and the light, which must be
very powerful, should be so placed that none of it may reach the
opening.

TO SHOW THAT RAYS OF LIGHT DO NOT

OBSTRUCT EACH OTHER.
Make a small hole in a sheet of pasteboard, and placing it upright
before three candles, placed closely together, it will be found that the
images of all the candle flames will be formed separately on a piece
of paper, laid on the table to receive them. This proves that the rays
of light do not obstruct each other in their progress, although all
cross in passing through the hole.

OPTICS OF A SOAP-BUBBLE.
If a soap-bubble be blown up, and set under a glass, so that the
motion of air may not affect it, as the water glides down the sides
and the top grows thinner, several colors will successively appear at
the top, and spread themselves from thence down the sides of the
bubble, till they vanish in the same order in which they appeared. At
length a black spot appears at the top, and spreads till the bubble
bursts.

THE KALEIDOSCOPE.
If any object be placed between two plane mirrors, inclined towards
each other at an angle of thirty degrees, three several images will be
perceived in the circumference of a circle. On this principle is formed
the kaleidoscope, invented by Sir David Brewster, and by means of
which the reflected images viewed from a particular point exhibit
symmetrical figures, under an infinite arrangement of beautiful forms
and colors. The kaleidoscope may be bought at any novelty store,
but it is requisite that every young person should be able to construct
one for himself. He must, therefore, procure a tube of tin or paper, of
about ten inches in length, and two and a half or three inches in
diameter. One end of this should be stopped up with tin or paper,
securely fastened, in which is to be made a hole, about the size of a
small pea, for the eye to look through. Two pieces of well-silvered
looking-glass are now to be procured; they must be not quite so long
as the tube, and they should be placed in it lengthways, at an angle
of 60 degrees, meeting together in a point, and separating to an
angle wide enough to insert the third piece; the polished surfaces
looking inwards. A circular piece of the glass is now to be laid on the
top of the edges of the reflectors; which, by their not being quite so
long as the tube, will allow room for its falling in, and it will be
supported by the edges of the tube, which may be slightly bent over,
to prevent the glass from falling out. This having been done, now
proceed to make the “cap” of the instrument. A rim of tin or
pasteboard must be cut, so as to fit over the glass end of the tube;
and in this, on the outer side, a piece of ground glass must be
fastened, so that the whole may fit on the tube like the lid of a pill-
box. Then, before putting it on, obtain some small pieces of broken
glass of various colors, beads, little strips of wire, or any other object,
and place them in the cap; and by passing it over the end, so that
the broken glass, etc., has free motion, the instrument is complete.
To use it, apply the eye to the small hole, and, on turning it, the most
beautiful forms will appear, in the most wonderful combinations.
The following curious calculation has been made of the number of
changes this instrument will admit of. Supposing it to contain 20
small pieces of glass, and that you make 10 changes in a minute, it
will take an inconceivable space of time, i.e. 462,880,899,576 years,
and 360 days, to go through the immense number of changes of
which it is capable.

SIMPLE SOLAR MICROSCOPE.

Having made a circular hole in a window-shutter, about three inches
in diameter, place in it a glass lens of about twelve inches focal
distance. To the inside of the hole adapt a tube, having at a small
distance from the lens a slit, capable of receiving one or two very
thin plates of glass, to where the object to be viewed must be affixed
by means of a little gum-water exceedingly transparent. Into this tube
fit another, furnished at its extremity with a lens half-an-inch focal
distance. Place a mirror before the hole of the window-shutter on the
outside, in such a manner as to throw the light of the sun into the
tube, and you will have a solar magic lantern.
The method of employing this arrangement of lenses for microscopic
purposes is as follows:—Having darkened the room, and by means
of the mirror reflected the sun’s rays on the glasses in a direction
parallel to the axis, place some small object between the two
movable plates of glass, or affix it to one of them with very
transparent gum-water, and bring it exactly into the axis of the tube;
if the movable tube be then pushed out or drawn in, till the object be
a little beyond the focus, it will be seen painted very distinctly on a
card, or piece of white paper, held at a proper distance, and will
appear to be greatly magnified. A small insect will appear as a large
animal, a hair as big as a walking-stick, and the almost invisible eels
in paste or vinegar as large as common eels.
