By: Colton Cogdill

 The lithosphere is the solid rocky layer of Earth’s surface.  The inside of Earth is very hot and even though the rocks are solid, they can flow like butter and the flow causes the surface to break which forms plate tectonics.  Alfred Wegener made the theory of the continental drift. He said that our continents were all together and over years have moved and now make up our continents.

 Volcanism is when magma comes out from deep inside the Earth and then the volcano erupts and the lava spills onto Earth.  The lithosphere includes the surface of the Earth and mountains such as the Rockies, Himalayas and any other mountain ranges.  One of the most common ways of estimating the lithosphere’s thickness is using seismology.

 The hydrosphere is all of Earth’s water such as oceans, lakes, rivers, underground water, etc.  The Earth’s water keeps going around and around and around in a pattern called the water cycle.  The water cycle consists of evaporation, precipitation, condensation, and collection.

 The sun shines down on lakes and it creates steam which goes into the air. Next the water vapor in the air gets too cold and it forms clouds. That is called condensation. Precipitation happens when the clouds poor back the water on Earth. Then collection occurs and the cycle happens all over again.  Without the hydrosphere, no living thing could live.  The hydrosphere plays a very important role in life.

 The atmosphere is all of the gasses that surround our Earth.  At higher altitudes, less air means less weight and less pressure.  Pressure and density of air decreases with increasing elevation.  Layers of the atmosphere (top)  The atmosphere protects us from harmful rays of sun.  The atmosphere controls the temperature and also holds important gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide.

 The biosphere contains parts of Earth in which all of life exists, including land, water, and air or atmosphere.  The biosphere is 20km thick, from the bottom of the ocean to the lower atmosphere.  Living organisms in the biosphere interact and effect each other.  Biotic factors help other living organisms  Organisms that affect other living things are considered abiotic factors.  The biosphere is all the living thing on Earth and it includes all the other spheres.

 Humans (biosphere) built a dam out of rock materials (lithosphere).  Water in the lake (hydrosphere) seeps into the walls behind the dam, becoming groundwater (lithosphere), or it evaporates into the air (atmosphere).  Humans (biosphere) harness energy from the water (hydrosphere) by having it spin turbines (lithosphere) to produce electricity.

Biosphere Atmosphere Lithosphere Hydrosphere