Week 2 Coyne Assignment

Read  Chapter two “Written in the Rocks” in Why Evolution is True and prepare to discuss it in class and answer the following questions.

1.  What was the date that the first fossils were found?

2.  Describe how a fossil is made.

3.  Where are the best places to find a fossil?

4.  Explain how carbon dating works.

5.  Explain the principal of superposition.  When was it proposed and by whom?  What happened to this man?

6.  The history of the Earth is (almost 5 billion years) is divided into 6 periods.  Describe the major happenings for these.

   Hadean

   Archaean

   Proterozoic

   Paleozoic

   Mesozoic

   Cenozoic

7.  What is a trilobite.  When and where were they found. 

8.  What is plankton?  What is their advantage  to give evidence for evolution?

9.  What is a missing link?  Why is this term a questionable term to use?  Why is the term “transitional species” preferred?  What is a transitional species?

10.  Tiktaalik had traits of fish (list them) and of land animals (list them).

11.  What traits did dinosaurs have in common with birds?

12.  What evidence is there that whales originated from land animals?