 THE MICROSCOPE.
At any time of the year or hour of the day there are few pursuits
more interesting, and at the same time instructive, than the study of
Nature by means of the microscope.
All of us must admire the more than awful grandeur of that universe
whereof we form so infinitesimal a part, wherein the stars are
scattered as the sand on the sea-shore, and every star a sun, the
center of a system of orbs too distant for the eye of man to perceive.
Looking at our nearest planet, and observing on her face vast
mountain-chains, ravines into which the light of the sun can never
penetrate, and volcanoes whose craters are so wide that they would
take in the whole of New York, the whole of Philadelphia, and all the
country between them, we can judge by analogy of the unseen
wonders which must exist in the world beyond our ken.
But to him who can read Nature rightly, the microscope is a teacher
as grand as its sister instrument, and the awful magnificence of
Nature is as evident in a midge’s wing as in the more patent glories
of the sun, moon, and stars. In the following pages we hope to put
the readers of this book in the way to read their microscope rightly—
possibly to make it—and to show that much can be done with small
means when “there’s a will,” and to indicate to them that objects of
no small interest can be found without stirring from the room in which
we sit, or even from the table on which our microscope is placed.
Some of our readers may say, when they read the heading of this
paper, that they should like a microscope very much, but that they
have no money to buy it, and that their parents cannot afford one.
This is just the feeling which we used to have when a boy, for in
those day microscopes were microscopes indeed, and you had your
choice between a little instrument, with a series of brass cups,
having glasses in them, which magnified slightly but defined clearly,
or a great composition of brass and iron, looking like a rocket-tube,
with an eye-piece at one end and a glass shot at the other. It was
very costly, very imposing, and magnified very highly; but it strained
the eyes painfully, had no defining capacities, and made all the
objects look as if they were seen through a thick fog. Practically,
therefore, the former was the only instrument that was available.
A still more useful instrument, however, was that which can always
be obtained for a dollar or so, and which is now made wonderfully
cheap and wonderfully good; we mean the double or treble pocket-
lens. So we say, if you cannot afford a really good microscope, do
not waste your money upon inferior and pretentious instruments, but
get a sound pocket-lens.
It has a thousand advantages. It is portable, and is even more useful
in the fields than in the house. It defines very clearly, and needs little
trouble in manipulation. We need not say how difficult is the task of
getting a complicated instrument to define properly, how impossible
with a bad one. The object and the glass can be held in any light,—a
matter of no small consideration when examining anything new, and
trying to make out its structure. It is not easily put out of order, and if
treated with the most ordinary care, will last for a lifetime.
You can push it under water, and it will magnify as well as in the air;
and if you are wandering on the river-side, you can lie down on the
bank, dip the upper part of your head in water, together with the
glass, and watch carefully the sub-aquatic objects without removing
them. The water will not hurt the eye in the least, though a non-
swimmer may perhaps find a little difficulty in his first attempt. It
makes a good burning-glass, should fire be needed, and no other
means of procuring a spark be at hand. It can be used so as to show
the principle of a camera obscura, and to illustrate the manner in
which photographic portraits are taken. It can be made into an
admirable dissecting microscope, and needs scarcely any practice in
the manipulation. These are some of its advantages, and there are
many others which need not be mentioned.
Even if you should be able to procure a good microscope, get a
pocket-lens as well, for you will want them both, and we may say
that the most practiced microscopists, and those who are
possessors of the most elaborate instruments, are the very men who
are the most certain to have a pocket-lens about them, and to use it
most frequently. Practice well with the pocket-lens before you
meddle with the compound microscope. You will waste no time, but
will rapidly gain by it; for you will be learning the rudiments of a new
science, and laying a solid foundation on which to build.
