APES Unit 8 & 9 Vocabulary

1. Anthropogenic – Caused by human activities.

2. Independent variable – The factor that is changed in an experiment.

3. Dependent variable – The factor that is measured in an experiment.

4. Control group – The group in an experiment that does not receive the treatment.

5. PM (Particulate Matter) – Tiny solid or liquid particles in the air that can harm health.

6. Ground-level ozone – Harmful ozone near the Earth’s surface, formed by pollutants reacting in sunlight.

7. Photochemical smog – Air pollution caused by sunlight reacting with pollutants like nitrogen oxides and VOCs.

8. Thermal inversion – A weather condition where a layer of warm air traps pollutants near the ground.

9. Smog – A mix of air pollutants, often from vehicle emissions and industrial activity.

10. Radon – A radioactive gas from the ground that can cause lung cancer.

11. DO (Dissolved Oxygen) – The amount of oxygen in water, important for aquatic life.

12. BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) – The amount of oxygen needed by microbes to break down organic material in water.

13. Acidity – The level of acid in a substance, measured by pH.

14. Eutrophication – Excess nutrients in water causing algae growth and oxygen depletion.

15. POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) – Toxic chemicals that do not break down easily and accumulate in the environment.

16. Biomagnification – The increase in toxin concentration as it moves up the food chain.

17. Dose-response curve – A graph showing how a substance’s effects change with different doses.

18. Turbidity – The cloudiness of water caused by particles.

19. pH – A scale measuring how acidic or basic a substance is.

20. Endocrine disruptors – Chemicals that interfere with hormones in the body.

21. Runoff – Water that flows over land, carrying pollutants into rivers and lakes.

22. LD50 – The dose of a substance that kills 50% of a test population.

23. Tuberculosis – A bacterial lung infection spread through the air.

24. Cholera – A bacterial disease causing severe diarrhea, spread through contaminated water.

25. Malaria – A disease caused by parasites, transmitted by mosquitoes.

26. Vector – An organism that carries and spreads disease, like mosquitoes.