Unit 4: Session 3: Material Cycling in the Biosphere

What is the definition of energy?

The ability to do work.

What is matter?

Anything that has mass and takes up space.

What is the relationship between raw materials and energy in the environment?

Materials cycle through the environment while energy flows through it.

What are elements?

The most basic forms of matter.

What are compounds?

Substances formed when elements combine.

What are the four major steps of the water cycle?

Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff/percolation.

What is evaporation?

The change of liquid water into water vapor.

What is condensation?

The change of water vapor into liquid water.

What is the carbon cycle?

The movement of carbon atoms through organisms, soil, and the air.

How can carbon become unavailable to living things?

It can be locked in rocks, making it hard for organisms to access.

How can carbon be released back into the environment?

Through weathering of rocks.

What is the oxygen cycle?

The movement of oxygen atoms through organisms and the atmosphere.

What is a key feature of the nitrogen cycle?

Nitrogen is largely locked in the air and must be converted before organisms can use it.

What do cycles like phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, iron, and magnesium have in common?

They involve the movement of essential nutrients through organisms and the environment.

What are the general steps of a natural material cycle?

Materials get locked up, unlocked by chemicals or microbes, taken up and absorbed by organisms, released again, and eventually locked up once more.