One or two practical remarks on the proper handling of the pocket-
lens may be of use. Do not always employ the same eye in looking
through the lens, but use the eyes alternately. There is always a
temptation to employ the same eye, which receives a kind of training
in vision; but it is a temptation always to be resisted. With some
persons the right eye is most in favor, and with others the left; and
when the favorite eye gets all the work, it too frequently suffers.
Whether you look with the right or the left eye, keep both eyes open.
At first the beginner will find a little difficulty in restricting his vision to
one eye while the other remains open, just as a beginner on the
piano-forte feels himself puzzled when he tries to make his right
hand go one way and his left hand another; but in either case a little
practice and plenty of perseverance are sure to overcome all
obstacles, and in a wonderfully short time the difficulty will not only
be overcome, but forgotten.
We speak here with some feeling, because, while engaged on a
work on the microscope, we were necessarily obliged to work much
at night, and inadvertently employed the left eye more than the right;
the consequence of which imprudence was that we have been
obliged ever since that time to give the left eye perfect rest, as far as
artificial vision goes, and, except when looking through a binocular
instrument, we have not ventured to use it either to a microscope or
a telescope. The vision accommodates itself to circumstances with
wonderful ease, and the observer learns the curious art of cutting off
all communication between the unused eye and the brain; so that,
although the objects around may imprint themselves upon the retina,
the mind is as totally unconscious of them as if they had no
existence.
If possible, always examine an object without removing it, as thereby
you see it as it is, without altering any of the conditions with which it
is surrounded. Should this not be practicable, take the object to be
viewed in the left hand and the lens in the right. Place the wrists of
the two hands together, and then you will find that one supports the
other, and that the lens can be held in the proper focus without the
least difficulty. After you have used the lens for some little time, you
will learn to hit upon the right focus almost to a hair’s breadth,—so
as to lose no time, a matter of some importance when a living
creature is to be examined, especially if it be in motion.
We are now about to suggest a very simple piece of mechanism, by
which the pocket-lens can be converted into a microscope that will
serve for dissection and many other purposes.
Melt three or four pounds of lead in an iron ladle, and make a mold,
consisting of a hollow hemisphere of paper or cardboard, through the
center of which an iron rod has been passed. The hollow of the
paper should resemble an ordinary saucer. Pour the lead into the
saucer, and let it cool. The paper mold will be scorched by the heat
and rendered useless, but an outer coating of lead will be cool and
hard before the paper is quite destroyed. Next take a piece of stout
brass wire and a wine-cork; twist the wire round the cork several
times; cut off one end close to the cork; sharpen the other, and turn it
up.
Bore a hole through the cork, just large enough to allow the upright
rod to slip through it, and there is the “stand” of your microscope.
Now take your pocket-lens, and get an optician to bore a hole
through one end of it, just large enough to receive the upturned end
of the wire; slip the lens on the wire, and the microscope is complete.
The cork, though grasping the upright stem with tolerable firmness,
can be slid up and down so as to insure the correct focus, and can
be pushed aside whenever the object has to be viewed with the
naked eye, and must not be removed from its place. This instrument
is a capital one for dissecting purposes, and will answer quite as well
as those expensive affairs that are to be purchased in the shops.
If the object be transparent, and requires to be seen by transmitted
light, the following plan will answer:—Take a thin piece of wood, cut
or punch a round hole out of the middle, and support it on four legs.
Wires or wooden pegs fixed in corks will answer the purpose well,
and if the corks be glued to the corners of the board, the legs can be
inserted or removed at pleasure. The wood of which cigar-boxes are
made will answer the purpose very well. Its dimensions should be
about three inches in length by two in width. Now buy one of the
doll’s looking-glasses that are sold for a penny, and put it under the
stand. Lay a flat piece of glass over the hole, place the object upon
it, and direct the light through it by means of the mirror below. If such
a mirror cannot be obtained, it is easy enough to make one, by
mounting a piece of looking-glass in a cork frame, and making it
swing on pivots, like the glasses of our dressing-rooms.
