Every card in Earth and atmosphere, Year 8: more practice
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- Why do fossils survive in sedimentary rock but not in igneous rock?
Igneous rock forms from molten magma, which would destroy any remains
HintThink about how hot the liquid stone is underground.
WhySedimentary rock forms in layers at low temperature, so the remains can be buried and preserved.
- Granite has large interlocking crystals. Which rock family does it belong to?
Igneous
HintCrystals grow as a molten rock cools.
WhyGranite formed as magma cooled slowly underground, giving time for large crystals to grow.
- Marble forms when limestone is baked and squeezed deep in the Earth. Which rock family is marble in?
Metamorphic
HintThe original rock was changed but did not melt.
WhyMetamorphic rocks form from existing rocks that are altered by heat and pressure without melting.
- A rock is made of layers of rounded sand grains cemented together. Which family is it in?
Sedimentary
HintLayers of fragments are the clue.
WhySandstone forms from sand laid down in layers and cemented together over a long time.
- When a river slows down it drops the rock fragments it was carrying onto the bed. What is this dropping process called?
Deposition
HintThe fragments are being laid down.
WhyDeposition happens when moving water or wind slows down and drops the sediment it carried.
- Layers of sediment are squashed by the weight above them until they turn to rock. What is the squashing called?
Compaction
HintThe layers are pressed closer together.
WhyCompaction squeezes the sediment together and cementation then sticks the grains together.
- What does a sedimentary rock need to happen to it to become a metamorphic rock?
It is heated and squeezed (without melting)
HintThink about being buried deep in the Earth.
WhyHeat and pressure change the rock into a new metamorphic rock while it stays solid.
- If metamorphic rock is buried deeper and deeper it eventually melts. What is the molten rock called?
Magma
HintIt is the underground version of what erupts from a volcano as lava.
WhyWhen magma cools and hardens it forms igneous rock, completing the cycle.
- Why does the rock cycle take millions of years?
Weathering, burial and uplift are all extremely slow processes
HintThink about how fast a mountain wears away.
WhyEach step of the cycle works slowly, so a full cycle takes a great many years.
- In the rock cycle, earth movements push buried rock back up towards the surface. What single word names this upward movement?
Uplift
HintRocks do not stay buried forever.
WhyEarth movements push buried rocks upwards, bringing them to the surface where weathering can begin the cycle again.
1★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0043
2★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0044
3★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0045
4★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0046
5★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0047
6★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0048
7★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0049
8★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0050
9★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0051
10★ KS3-CHEM-EAR-0052
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.