Environmental Science Chapter 3-2 and 3-3.1

Chapter 3-2: Systems in Environmental Science

Chapter 3-3.1: Earth's Spheres

Multiple Choice

This measurement tells you how many Hydrogen ions are in a solution.

• Acidity

• Density

• Lipidity

• Solubility

Multiple Choice

What was the name of the book written by Rachel Carson that helped start The Third Period of US Environmental Policy?

• Life on the Cuyahoga River

• The Population Bomb

• Silent Spring

• Death by DDT

Multiple Choice

Which Macromolecules are not soluble in water?

• Proteins

• Carbohydrates

• Lipids

• Nucleic Acids

Multiple Choice

What is the term for taxes imposed on companies that participate in activities or produce products that are harmful to the environment?

• Subsidies

• Tax Breaks

• Green Taxes

• Cap Taxes

• Trade Taxes

Introduction

• System: A network of relationships among parts, elements, or components that interact with and influence one another through the exchange of energy, matter, or information

  • Two parts

    • Inputs of energy, matter, or information

    • Outputs of energy, matter, or information

• Earth is made up of many complex interlinked systems

Interacting Systems

• Systems rarely have clear boundaries

  • Many systems work with other systems

• Ultimately boundaries are limited by what you decide to focus on

Feedback Loops

• A Feedback Loop: a regulation of a system where an event is both a cause/input and an effect/output

• Negative Feedback: The output in one direction causes the system to move in the opposite direction

  • Changes cancel each other out and make the system more stable

Feedback Loops

• Positive Feedback: The output in one direction causes the system to move further in the same

  • Pushes a system to an extreme

  • Erosion: the removal of soil by water, wind, ice, or gravity

    • Is a positive feedback loop

Multiple Choice

A pack of wolfs hunts the rabbits in the area to the point where there are not enough rabbits to feed the wolves. The pack begins to decrease in size until the rabbit population grows again. Which type of feedback is this?

• Negative Feedback

• Positive Feedback

Multiple Choice

As one apple on a tree ripens, it releases chemicals that lead the apples next to them to ripen as well. These apples also release chemicals that influence the apples around them until the entire tree has ripe fruit. Which type of feedback is this?

• Negative Feedback

• Positive Feedback

Multiple Choice

When you cut your skin, platelets stick to the wound opening and send signals out that more are needed to close the wound. This leads to more platelets being brought to the injury site. Which type of feedback is this?

• Negative Feedback

• Positive Feedback

Earth's Spheres

• In order to make studying the Earth easier, scientists divide the Earth into "spheres" that are defined according to their function

• The Major spheres interact and overlap with each other

  • Geosphere: all rock at or below the surface

  • Biosphere: All living and once living things

  • Atmosphere: Consists of the layers of gases surrounding the planet

  • Hydrosphere:All water on the Earth's surface, underground, and in the atmosphere

The Geosphere

• Rocks and Minerals on and below the Earth's Surface

• Made up of three major layers

  • Crust: Rocky outermost layer

    • Thinnest layer

    • Contains tectonic plates that move the surface of the Earth

  • Mantle: The mostly solid middle layer

    • Very hot

  • Core: The center of the Earth divided into two parts

    • Outer Core: Molten Metal

    • Inner Core: Solid Metal

    • Creates convection currents as heat moves through the core

The Divisions of the Geosphere

• The Lithosphere: The crust and the uppermost part of the mantle

• The Aesthenosphere: The softer lower layers of the mantle that carry the lithosphere

Plate Tectonics

• The Earth is made up of about 15 Tectonic plates that make up the ocean floor and the continents

• Tectonic Plates move with the currents of the mantle

  • fueled by the heat of the core

  • Move between 2-15 cm a year

• The Movement of the Plates Shapes the Earth's Climate and evolution of species

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is not a sphere of the Earth?

• Hydrosphere

• Biosphere

• Verdosphere

• Geosphere

• Atmosphere

Multiple Choice

This layer of the Earth creates convection currents that move the plates of the Earth

• Crust

• Mantle

• Core

• All Layers of the Earth

Reorder

Put the layers in order from outermost to innermost.

• Lithosphere

• Aesthenosphere

• Outer Core

• Inner Core

1

2

3

4

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Multiple Choice

This layer of the Earth is solid and supports life on Earth

• Crust

• Mantle

• Core

• All Layers of the Earth

Tectonic Plates

• All continents were once combined into a supercontinent called Pangea

• As the plates move and collide, landforms like mountains and valleys are created

• Plates interact differently at different types of boundaries

  • Divergent Boundaries

  • Transform Boundaries

  • Convergent Boundaries

Divergent Boundaries

• Magma and molten rock surge towards the surface and push plates apart

• New crust is created as Magma cools

• Most commonly found at Midocean Ridges

Transform Boundaries

• Two Plates slide against each other

• Causes Earthquakes

Convergent Boundaries

• Two Plates collide and one of two things happen

  • Mountain Building: Both plates are lifted up and mountains form

    • Example: The Himalayas

  • Subduction: One plate slides under the other

    • The lower subducted crust is heated by the mantle and forms volcanoes

      • Example: Mount Saint Helens

Multiple Choice

True or False: The Earth's Contintents have always been separated the way they are today.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

How are new landforms like mountains and valleys created?

• Animals move rocks over hundreds of years

• Rain moves Rock particles to new locations

• Tectonic Plates collide in different ways

• They aren't, All mountains and Valleys have existed since the beginning of time

Multiple Choice

California experiences a large number of earthquakes. What plate boundary can you expect to find there?

• Convergent

• Transform

• Divergent

• All of them, that's why the place is so cursed to live in

The Biosphere

• All Living and formerly living things on Earth

• As far as we know, is limited to the crust of the Earth

  • The mantle and core are too hot to support life, but some microscopic life could exist in theory

• Depends on all other spheres

The Atmosphere

• Very thin layers of gases that support and protect the biosphere

• Not just Oxygen (O₂)

  • Nitrogen (N₂): is ~78% of the gases in the atmosphere

  • Ozone (O₃): a gas that protects the Earth from solar radiation

• Helps thermoregulate the Earth

Labelling

Label the different spheres of the Earth shown in this picture

Drag labels to their correct position on the image

Hydrosphere

Atmosphere

Biosphere

Geosphere

Multiple Select

You find a fossil while digging in your yard. Which Spheres of the Earth are represented

• Biosphere

• Atmosphere

• Hydrosphere

• Geosphere

Multiple Choice

What is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere?

• Oxygen

• Nitrogen

• Ozone

• Carbon Dioxide

Open Ended

We watched a video of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens. Write a paragraph explaining how the geosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere were all involved/impacted by the eruption.