The young microscopist must remember that when he is examining
any object by transmitted light, he must arrange it as flatly as
possible on the glass. In many cases, a still neater manipulation is
required—as, for example, when the petals of flowers are under
examination. Thin glass is to be purchased at any optician’s, and if
cut in squares, instead of circles, is very much cheaper, and quite as
useful for all practical purposes. Lay the petal on the glass plate,
place a piece of the thin glass upon it, and press it gently while
examining it. If it still remains thick and dull, put a drop of pure water
on the petal, and replace the thin glass, when the structure will
almost invariably be detected.
Everything depends on the proper management of the object and the
arrangement of the light. Some opaque objects can be seen best by
direct light, and others by transmitted light. If a leaf be examined,
particularly if it be a thick and heavy one, like that of the ivy, the
upper and lower membranes must be stripped apart—a task which is
easily performed by tearing a small slit, and then ripping it smartly
across. A pair of forceps will be required for this and other delicate
work, and may be obtained at a cheap rate. Care must be taken to
keep the points exactly even, and if at any time one of them appears
to be shorter than the other, they should be rubbed on a hone until
they are brought perfectly level.
These should be made of steel; but the young microscopist will find
that a second pair, made of brass, and much rougher in finish, are
invaluable aids as he takes his walks into the country. By their aid he
can pick up minute objects, draw insects out of crevices without
damaging them, and pluck the tiniest flowers without harming their
petals. They can be carried in the waistcoat pocket, and the cost is
sixpence. Any lad who knows how to handle solder can make a pair
for himself in a few minutes.
A penknife with one blade kept scrupulously sharp is essential, and
we have found an old lancet of the greatest service. Lancets have
gone so much out of fashion, that the second-hand instrument shops
abound with them. We did not allow our own lancet to be shut up,
but removed the blade from the tortoise-shell handle, and fixed it
upon a wooden handle, about four inches in length, so that it looked
very clumsy, but was extremely useful.
Two pairs of scissors are needful,—one very fine and the other
moderately strong. Both pairs, however, must have very short blades
and very long handles, and the scissors such as ladies use are of
very little use, the short handles causing the fingers of the right hand
to shade the object. As to the fine pair, it is hardly possible to have
the handles too long or the blades too short; for if the points can be
separated a quarter of an inch, nothing more is needed. If a pair of
bent scissors can also be obtained, they are extremely pleasant to
work with, and save much trouble.
Pill-boxes of various sizes are of very great service to the
microscopist. We always have them arranged in “nests,” i. e., six or
seven inside each other, so that space is greatly economized, as
long as they are not in absolute use. All delicate objects should be
placed in separate boxes, and the predaceous insects must be
treated in the same manner, or they will certainly destroy one
another, or, at all events, inflict such injuries as will make them
useless for microscopic purposes.
When the insects are to be killed on the spot, we employ another
and a very simple plan.
We take one of the old-fashioned wooden lucifer-match boxes, bore
a hole in the lid, and push through the hole a swan-quill, or the barrel
of one of the swan-quill steel pens. A glass tube is still better, but is
too fragile. Beeswax is tightly worked into the junction of the tube
with the wood, so as to make it as nearly air-tight as possible. A cork
stopper is then cut to fit the tube. When this is finished, we take the
smallest-sized pill-box, bore a number of holes in it with a red-hot
needle, place a little piece of solid ammonia within it, and inclose it in
the lucifer-box. Its effects are almost instantaneous; for scarcely has
the insect touched the bottom of the box before it is helpless, and in
a very few moments it is quite dead, so powerful is ammonia towards
insects. The reader will of course understand that the pill-boxes must
never have been used for pills, and that the match-box must be
carefully cleaned before employing it in the microscopic service.
Moreover, any boxes that have been used for insects become
useless, inasmuch as the scales always fall from the wings, and
cling to the sides of the box, so as to mix with succeeding objects,
and very much puzzle the observer.
