Hello, cybergeographers, Below is an updated list of terms and concepts that are likeliest to wind up on the test. I hope this is helpful in going back through the textbook and lectures. If possible, you might want to get together with two or three other people in class to review material together before the test: Research has shown that, at the college level, students who study in groups do better (poorer students obviously benefit from getting everything twice, while good students benefit because you learn things best when you try to teach them). You can help yourself to the e- mail page on BeachBoard, too. Dr. Rodrigue --------------- LECTURES the four traditions in geography, the basic definition for each, and the kinds of studies that geographers in each might do: human-environment (society-nature) tradition regional geography tradition spatial tradition earth science tradition what is environmental determinism? who was Fred Schaefer? what kinds of jobs do geographers do in the "real world"? roughly, what is the median income of geographers? how does geography compare in median salary with other fields? how science works how is it social? how scientists view the truth and why is that different from lay people's view of truth? how does scientific truth change through time? what does reliability mean? what is the purpose of scientific inquiry and how might that create problems in communication between scientists and religious people? empirical versus theoretical idiographic versus nomothetic inductive versus deductive characteristics of a newer, more youthful scientific field characteristics of a more mature field role of generalizations what happens to most generalizations when they are tested? what is a theory in the scientific use of the word? what does theory mean to most folks? how might the different use of the word, "theory," lead to conflicts between scientists and other citizens over science and education policy? what is probably the biggest contemporary example of this conflict? what is a paradigm? what is an hypothesis? how do scientists use abstraction? what is analysis? synthesis? what is the difference between scientific research and applications research, even when they're on the same topic? what is an inverse association between two variables? what is a direct association? gravitation increases with the product of two interacting masses gravitation decreases with the square of the distance between two masses (inverse square law) rotation revolution leap year insolation (INcoming SOLar radiATION) high angle sunbeams are more concentrated low angle sunbeams are smeared over a larger area perihelion around January 3rd aphelion around the 4th of July plane of ecliptic vertical of the plane of ecliptic (or the perpendicular of the plane of ecliptic) Earth's axis is tilted 23&12frac;° from??? how seasons work revolution tilt of the earth's axis tangent rays direct rays circle of illumination length of day concentration of sun's radiant flux Tropic of Cancer Tropic of Capricorn Arctic Circle Antarctic Circle "Land of the Midnight Sun" six month days and nights at the poles equator equinox/equinoces solstice when would the sun rise at the North Pole? at the South Pole? Kepler's laws of planetary motion First Law: planets' orbits are elliptical, not circular, with the sun at one of the two foci of the oval Second Law: the line connecting the planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times, so it slows down at aphelion and speeds up at perihelion Third Law (I didn't lecture on it, but here's the complete set): the period that a planet requires to get around the sun increases rapidly with the radius of its orbit. The farther out they are, they drastically longer their years are. geographic grid latitude and longitude parallels and meridians antipode great circles and small circles uses of great circles latitude top number for latitude how many minutes in a degree how many seconds in a minute Polaris Big Dipper how to find latitude with the North Star how to measure star angles with your hands Crux Australis how to find latitude with the sun sextant declination analemma equation of time longitude top number for longitude Greenwich Meridian or Prime Meridian why there's no linear equivalent for a degree, minute, or second of longitude the way there is for latitude longitude is a function of time John Harrison 1 hour of time = 15 degrees of longitude 4 minutes of time = 1 degree of longitude 1 minute of time = 1/4 degree of longitude chronometer time why watches don't show local sun time equation of time zone time central meridians of time zones four time zones of continental USA going east, skip an hour when you cross zones going west, relive an hour when you cross zones Daylight Savings Time International Date Line going east, relive a day at the IDL going west, skip a day at the IDL why was Magellan's voyage important? there are always 2 dates on Earth at any given time, except for one instant (which is?) ONLINE "LECTURES" ON MAPS maps cartography projection why all maps are necessarily distorted properties that a map may have (but it can't have all): true direction true headings great circle routes equidistance conformality or true shape equivalence or true area azimuth tangency azimuthal projection (good for polar regions) conic (good for mid-latitudes) cylindrical (can be good for tropics) Mercator Peters Projection controversy mathematical projections and famous examples Mollweide's Sanson-Flamsteed Goode's Robinson scale graphical scale (bar scale) verbal scale representative fraction or map ratio which of the three scales is safe to reduce large scale versus small scale pictorial symbols color symbolism and what the following colors usually mean blue, green, brown, black, red value symbols dot maps graduated symbol maps divided circle and bar chart maps flow maps cartograms choropleth maps isoline maps (isarithms or isopleths) how you interpolate values on an isoline map contour maps hypsometric tints true north almost never the same as magnetic north magnetic declination (NOT the same as sun declination) GIS or geographical information systems TEXTBOOK (CH. 1-2) Chapter 1 open systems subsystems system types morphological systems cascading systems process-response systems feedback positive feedback negative feedback equilibrium steady-state equilibrium metastable equilibrium dynamic equilibrium Chapter 2 energy types radiant energy thermal or heat energy kinetic energy (and why thermal might be thought of as a type of kinetic energy wavelength electromagnetic spectrum short-wave energy gamma X-rays ultraviolet visible light energy long-wave energy infrared radio earth energy (be able to recognize examples): endogenetic energy exogenetic energy laws of thermodynamics 1. energy is neither created nor destroyed only transformed 2. energy moves down a temperature gradient from hotter areas to colder areas 3. closed systems tend to become more randomly organized through time (entropy) Wien's Displacement Law (the hotter a radiant body is, the shorter the wavelength of its radiation emissions) inverse square law insolation high angle sunbeams are more concentrated low angle sunbeams are smeared over a larger area energy transfer mechanisms: conduction radiation convection lateral convection heat sensible heat latent heat (and how much energy is involved) absolute zero (what it is and where it is in degrees) 0 K -273 degrees C (-460 degrees F) perfect black body albedo scattering absorption