Unit 1 Earth: Note 1 Earth's Systems Notes

What do humans need to survive?

Water, oxygen, shelter, food.

What are the four Earth systems?

Atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere.

What is the atmosphere comprised of?

Air.

What is the biosphere comprised of?

Any and all living organisms.

What is the lithosphere comprised of?

The solid Earth, including minerals, metals, rocks, and ore.

What is the hydrosphere comprised of?

Earth's liquid, solid, and gas water.

What is the anthroposphere?

The part of the environment that is made or significantly altered by humans.

What are the two types of systems?

Open system and closed system.

What is an open system?

A system where matter and energy comes from outside the system and where the stock can leave the initial system.

What is a closed system?

A system where matter and energy is only transferred within the system and the stock never leaves.

What are the three parts of a system?

Stock, Reservoir, Flux/Flow.

What is stock in a system?

The material being exchanged and tracked through a system.

What is a reservoir in a system?

A place where the stock is held or stored for a period of time.

What is flux/flow in a system?

How the rate of transfer of the stock is quantified.

What does inflow/outflow analysis study?

What happens to the system when the rate of transfer is changed.

What happens when inflow is greater than outflow?

Increase of stock in reservoir.

What happens when inflow equals outflow?

Continuous flow in reservoir, constant rate of transfer.

What happens when inflow is less than outflow?

Decrease of stock in reservoir.

What is a feedback loop?

The process of an output of a system becoming an input to the same system, causing changes based on the results produced.

What is a balancing loop?

A negative feedback loop that holds a system to an equilibrium state, making it more stable.

What is a reinforcing loop?

A positive feedback loop that moves a system away from equilibrium, making it more unstable.