Year 10 Environmental Sciences Flashcards
(38 cards)
What is the Carbon Cycles?
The storage and cyclic movement of organic and inorganic forms of carbon between the bio, litho, hydro, and atmosphere.
Define ‘Carbon Sinks’
Anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases.
Define ‘Carbon Source’
Anything that releases more carbon than it absorbs.
Describe Earth’s structure
Earth is made up of the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere.
What is the Biosphere?
The layer of the planet where life exists.
What is the Hydrosphere?
Contains all the water found on Earth, whether it is trapped ice, stored underground as groundwater, or found in the atmosphere as vapour.
What is the Lithosphere?
Includes the crust, the upper mantle, and the uppermost layers of the Earth’s structure. There are two parts; oceanic and continental, which are broken down into 15 tectonic plates.
What is the Atmosphere?
The layer of gas that extends from the surface of the water, land, and mountain ranges into space.
What four elements make up the Carbon Cycle?
Respiration, Photosynthesis, Decomposition and Industrial.
What is respiration?
Most organisms get energy by combining oxygen from the air with food. CO2 is released back into the environment because we breathe in oxygen and release CO2.
What is photosynthesis?
Plants, algae, and some bacteria take in CO2 from the environment and use it to make food. O2 is released back into the environment.
What is decomposition?
Fungi and some bacteria get energy by breaking down waste and the remains of dead organisms into smaller molecules, releasing CO2.
What is industrial?
Burning fossil fuels and trees releases CO2 into the environment.
What are fossil fuels?
Buried organic materials, like plants and animals, are transformed into crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by heat and pressure over millions of years. When burned they release CO2 and other greenhouse gases.
What are the main types of fossil fuels?
Oil, coal, and natural gas.
What is the purpose of the nitrogen cycle?
Nitrogen is needed by living organisms to make proteins. It exists in the atmosphere as gas but requires converting so plants can access it and absorb the nutrients.
What is ammonification?
When nitrogen enters the atmosphere through the decomposition of protein in dead organic matter. Liberates a lot of energy which can be used by the saprotrophic microbes.
What is nitrification?
a process carried out by nitrifying soil bacteria, transforms soil ammonia into nitrates, another form of nitrogen that plants can incorporate into their tissues.
What is nitrogen fixation?
The process by which nitrogen is taken from its molecular form (N2) in the atmosphere and converted into nitrogen compounds useful for other biochemical processes.
What is atmospheric pollution?
Contributes to the eutrophication of water bodies. Happens inside the internal combustion engines of cars.
What is eutrophication?
The gradual increase in the concentration of phosphorus, nitrogen, and other plant nutrients in aging water bodies such as a lake.
What is the greenhouse effect?
The rise in temperature that the Earth experiences is because certain gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun’s rays.
How do greenhouse gases work?
Sunshine enters the Earth’s atmosphere passing through the blanket of greenhouse gases. As it reaches the Earth’s surface, land, water, and biosphere absorb the sunlight’s energy. Once absorbed the energy is sent back into the atmosphere.
What are the main greenhouse gases?
Water vapour, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane.
