Dear Barbara,

Earth Science is one among the branches of natural philosophy whereas ecology or Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary field

Every time you walk out of the door of your home you are met with a plethora of different components that make up earth science. Earth science is the study of the earth and all of its elements. It is a way of investigating the world around us through observation and experiment. Even though science has led to many discoveries, there is always something new to discover about the earth.

Several branches of science make up earth science including Geology which is the study of rocks, earthquakes, volcanoes, and fossils. Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere and the weather. Another branch of earth science is mineralogy. It is the study of minerals and their location and mining. Oceanography is the study of waves, tides, currents, trenches and ocean life. Paleontology is the study of plant and animal fossils and Petrology is the study of the formation and structure of rocks and their chemical content.

Men living thousands of years ago ounce thought that is was a god in the sky who threw thunderbolts to the earth when they saw the flashes of lightening in the sky. The concept of a thunderstorm was beyond their understanding. As time passed, each generation gathered new information through the study of earth science and slowly the earth was beginning to be understood. To this day, the study of the earth continues.

Scientists still conduct experiments to find out answers to their questions about the earth. Science projects that deal with topics related to earth science are extremely interesting for viewers and fun for the young scientist who conduct them. Think about doing a project about erosion. This is a big problem today for our coasts. When a big storm comes along, a lot of the sand that makes up the beach is washed away. Scientists have come up with solutions over the years but the problem still exists. A great earth science project would be to conduct different experiments on how erosion happens and different things that may help to stop erosion. Since earth science deals with a lot of different branches of science, there a lot of different experiments that can be conducted and studied. You might want to demonstrate how a part of the earth is explained or studied. For instance, your science project can demonstrate how wind speed is measured or how a wave is formed.

Another interesting science project related to earth science would be to create a project explaining how sedimentary rocks are formed. A great example of a sedimentary rock formation is the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The layers of rock that make up the canyon are millions of years old. Scientists still conduct experiments and have controversial discussions on how old these rock layers are. Wouldn’t it be fun to find these things out for yourself?

As long as people live on the earth, there will be earth science. Scientists will always want to answer new questions and prove the new theories that they come up with.