What Was The Major Problem With Wegener’s Ideas?
The greatest problem facing Wegener was the lack of direct evidence for the movements of continents (no GPS at the time!) and no mechanism was known to be powerful enough to move entire continents.Jan 6 2017
What was the problem with Wegener’s theory of continental drift?
Although now accepted the theory of continental drift was rejected for many years with evidence in its favor considered insufficient. One problem was that a plausible driving force was missing. A second problem was that Wegener’s estimate of the speed of continental motion 250 cm/year was implausibly high.
What was the main reason Wegener’s ideas were rejected?
The main reason that Wegener’s hypothesis was not accepted was because he suggested no mechanism for moving the continents. He thought the force of Earth’s spin was sufficient to cause continents to move but geologists knew that rocks are too strong for this to be true.
What was the problem about Wegener’s theory that he wasn’t able to answer?
The main issue with Wegener’s Continental Drift Theory was he did not have a mechanism behind the drifting of continents. He had a substantial amount of evidence that made sense nonetheless without a driving force behind it the scientific community simply discredited his entire idea.
What are the flaws of continental drift?
Forces like buoyancy tidal currents and gravity are too weak to be able to move continents. Modern theories (Plate Tectonics) accept the existence of Pangaea and related landmasses but give a very different explanation to the causes of drift.
Why was the idea of moving continents more widely accepted after seafloor spreading was proposed?
Why was the idea of moving continents more widely accepted after seafloor spreading was proposed? … Seafloor spreading was the missing link. Continents are NOT pushing through ocean crust as he thought but continents are more like passengers that ride along while the ocean crust slowly moves away from ocean ridges.
What did Wegener find that he believed was evidence to support his theory?
Wegener supported his theory by demonstrating the biological and geological similarities between continents. South America and Africa contain fossils of animals found only on those two continents with corresponding geographic ranges.
What aspects of Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis were rejected to most Earth scientists select all that apply?
What two aspects of Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis were objectionable to most Earth scientists? His inability to identify a credible mechanism for continental drift and his suggestion that larger and sturdier continents broke through thinner oceanic crust like ice breakers cut through ice.
Why were the ideas of Wegener and Hess not accepted by other scientists during their time?
Like many revolutionary theories Wegener’s was not initially accepted by scientists. The “good fit” of the continents and the fossil and rock evidence did not provide enough proof.
How did the continents move over time?
How did the seafloor spreading helped explain Wegener’s hypothesis?
Sea floor spreading is the phenomena of new sea floor being created through mid-ocean ridges. Wegener proposed that the continents themselves move which is untrue. … Sea floor spreading caused the break up of Pangea which prompted Wegener to add this in support of his continental drift theory.
What happens when Earth’s plates move?
How was Wegener’s theory Criticised by scientists?
Some critics thought that giant land bridges could explain the similarities among fossils in South America and Africa. Others argued that Wegener’s theory did not explain the forces that would have been needed to move continents to such great distances.
What was the response to Wegener’s hypothesis?
The main problem with Wegener’s hypothesis of Continental Drift was the lack of a mechanism. He did not have an explanation for how the continents moved. His attempt to explain it using tides only made things worse. But both Galileo and Darwin had serious flaws in their theories when they were first presented.
What did Wegener actually prove?
Alfred Wegener produced evidence in 1912 that the continents are in motion but because he could not explain what forces could move them geologists rejected his ideas. Almost 50 years later Harry Hess confirmed Wegener’s ideas by using the evidence of seafloor spreading to explain what moved continents.
Why was Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis rejected when it was proposed quizlet?
Why was Wegener’s hypothesis rejected? Because Wegener could not identify the cause of continental drift most geologists rejected his idea. Continental drift was what Wegener invented. Wegener’s hypothesis was rejected from geologists because he couldn’t identify the cause of continental drift.
Why did scientists not accept the continental drift hypothesis quizlet?
Why did scientists not accept the Continental Drift hypothesis? It was based on observations from the southern hemisphere which was unfamiliar to most geologists. … Wegener suggested the thick continents moved through the thinner ocean crust.
What will the world look like in 200 million years?
What did Wegener think had happened to this supercontinent?
His widely accepted theory of land displacement holds that Earth’s continents have been in motion throughout geologic time. Wegener believe that there was once a single supercontinent which he called Pangea (or Pangaea). He said that Pangea broke apart millions of years ago to form two large continents.
How could the continents have gotten so far apart and how long did it take for this to happen?
Answer: The continents could have gotten so far because of plate tectonic movement. We know that the plates are always moving so if these plates were very active then it would have caused supercontinent pangea to drift apart. This process must have taken more than a million years to happen.
What if plate tectonics stopped?
If all plate motion stopped Earth would be a very different place. … Erosion would continue to wear the mountains down but with no tectonic activity to refresh them over a few million years they would erode down to low rolling hills.
What would happen if there were no mountains?
Too much CO2 contributes to global warming but too little would have made the earth a much colder place preventing life from developing. …
Are the continents floating on water?
What is the main reason that Alfred Wegener’s hypothesis of continental drift not accepted when he proposed it in 1914?
Which of the following evidence does not support the continental drift theory?
Answer: The theory doesn’t consider oceans. Forces like buoyancy tidal currents and gravity are too weak to be able to move continents. Modern theories (Plate Tectonics) accept the existence of Pangaea and related landmasses but give a very different explanation to the causes of drift.
What did Wegener achieve?
Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift – the idea that Earth’s continents move. Despite publishing a large body of compelling fossil and rock evidence for his theory between 1912 and 1929 it was rejected by most other scientists.
What led to Wegener’s idea coming back into popularity?
By 1930 it had been rejected by most geologists and it sank into obscurity for the next few decades. Wegener’s impact was finally felt when his theory was resurrected as part of the theory of plate tectonics during the 1960s.
Why was continental drift so controversial during Alfred Wegener’s time what explanation was necessary to support his hypothesis?
What explanation was necessary to support his hypothesis? Continental drift is not easily observable because tectonic plates move very slowly. When Wegener proposed the continental drift hypothesis he was unable to identify a force that could move continents.
Was Wegener’s idea of continental drift a good scientific hypothesis?
Although Wegener’s evidence was sound most geologists at the time rejected his hypothesis of continental drift. Scientists argued that there was no way to explain how solid continents could plow through solid oceanic crust.
Why did scientist reject Wegener’s idea of continental drift?
The main reason that Wegener’s hypothesis was not accepted was because he suggested no mechanism for moving the continents. He thought the force of Earth’s spin was sufficient to cause continents to move but geologists knew that rocks are too strong for this to be true.
What ideas brought a renewed interest to the idea of continental drift?
Although the evidence for continental drift was extremely strong scientists rejected the idea because no mechanism for how solid continents could move around on the solid earth was developed. The discovery of apparent polar wander renewed scientists interest in continental drift.
Who is Wegener and what did he do?
What other evidence did Wegener need in order to convince scientists that his theory of continental drift was correct quizlet?
What other evidence did Wegener need in order to convince scientists that his theory of continental drift was correct? Wegener found coal in Greenland and claimed that this supported his ideas about continental drift. How does coal in Greenland support the idea of continental drift?
Which of the following were objections that scientists made to Wegener’s hypothesis of continental drift?
The main objection to Wegener’s hypothesis was from his inability to identify a credible mechanism for continental drift.
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