Science Earth and Space Chapter 12
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40 Terms
Environmental science
The studying of the interactions of the physical world
Biotic
Living things that influence an environment
Abiotic
Non-living factors in the universe
Biogeochemical cycles
Processes that recycle minerals and other nutrients in the environment
Hydrologic
Continuous recycling of water between the earth and atmosphere
Atmospheric cycle
Recycled nutrients found mainly as gases in the atmospere
Preservationists
People who believe that humans have no claim to anything on the earth
Pantheism
Belief that nature is God
Pollution
Harmful substances released into the soil, air, or water
Landfill
The place where garbage is collected, stored, and covered
Syngas
Synthetic gas used for fuel
Primary pollutant
A pollutant that comes directly from a pollution source
Temperature inversion
The situation in which called air at the surface becomes overlaid by warmer air
Non-point source pollutant
A pollutant that comes from multiple sources
Pathogens, chemicals, and macroscopic items
The three types of water pollutants
Coliform bacteria
Bacteria that lives in the intestines of humans and animals and are used to determine if pathogens are present in water
Acid deposition
The falling of acidic precipitation onto the planet
Scrubbers
A system that removes certain gases and particles from industrial exhaust
Agricultural lime
The purified form of limestone that is used to correct overly acidic soil and can be used to restore acidic lakes and streams quickly
Rowland-Molina hypothesis
States that long-living halogen compounds can cause ozone depletion
Dobson units
What ozone levels are measured in
Anthropogenic
Caused by humans
Montreal Protocol
The agreement that called for the reduction and eventual elimination of CFC's
HCFCs and HFCs
Two replacement chemicals for CFCs
Little Ice Age
Cold period that lasted from the 1350s to around 1850 in which the global temperature dropped drastically
Carbon Dioxide
The greenhouse gas that is claimed to be the main cause of anthropogenic global warming
Natural resources
Refers to any naturally occurring material that mankind can use
Nonrenewable resources
Natural resources that regenerate slowly if at all
Renewable resources
The general term for energy generated by natural sources and naturally replenished
Environmental technology
The branch of science that develops new methods of conservation through the application of environmental science
Water reclamation
The process of quickly and safely returning wastewater to the envrionment
Outfall
The place where processed wastewater is discharged into the environment
Passive solar energy
Using solar energy that naturally falls on a building to heat it directly
Photovoltaic cells
Devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity
Concentrating solar energy
Method of producing electricity that uses lenses or mirrors to focus the sun's rays into a small beam that heats a fluid
Wind turbine
A device that generates electricity by wind-caused motion
Hydroelectric power
The most widely used form of renewable energy
Nuclear fission
The process in which an atom of an element with a large nucleus breaks into two atoms of elements with smaller nuclei, releasing large amounts of energy
Nuclear chain reaction
The continued processes of atoms splitting and releasing neutrons that trigger more atoms to split
Nuclear reactor
A device that safely starts and controls a fission chain reaction