Aquatic and marine objects require bottles, and, as a general rule,
these bottles ought always to have wide mouths. Indeed, if there be
no shoulder at all, their purpose will be better served, as a small
object is very apt to be caught under the shoulder, and to give much
trouble before it can be removed without injury. Wide and short test-
tubes answer admirably for collecting; and it will always be advisable
to have a few small test-tubes ready fitted with corks, for the purpose
of isolating those specimens which might receive or cause injury by
being mixed with others.
To remove minute objects from one vessel into another is a very
easy process. Take a glass tube, mark off a portion about eight
inches in length, cut a little notch with a file, and bend it smartly,
when it will break neatly across, without leaving points or having the
regularity of its ends injured by gaps. Turn each end round and
round in the flame of the spirit-lamp, and you have an ordinary
“pipette.” The object of placing the ends of the tube in the flame is to
render the edges quite smooth and rounded.
Now mark off the same length of tube, and place the marked portion
in the flame, taking care to warm it well first, lest the sudden heat
should crack the glass. Keep it continually turning between the
fingers, and when it is quite soft, and of a fine red heat, draw the
hands smartly apart, and you will produce a couple of tubes tapering
to very fine points. Break off the tapering portions at any convenient
point, round the edges as before, and you will then have pipettes
suitable for small objects. As there are many specimens, especially
the smaller animalculæ, which have a habit of retiring into the
remotest corner, it is necessary to bend another pipette, so as to
follow them. For our own part, we prefer the pipette to be bent nearly
to a right angle.
The mode of using these simple instruments is as follows:—Place
the forefinger or thumb firmly on the large end, and push the point
under water. When the opening is close to the sought-for object, lift
the finger suddenly, and admit the air into the tube. The water will
immediately rush in at the lower end, and if the orifice has been
properly directed, will carry the object into the tube. The finger is
again applied to the mouth of the tube, and the object can be then
carried off.
As with the pocket-lens almost every object is to be viewed by
means of direct light, the young observer will find himself much aided
by a suitable background. Any small object, such as a minute insect,
a seed, or a hair, becomes very indistinct if held up against the light,
or even when viewed against a broken background of trees, houses,
or herbage. The simplest plan of securing a proper background is to
take a disc of ivory or even of white cardboard, and to blacken one
side of it. The black paint which is used for this purpose must be
without gloss, and have what is called a “dead” surface. Ink answers
very well for the purpose, and so does ivory-black; but Indian ink is
too glossy to be serviceable.
To procure specimens from the water is a matter of some difficulty if
managed badly, but easy enough when the collector knows his
business. It is of course needful to attach the collecting vessel to the
end of a rod, and to plunge it into the spots which look most
favorable. Now even so simple a matter as this requires some little
care, if the young microscopist really wishes to obtain the best
specimens. A common walking-stick will answer most purposes; but
the most efficient rod for the purpose is one of the common walking-
stick fishing-rods without the top joint, as it can be carried without
attracting attention, and can be lengthened at will by adding the
different joints.
Many methods have been proposed by which the vessel is to be
attached to the rod; but that which I am about to describe is certainly
the simplest and most effective that I have tried. Get a piece of gutta-
percha tubing, just large enough to be slipped on the end of the rod
or stick; mark off an inch or so, and cut the tube nearly through, then
cut it away longitudinally, so that a long tongue of gutta-percha is left,
and the instrument is completed.
Its application is as simple as its structure. Bend the tongue over, so
as to form a loop, and push the end through the short tube. Slip the
neck of the bottle into the loop, and draw the tongue until it is
tolerably tight. Push the end of the stick into the tube, taking care to
hold the tongue firmly in its place, and the vessel will then be
fastened at right angles to the stick.
The method of collecting by means of this instrument is as follows:
Immerse the vessel in the water, with the mouth downwards, so that
no water may enter. Push it gently towards the spot which is to be
investigated, move it about a little, so as to cause a disturbance, and
then turn the vessel with its mouth upwards. Water will instantly rush
in, carrying with it the objects which are to be examined. The
contents of the vessel may then be transferred to the large bottle,
and another dip made. Confervoid growths, especially those which
accumulate in a kind of scum on the surface, should be obtained
very quietly, without previous disturbance of the water.
