Environmental Science: Earth's Physical Systems, Science, and Sustainability

Flashcards covering introductory concepts in environmental science, scientific methodology, sustainability, chemistry, thermodynamics, and geology based on the provided lecture notes.

Environmental Science

The study of how the natural world works, how the environment affects us, and how we affect it.

Ecosystem Services

Essential processes arising from normal ecosystem function, including water and air purification, nutrient cycling, water flow regulation, flood prevention, and erosion reduction.

Agricultural Revolution

A historic transition roughly $10{,}000$ years ago when humans began growing crops, domesticating animals, and settling in villages, leading to an increased population growth rate.

Industrial Revolution

A historic shift to an urban society powered by nonrenewable fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas.

Ecological Footprint

A metric expressing resource consumption by calculating the area of land and water needed to provide the resources a person or population consumes and to process their generated waste.

Overshoot

The state of surpassing Earth's capacity to sustainably support human resource consumption, currently estimated at consuming $64|\text{\%}$ more renewable resources than are sustainably available.

Sustainability

A way of living that conserves Earth's resources so they remain available for future generations while maintaining fully functional ecological systems.

Independent Variable

The specific variable in an experiment that a scientist actively manipulates.

Dependent Variable

The variable in an experiment that is measured and directly affected by changes in the independent variable.

Peer Review

The process in which scientists read, evaluate, and critique another researcher's work before it is published in a scientific journal.

Theory (Scientific)

A broad explanation that joins many hypotheses and is extensively supported by testing within the scientific community.

Paradigm Shift

A fundamental change in a dominant scientific view or framework resulting from new ideas and evidence.

Law of Conservation of Matter

A physical principle stating that matter can be transformed from one type of substance to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.

Radioisotopes

Radioactive isotopes that spontaneously decay and change identity by emitting subatomic particles and high-energy ionizing radiation.

Half-Life

The amount of time required for half of the atoms in a given sample of a radioisotope to decay into a stable isotope.

Covalent Bond

A chemical bond formed when atoms share electrons.

Hydrogen Bond

A weak electrical attraction between oppositely charged poles of polar covalent molecules, such as water molecules.

Ionic Bond

A chemical bond formed by the complete transfer of electrons between atoms, creating oppositely charged ions that attract each other.

Hydrocarbons

Organic compounds consisting exclusively of hydrogen and carbon atoms, forming the basis of fossil fuels and petroleum products like plastics.

pH Scale

A logarithmic scale quantifying the acidity or alkalinity of a solution based on its hydrogen ion ($\text{H}^+$) concentration, where values below $7$ are acidic, $7$ is neutral, and values above $7$ are basic.

First Law of Thermodynamics

The physical law stating that energy can change from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.

Second Law of Thermodynamics

The physical law stating that energy tends to change from a more-ordered state to a less-ordered state as it changes form.

Photosynthesis

The process by which autotrophs convert solar energy, carbon dioxide, and water into chemical energy stored in glucose bonds, releasing oxygen ($6\text{CO}_2 + 6\text{H}_2\text{O} \rightarrow \text{C}_6\text{H}_{12}\text{O}_6 + 6\text{O}_2$).

Cellular Respiration

The process by which living organisms break down glucose using oxygen to release chemical energy, producing carbon dioxide and water ($\text{C}_6\text{H}_{12}\text{O}_6 + 6\text{O}_2 \rightarrow 6\text{CO}_2 + 6\text{H}_2\text{O}$).

Chemosynthesis

The process used by organisms near hydrothermal vents to produce sugar using the chemical potential energy in hydrogen sulfide ($6\text{CO}_2 + 6\text{H}_2\text{O} + 3\text{H}_2\text{S} \rightarrow \text{C}_6\text{H}_{12}\text{O}_6 + 3\text{H}_2\text{SO}_4$).

Lithosphere

The rigid outer layer of Earth, comprising the uppermost mantle and the brittle crust.

Asthenosphere

An area of the upper mantle below the lithosphere containing soft, malleable rock.

Plate Tectonics

The movement of large plates of lithosphere across Earth's surface at a rate of $2\text{--}15\,\text{cm}$ per year, driven by mantle convection currents.

Divergent Plate Boundary

A tectonic boundary where plates move apart as magma rises to the surface and cools to create new lithosphere.

Transform Plate Boundary

A tectonic boundary where plates slip and grind horizontally alongside each other, producing earthquakes.

Subduction

A convergent plate boundary process where denser oceanic crust dives downward beneath lighter continental crust into the mantle.

Rock Cycle

The continuous geological process in which rocks and minerals are heated, melted, cooled, weathered, compacted, and transformed over deep time.

Igneous Rock

Rock formed when molten rock (magma or lava) cools and solidifies.

Sedimentary Rock

Rock formed when weathered sediment layers accumulate, compact, and cement together over time.

Metamorphic Rock

Rock whose physical properties are altered by intense heat and pressure within Earth.

Anthropocene

A proposed geological epoch characterized by exponential increases in human population, soil erosion, and atmospheric carbon dioxide over the last $200$ years.

Mass Wasting

The downward gravitational movement of large amounts of rock or soil downhill.

Tsunami

A surge of ocean water or large wave triggered by sudden displacement of water from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or coastal landslides.