READ: Important Vocabulary Terms

These are the most important vocabulary terms to learn this week. Please make sure you understand these terms. 

• The crust is Earth’s outer surface. It’s a cold, thin, brittle outer shell made of rock. The crust is very thin relative to the radius of the planet.
  
• Oceanic crust is composed of magma that erupts on the seafloor to create lava flows or cools deeper down to create the intrusive igneous rock.
  
• Continental crust is made up of many different types of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. It is thick and has relatively low density.
  
• The mantle is located in between the core and the crust. It is made of solid rock, and it is hot.
  
• The core is mostly iron metal. It is located beneath the mantle and consists of a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. 
  
• The lithosphere is composed of both the crust and the portion of the upper mantle and behaves as a brittle, rigid solid.
  
• The asthenosphere is partially molten upper mantle material and behaves plastically and can flow.
  
• Conduction is the transfer of thermal energy between particles of matter that are touching.
  
• Convection is the transfer of thermal energy by particles moving through a fluid (either a gas or a liquid).
  
• Convection Current: A loop of moving particles. When particles in one area of a fluid gain thermal energy, they move more quickly and spread farther apart. This decreases the density of the particles, so they rise up through the fluid. As they rise, they transfer their thermal energy to other particles of the fluid and cool off in the process. With less energy, the particles move more slowly and move closer together. This increases their density, so they sink back down through the fluid. When they reach the bottom of the fluid, the cycle repeats.