ROCKNE'S  BELIEVE  IT  OR  NOT
Compiled by Bill Tong
from actual answers given by college students on exams during the 1980s

The following were identified as subdisciplines of the earth sciences:

- ASTROLOGY, PLANETOLOMY, SOLC, LIQUID, GAS, QUATZ, CILICATE, FELSPAR, METEROLOGY,
OCEONOGY, METAPHOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, and WEATHEROLOGY.



The three most abundant elements in the Earth's crust were identified among the following:

- BALSALT, CARBON, CALCITE, CILICATE, IGNEOUS, SEDIMENT, METAMORPHIC, SULFIDE, AIR, WATER, ROCKE, GRANITE, LIMESTONE, SANDSTONE, ATMOSPHERE,  HEMOSPHERE, SEDIMENTARY ROCK, IGNEOUS ROCK, METAMORPHIC ROCK, WATER, SULFATE, NITROGEN, CARBONATES, LEAD, COPPER, TALC, GYPSUM, CALCITE, HYDROGEN, CARBON, HELIUM, GOLD, GRAPHITE, QUARZ [sic], FELDSPAR, SULFIDES, SODIUM, ALUMINIZED [sic], MAGNESIUM, BLOWING WIND, GRAVITY, GLACIER, CONTINENTAL, OCEAN, and CRYSTALLINE.



The ancient supercontinent described by Wegener was called "Pakgena," according to one student.


The estimated age of the Earth is supposedly:

- 400,000 years, 600 million years, 4.5 million years, 6.5 billion years, 6.8 billion years, and 40 billion years.



As evidence cited for the age of the earth, some students stated these reasons:

- "The author said so."

- "Carbo-dating."

- "The fossils on rocks that are found were dating back around this time."

- "We can determine the approximate age of the earth by examining different rocks and how deep they lie below the surface of the earth."



Students identified these factors which can introduce errors in the radiometric age dating method:

- "relative means compare; clam fossils."

- "absolute means in many billions of years. Examples: a) 50 yrs. bull, b) clams, c) tree rings and varves."



The following are descriptions for the half-life of a radioactive mineral:

- "is carbon 14."

- "how many times you divide it in half to see how many times it took you to get the original number; you then multiply it by the years."

- "is when the elements parent breaks down; the daughter then is given part of his life - the older the element is, the higher the daughter's half life is."

- "is the amount of time it takes for one half of the nucleus to dissolve."

- "when radioisotope known as the parent ears down and decays throughout millions of years, it causes the isotopes to become the daughter, which weakens radioisotopes as years go on."

- "the time that half the nucleus has decyaed.

- "parent isotope decrease half its life, and the daughter isotope increases to half its life."

- "have [sic] life is how much radioactive will heave the element after a period of time; a way of us calculating how old a rock is."

- "is the amount of time it takes the radioactivce element to half evaporate."

- "it means when an element is found in a rock of a certain number of years, it means the element could have been around twice as long as the age of the rock."

- "to divide every whole in half, starting from the top going."

- "the life of the radioisotope which is the amount of isotope times half of the atomic number."

- "the middle of the element in process is which helps form the element itself."

- "when an element only has certain chemically compounded minerals when test [sic] and not fully formed."

- "half-life of radioactivity would represent if a rock were 2 times older than another rock, it would have half of its radioactivity level."

- "take the life ofan elent and divide it by 2 in order to reach the desired atomic weight, and see how many half-lives has the element been.

- "it is half of the every one million years."



NOVEL THEORIES OF DINOSAUR EXTINCTION

Over the years, there has never been a shortage of dinosaur extinction theories, ranging from the very elegant and simple to the very complex and bizarre. Here are some novel theories (written by students on exams) that you may not have heard of:

"Dinosaurs became instinct [sic] because the Earth's atmosphere was changing and dinosaurs could not adapt to it."

"They became instinct [sic] because cavemen ate them for supper."

"There weren't enough dinosaurs to reproduce more dinosaurs."

"The dinosaurs were too clumsy and too big to move around and were too slow to survive on the land."

"The dinosaurs ate poisonous plants that were on the land and existed the same time as the dinosaurs did."

"The dinosaurs and other animals ate the unborn dinosaur eggs, and reproduction became extinct."

"Some believe the dinosaurs became sterile and could no longer reproduce."

"They were fuzzy eaters ."

"They ate poisonous plants."

"They were stupid."

"They ate everything."

"They were very picky eaters."

"They got mad easily."
 

One of the recently proposed dinosaur extinction theories involves comets from the Oort Cloud (located at the edge of the solar system) striking the earth 65 million years ago. The following answers were written by students as criticisms of the Oort Cloud theory as a viable explanation for dinosaur extinction:

"Whenever the sun passes threw [sic] the Mickey [sic] Way plane, they suggest the swirls of dust, it encounters would graviationally [sic] disrupt the Oobit [sic] Cloud - 10.0 trillion miles from the sun."

"The sun is very close to the glasic [sic] plane and still it is not caused an extensions [sic] for millions of years."

"Comets come from the gigantic [sic] plane."



STUDENTS IDENTIFY FACTORS WHICH ENHANCE THE FOSSILIZATION PROCESS

"They have to be sealed from the atmosphere and oxygen."

"They have to have a mold on the outside and a cast on the inside."

"Fast death of object."

"Immediate preservation."

"Petrification of rock."

"Mud and oil."

"The natural takes one part of the truck at a time."

"In a falling tree, the rings."

"Cast land made."

"There must be no oxygen in the rock."

"No minerals turns into fossils."

"The first thing that happens is weathering."

"It has to be frozen without oxygen."

"It has to be hard, not like a jellyfish."

"It has to be just prehistoric."

"It has to be left in a damp place."

"It has to be on the bottom of the seafloor."

"Because of the leaves on the trees."

"Life."

"It must rot."

"Fast burial, before rolling occurs."

"It must be dry conditions."

"We need something to fill the mold."

"We need something caught in its natural state."

"Rapid entrapment from oxygen."

"Iron and coal."

"Lack of oxygen and lack of silica."

"The fossil must rot to preserve and not collect any bacteria."

"Sit for years at a time."

"The fossil has to be in a dry area."

"You must determine the entire fossil's shape and age."

"Must have been covered with lava."

"The items must be extremely old."

"You need the initial shape."

"Must be buried underground."

"Need the presence of oxygen."

"It has to be extremely hard, not pliable."

"It has to be frozen without oxygen."

"It is better to keep them in the ocean - less bacteria."

"If the fossil is embedded in sediment and is a vertebrae."

"You must use calcium carbonate."

"Whether."

"Must be away from decaying debris."

"The life form must fall into a wet area."

"Photosynthesis."

"It has to be an igneous rock."

"It has to come from a volcano."

"It must have been living at one time."

"Carbon 14."

"It needs a chemical balance."

"Pressure and dryness."



NEW ROCK TYPES IDENTIFIED BY STUDENTS ON LAB EXAMS:

- GARBBO
- SCARIO
- SCORRIE
- ESCORIO
- IGNESES
- ANTHORITE
- PORPOHLY GRANITE
- AKROSE
- BUFFED LIMESTONE
- COQUIANNA
- ARKONS SANDSTONE
- DOLMITE
- GNICE
- NICE
- GNIESE
- PHYOLITE
- QURTZITE
- QUARTZIDE
- BANDITE
- WHITE MARVEL
- RED MARVEL
- AMPHIBOLIS
- AMPRHOBIOTITE
- AMPHOSOLITE
- AMPHOLOBITE

Finally, two rocks were described as "follyated" and "ingenious."