After the pond, or stream, or ditch has been well searched, the bottle
should be roughly examined, by means of a pocket-lens, and the
contents sorted into the smaller tubes, as has already been
mentioned. This precaution is especially needful when any of the
minute crustacea called Entomostraca are captured, as they are
most voracious beings, and will make sad havoc among other
specimens, unless they are placed in separate bottles. They are
mostly large enough to be detected with the naked eye, and look
something like little fleas as they move along.
As the Entomostraca cast their shells repeatedly during their lives,
some species performing this operation every two days, a beautiful
series of objects can be obtained by gathering the cast shells and
preparing them for the microscope, according to the directions that
will be found in the following pages. These shells are peculiarly
valuable, as they retain the chief external characteristics of the
creature to which they belonged, the limbs, plumes, and even the
delicate bristles being preserved entire. It is in the power of the
microscopist to retard or hasten the change of shell, heat and light
aiding development, and cold and darkness retarding it. The
remarkable “ephippium,” or saddle, which is found on the backs of
the Daphnia, the Moina, and other Entomostraca, and which is used
as a receptacle for eggs, should be searched for and preserved.
A very thin and a very flat bottle is a most useful assistance in
detecting the character of any unknown object, especially if it be
living. Such a bottle may easily be made by heating one of the small
test tubes in the spirit lamp until it is of a glowing red heat, and then
pressing the sides together. Some little neatness is required in this
process, as an unskillful operator is apt to press the sides unequally,
and to leave a bulging projection at the end.

THE COMPOUND MICROSCOPE.

We have already described the simpler forms of magnifying
instruments, together with the best method of using them. We now
purpose to describe the more complicated instrument called the
compound microscope, and hints will be given as to the best method
of making preparations for it.
The great distinction between the simple and compound microscope
is, that whereas the former instrument magnifies the object, the latter
magnifies the magnified image of the object. In the least elaborate
form of this instrument there are two glasses, one at each end of a
tube, the small glass magnifying the object, and being therefore
called the “object-glass,” while the other, which magnifies the image
of the object, is placed next to the eye, and is therefore termed the
“eye-glass.” In practice, however, this arrangement is found to be so
extremely defective, that the instrument was quite useless except as
an experimental toy; for the two enemies of the optician, chromatic
and spherical aberration, prevailed so exceedingly, that every object
appeared as if surrounded with prismatic colors, and every line was
blurred and indistinct.
In this uncertain state the compound microscope remained for many
years, its superb capabilities being scarcely recognized. The chief
fault was thought to be in the material of which the object-glass was
made, and for a long series of years all experiments were conducted
with a view to an improvement in this respect. When, however, the
diamond had been employed as an object-glass, and had failed
equally with those of less costly material, attention was directed to
the right point—namely, the arrangement of the different glasses,—
and at length opticians succeeded in obtaining a pitch of excellence
which can be almost termed perfection. It would be impossible to
describe the method which is employed for this purpose, and it must
suffice to say that the principle is that of playing off one defect
against another, and so making them mutually correct their errors.
The magnifying powers of the compound microscope can be very
great, and it is therefore necessary that extreme care should be
taken in its manipulation. It will be possible for a clumsy person to do
more damage to a good instrument in three minutes than can be
repaired in as many weeks.
Before proceeding to the management of the microscope and the
construction of the “slides,” we will briefly describe one or two chief
forms of the compound microscope.
The simplest form of the compound microscope, as at present made,
consists of a stand and a sliding tube, in which are set the glasses
which magnify the object and its image. At the top is the tube, which
is capable of being slid up and down in the shoulder of the stand, so
as to obtain the proper focus. Above is seen the eye-glass; and the
object-glass is shown at the bottom of the tube. Below the object-
glass is the “stage” on which the object to be magnified is laid; and
lowest of all is a mirror, which serves to reflect the light upwards
through the object, and which can be turned by means of the knobs