chapter 4 pavlik

testivus

Current Earth Population

Current Earth Population

8 Billion

Earth’s Systems

Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Atmosphere

Climate

Overall weather patterns of an area over a long period of time

Factors that determine climate zones

Latitude affects temperature (closer to equator=more solar radiation=hotter)

Pressure belts drive precipitation (0, 60 degrees latitude=wet, 30, 90=dry)

Elevation (higher=colder)

Coastal effects (inland climates have greater temperature extremes)

Ocean currents & wind (winds blowing off cold vs. warm current affect climate if wind blows off ocean)

Topography & wind direction (windward (wet) vs. leeward (dry, rain shadow deserts)

Biome

a community of plants and animals that have common characteristics for the environment they exist in

Adaptation

 a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment

Carbon cycle

The places in Earth’s spheres that carbon is stored (reservoirs) and the processes that move it between them

Example of where carbon is stored in the atmosphere

CO2

Example of where carbon is stored in the hydrosphere

Dissolved CO2 in the water

Example of where carbon is stored in the biosphere

Cells (all living things are made of carbon)

Example of where carbon is stored in the geosphere

Fossil fuels [CH₄] and the rock Limestone [CaCO₃]

Give an example of how carbon can move from the atmosphere to the surface:

Precipitation

Give an example of how carbon can move from the atmosphere to the biosphere:

Plants take in CO2 from the atmosphere

Give an example of how carbon can move from the biosphere to the geosphere:

Over a long period of time, dead plants become coal

Anthropogenic

From human activity (burning fossil fuels is an anthropogenic way that carbon enters the atmosphere)

Fossil fuels

a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms

Major types of fossil fuels

Coal, oil, natural gas

Conduction

Transfer of heat from one molecule to the next through molecular collisions (touching)

Convection

The transfer of heat by mass movement or circulation within a substance (Therefore the hotter something is, the less dense it is)

Radiation

The transfer of energy or heat by electromagnetic waves

Method through which the Earth gets energy from the sun

Radiation (mostly through the form of visible light)

Insolation

All radiation emitted by the Sun “incoming solar radiation,”

How hotter objects emit radiation

At shorter wavelengths

Scattering of light

the phenomenon in which light rays get deviated from its straight path on striking an obstacle like dust or gas molecules, water vapors

50% of sun’s radiation

absorbed by the surface

20% of sun’s radiation

absorbed by atmosphere and clouds

30% of sun’s radiation

reflected or scattered (doesn’t heat earth) ALBEDO

Albedo

the proportion of the incident light or radiation that is reflected by a surface

Earth’s albedo

30% (because 30% is reflected)

Scientist who developed the concept of the greenhouse effect

Svante Arrhenius (1896)

Hot Sun

short wavelength insolation (VL visible light)

Greenhouse effect

The trapping of some of the Earth’s reradiated energy by greenhouse gasses

Selective absorbers

gases that absorb specific wavelengths of energy and do not absorb any other wavelengths

Why are don’t the gasses in the atmosphere absorb visible light?

Visible light is not well-absorbed by any gases of atmosphere, this allows insolation to pass through atmosphere and reach Earth’s surface

Why do greenhouse gases trap in heat?

CO₂, Methane (CH₄₎, and Water Vapor (H₂O) are all selective absorbers for infrared wavelengths = will stop some of the outgoing radiation, heating the earth

What happens to the 70% absorbed insolation? (radiation from the sun)

The short-wavelength (visible light, UV) radiation absorbed by Earth’s surface and the atmosphere and clouds must be re-radiated. Earth cools the insolation down before
releasing it, so it’s re-radiated as Infrared radiation.

Natural greenhouse effect

Good! Without it, the temperature of the Earth would be 60˚F colder (too cold for life)

Human Enhanced greenhouse effect

Humans have enhanced the greenhouse effect by adding more CO₂ (a selective absorber!) to the system, greatly increasing Earth’s temperature

Amanda Gorman

Poet who wrote “Earthrise”, 1st national youth poet laureate (2017) (not sure if we need to know this but there’s an off chance that he might include this)