Review the comments from your instructor and classmates and make revisions to your Phase 4 Individual Project. Then, add a 1-2 page response to the following questions in your final draft:

phase_4_individual_project_by_juanita_rogers.docx

Home >Science homework help >Review the comments from your instructor and classmates and make revisions to your Phase 4 Individual Project. Then, add a 1-2 page response to the following questions in your final draft:

Scientific Breakthrough

Juanita Rogers

May 2, 2014

Colorado Technical University

SCI101-1402A-17 Introduction to Science

Drift theory is a theory that argues that all the continents around the world are joined to each other forming a super content. And the super content consists of Pangea. Apparently, some changes have occurred over the past period of time. This has made the continents to drift apart to their positions currently; several scholars have supported this argument. This is in the likes of Wegener’s who supports it by saying that it is due to earth rotation that the drift occurred, 1912. He went ahead to state that the continent shapes are seemingly fitting to each other. Before the 1950s, many countries did not embrace this concept, neither the explanations saying that they were not that explanatory.

Most of the scientist in the i960s is when they started to suspect the theory might be true to some extent. Several factors, that were noticeable started to take place making them start wanting to change their minds towards the theory. This was about the fossil records results that were from different areas and countries did indicate the same results and species.

Mineral specimen was nearly identical along all the supposed break lines. But some identical species only existed in some parts of the entire continent. This were an earthworm was only found existing in Africa and the South America. And this did suggest that the species breeds arouse from the continents without any variations. And this was the theories strong hold support.

The scientist in the current time do agree to this theory due to the fact that the use of technology has brought it clear through the use of satellite dishes, which shows that the world is round and that the parts of it are in a way that they show that they were once attached to each other.

Also they do believe that things like Pangaea have been forming and still moving from one another with time. The other fact that makes the scientist believe in the theory is that the underwater exploration show it clear that the seafloor are still spreading, by this I mean that crust is still forming between the space of two plate that were still moving away from each other. This happens when mountain ranges in the seafloor do rise, molten also from beneath the earth adding the seafloor to the old edges, to the time when the seafloor is moving apart hence this make it wider.

The other concept that makes them believe in the theory is the fact that, the use of technology, shows that North America and the Europe are moving away from each other at the speed of an inch per every year. This shows that in the future, there will be an island between California and North America, which is so true. It is also believed that another supercontinent might be formed, this is due to the fact Africa might split into two.

The process of the scientific method and theory development tries to attempt to this by the use of logical, consistent method of doing close monitoring concrete information or data collection, analyzing of the data, testing the data, and a refining so as to enable them to come to well tested and documented information, supported with concrete information.

Therefore, this theory welcomes the fact of doing revision so as for them to be able to clarify and to show how true the theory is true.

This means that the scientific method helps us to understand the world through basically offering us a platform for doing testing of the items and after doing the testing, there is the proving process to what the results indicate. This therefore helps us to acknowledge the fact that it is true or real. This is a method that is called empirism, helps us to understand the nature and the world at large. The method, as used, involves the subjection of something or a well controlled experiment, before drawing a theory from it.

In the theory of plate tectonics, it describes that itself is a plate, and there are six other similar plates. The theory brings it to our minds that the continents do move at a slow phase below the earth poles. The key features of plate tectonics theory are: The Earth surface is being covered by crystal plate surface that the ocean floors are always in motion, spreading from the middle or the center, at the same time sinking at the far edges, and also the area regenerated again. The other factor is that Convectional currents under the plates do move the crustal plates to very different directions. The last key factor is that, the source of heat that drives the convectional current is deep in the Earth’s radioactivity and does mantle.

It argues that, the mid-oceanic ridges do rise about 3000 meters from beneath the ocean floor and they cover more than a wide area of 2000 kilometers, surpassing the Himalayas in size. This therefore indicates that the mapping of the seafloor that’s under the earth’s, reveals that the huge underwater mountain ranges and the other big formations do have a very deep trench with them which bisects the length between the ridges and the places. This separation is said to be more than 2000 meters deep down the seafloor.

However, with the theory of plate tectonics, most geologists believe that for the continents to be to be fixed in place and for the subject it’s only through the vertical movements, some of these were observed in the mountain uplift. Currently however, referring to the Wegener's argument, drift hypothesis also provided a fundamental alternate to the explanation for mountains formation. The theory was discussed Wegener’s time- the "Contraction theory" suggesting that the planet was once in a molten ball shape and it was in the process of cooling that the surface did crack, folding up on itself. The weakness of it is that mountain ranges should all be approximately in the same age, and which was known not to be very true.

Wegener's explanations was that continents moved, this lead to edge , due to facing resistance, it folded up forming edges a good examples are the Sierra Nevada mountains that are at North America coast and the Andes of South America coast.

Wegener also made a suggestion that the India did drift northwards into the Asian continent and thus the formation the Himalayas.

He eventually did propose continental drift mechanism that focused on the assertion that rotation of the earth created a centrifugal force towards the equator.

References: