270531
Description
Flashcards by agrund3999303, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by agrund3999303
about 13 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| High quality energy | organized and concentrated, able to perform useful work (ex: oil and nuclear) |
| Low quality energy | disorganized dispersed (ex: heat) |
| Units of energy | joules, calories, kilocalories, BTU’s, kilowatt-hours |
| Estimate of how long a radioisotope must be stored until it has decayed to a safe level | 10 half lives |
| Parts of hydrologic (water) cycle | evaporation (transpiration), condensation, precipitation |
| Carbon-silicate cycle | very slow, geological cycle, C in oceans used by marine organisms, end up in ocean sediments and are subducted into Earth’s crust, eventually returned through volcanic venting |
| Nitrification | ammonia is converted to nitrite (NO2) to nitrate (NO3) |
| Assimilation | plants incorporate ammonia and nitrate ions into organic molecules (nucleic acids, amino acids) |
| Ammonification | decomposer bacteria break down organic compounds into ammonia |
| Denitrification | specialized bacteria convert nitrogen compounds into N2 and N2O which is released into the atmosphere |
| Phosphorous | component of nucleic acids |
| P cycles more slowly | no gaseous phase, mostly found in rocks as PO4, released by weathering |
| P | major limiting factor for plant growth |
| Too much P in aquatic ecosystems | from animal wastes, fertilizers, sewage can cause eutrophication |
| Major macronutrients Micronutrients and trace elements | CHNOPS needed in small amounts |
| Plate tectonics | Earth’s crust is broken into plates which move relative to each other, movement caused by convection currents dissipating Earth’s internal heat |
| Volcanoes and earthquakes occur at... | plate boundaries |
| Divergent plate boundaries | sea floor spreading, new crust generated, mid ocean ridges |
| Convergent plate boundaries | oceanic plate subducts under ocean or continental plates, causes volcanoes and trenches. Continental plates produce mountains |
| Transform boundaries | plates slide past each other, causes earthquakes |
| Rock cycle | relationship of rocks and rock formation processes |
| Rock types according to origin | igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic |
| Minerals | are not renewable |
| Ore | concentration of mineral is high enough so that it is profitable to mine |
| Mineral reserve | identified deposits, profitable to mine |
| Surface mining | strip mining, cheaper, less dangerous to miners. Problems: toxic runoff, acid drainage |
| Soil texture | size of soil particles; sand, silt, clay |
| Humus | organic material in soil |
| Leaching | removal of dissolved materials by water moving through |
| Permeability | ability to transmit water |
| Porosity | ability to hold water |
| Solution to soil problems | contour plowing, crop rotation, conservation tillage, organic fertilizers |
| Troposphere | 0-17 km above Earth’s surface, site of weather, organisms, most water vapor |
| Stratosphere | 17-48 km above surface, contains ozone layer |
| Composition of Earth’s atmosphere | 78% N2, 21% O2, 0.9% argon, 0.0035% CO2 |
| Weather | daily atmospheric conditions (temp and precip), Climate long term atmospheric conditions |
| Global circulation patterns | caused by uneven heating of Earth’s surface and Earth’s rotation |
| ENSO | El Niño Southern Oscillation; see-sawing of air pressure over Southern Pacific |
| Greenhouse gases | (GHG) water vapor, CO2, methane, CH4, CFC’s; trap outgoing infrared radiation (heat), causing Earth to warm |
| Effects of global warming | rising sea level, droughts, disruptions of ecosystems, shifts in vegetation |
| Ozone depletion | caused by: CFC’s, methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), halons, methyl bromide all break down stratospheric ozone |
| Effects of ozone depletion | increased UV radiation reaches Earth’s surface; causes increased skin cancer, cataracts, decreased plant growth and marine productivity |
| Stratospheric ozone layer | approximately 20-30 km above the Earth’s surface (12-18miles) |
| Biotic/abiotic | living and nonliving |
| Producer/autotroph | organisms that CAN make their own food |
| Consumer/heterotroph | organisms that CANNOT make their own food |
| Major trophic levels | producers-primary consumers-secondary consumers-tertiary consumers-etc. |
| Energy flow in food webs | solar energy converted to chemical energy, eventually returned as hear |
| Energy flow in food webs | only 10% transferred to next trophic level |
| Mutualism | interaction between 2 species in which both species benefit |
| Parasitism | relationship in which one partner obtains nutrients at the expense of the host |
| Commensalism | one partner benefits, the other is neither harmed nor benefited |
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