Why Tides?

Earth's Oceans vs. Moon vs. Sun

The animation above shows the relationship between Earth's oceans and the gravitational effects of the Sun and the moon

Lab Help: Drawing an Ellipse

Elliptical Orbits

YouTube:
Regents Earth Science Ellipse

Totally Elliptical lab similar to the one we did in class

Lesson Plan:
Draw an Elliptical Orbit

Lab Help: Moon Phase Links

Helpful links for phases of the moon

Lunar phase calendar

Phases of the Moon Video on YouTube

The Moon and Tides explained

The Universe: The Phases of the Moon (shown in class)

Bill Nye the Science Guy: Moon Phases and Baseball

Where is the moon tonight with an animations of the Partial eclipse of the Moon that will occur on June 26, 2010 as well as a where you'll need to be to view the next Total Eclipse of the Sun visible in the United States on August 21, 2017

Clickable Lunar Map

Moon Mosaic

Lots more moon info

Minerals

On-line Mineral Resources:

• Regents Prep Mineral & Rock Review
• Mineral Information Insstitute guide to all minerals
  

Earthquake resources

Great new animations and video lesson on earthquake faulting.

How Do I Locate That Earthquake's Epicenter?

• UPSeis
• eHow
• sciencebuddies.org
• USGS 1906 earthquake
• Virtual Earthquake
• Maryland Virtual High School Earthquake Simulation
  

USGS Earthquake Preparedness Handbook

Homework: Index Fossils

This assignment will help you become familiar with one of the 26 fossils listed on the bottom of the "centerfold" of the Regents reference tables.

(IMPORTANT: if you have misplaced your copy of the reference tables, you need to print out a new copy from the NY State Regents website)

Your Assignment: Choose one of the fossils from the bottom of pages 8-9 of the reference table booklet and provide it's history, when it lived and when it died.

Submit your answer on this blog as a comment to this post that includes your name and class (or no credit will be given) by clicking on the comment link below.

Directions - For the fossil you have chosen:

1. Describe the fossil - what is its complete genus and species and what does its name mean? (click on the link for definitions)
2. Where in the world has this fossil been found?
3. What kind of environment did it live in?
4. In which Geologic Period(s) did it live?
5. How many years ago did this fossil first appear?
6. How many years ago did this fossil disappear from the fossil record (go extinct)?

Take a peek at the website (blog) entry for Eurypterus remipes for an example of what your assignment should look like - the second paragraph contains all the information you would need to provide.

Your response MUST also include a link to the source of your information (wikipedia is not an acceptable source) if you found it on-line or the printed source (book, magazine,etc), cited in the format you learned in Mr. Brown's class.

This assignment is due by 9:00 am, Eastern Standard Time on Friday, November 13th.
You have more than a week to complete this assignment. No late posts will be accepted.

Eurypterus remipes

Eurypterus remipes is the New York State Fossil

According to the New York State Library website, "Eurypterus Remipes, an extinct relative of the modern king crab and sea scorpion, was adopted as the State fossil in 1984. During the Silurian Period (over 400 million years ago), Eurypterus Remipes crawled along the bottom of the shallow, brackish sea that covered much of New York, extending from Buffalo to Schenectady and south to Poughkeepsie, roughly along the route of the New York Thruway."

Eurypterus (the name means "broad wings") fossils have been determined to have first appeared approximately 450 million years ago (the Late Ordovician period) and went extinct about 260 million years ago, just before the Permian extinction (in which 90% of life on Earth went extinct). Eurypterus remipes lived mostly in shallow water, and may have been on e of the first creatures to crawl up onto land. Eurypterus fossils have been found all over the world.

• Prehistoric Pittsford (NY): How did Eurypterus get it's name?
• Find more information at www.eurypterid.net