Earth Science Answers

Last semester, I taught Earth Science for the first time. Here are some of the answers that were written down on assignments and exams that are pretty funny. Overall, most of the time, they were on the right track, but then they couldn't remember specific details so they just decided to throw in other Earth Science knowledge. Let me just say that volcanic activity is always a popular "filler" when answering questions.

1. For a bonus point, they had to provide the Indian name for Mt. St. Helens; for which I got the response:
Big sexy mountain of gorgeous majestic foxyness

2. Magma and Straw-Like Marine Animals
“…molten hot magma is not deadly because as it meets the water it instantly solidifies and cools. This changes the ocean drastically because many deep-sea animals survive off of the hot sauna-like hot tub environment that is provided around these trenches. Some of these are scary marine life and others look like the straws one gets when they order a Cranilla Craze from Sonic.”
*this is actually pretty true, and as a mom with a son that loves Sonic Straws, I love the Sonic straw reference

3. On one exam the following questions appeared (with the actual answer in parenthesis):  

a. Describe how glaciers fit into the hydrologic cycle. (In the water cycle, precipitation at high elevations becomes ice in glaciers where water can be stored up to thousands of years.)

b. What role do they play in the rock cycle? (In the rock cycle, glaciers can scour the land surfaces and transport and deposit sediment.)

These questions were straight from another assignment I had told them to study. It was obvious from the student's answers that he/she remembered certain key words...and fell back on the ever-trusty volcanic activity.
a. Describe how glaciers fit into the hydrologic cycle.  
The subtropics from the glaciers formed through the masses of a gigantic volcanic activity which led to the accounts of the aging mountains.

b. What role do they play in the rock cycle? 
When hot lova mixes with the cooling of the air tight bubbles it explodes leaving a chain reaction through the cooling of the oceans floor.