Environmental Impact
Name one way people can conserve natural resources.
People conserve natural resources by recycling, saving water, reducing electricity use, or reusing materials.
What movement of Earth causes day and night?
Earth's rotation on its axis causes day and night.
What landform is created when flowing water cuts deeply into rock over a long period of time?
A canyon.
Name two examples of fossil fuels.
Coal, oil (petroleum), and natural gas are fossil fuels.
What is the process called when liquid water changes into water vapor?
Evaporation
A group of students notices plastic bottles and trash floating in a nearby river. Explain one way this pollution could affect the organisms living in the river.
Trash can harm aquatic organisms by polluting their habitats. Animals may accidentally eat plastic or become trapped in it.
Approximately how long does Earth take to complete one full rotation?
Earth takes approximately 24 hours to complete one rotation.
A river carries sand and soil toward the ocean. As the river slows down, sediment begins to collect near its mouth. What landform can develop from this process?
A delta forms when a river deposits sediment near its mouth.
Why are fossil fuels classified as nonrenewable natural resources?
Fossil fuels take millions of years to form and cannot be replaced quickly enough for human use.
What process causes water vapor in the atmosphere to cool and form tiny droplets that make up clouds?
Condensation
A construction company removes several trees from an area to build new homes. Explain how removing these trees could increase soil erosion.
Tree roots help hold soil in place. Without trees, rain and wind can carry soil away more easily, increasing erosion.
The Sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west each day. Explain why the Sun appears to move across the sky.
Earth rotates on its axis from west to east, making the Sun appear to move from east to west.
Explain how wind can change Earth's surface by forming sand dunes
Wind picks up and transports sand particles. When the wind slows down, it deposits the sand, gradually building sand dunes.
Explain how fossil fuels form from organisms that lived millions of years ago.
Remains of ancient organisms were buried under layers of sediment. Over millions of years, heat and pressure transformed organic material into fossil fuels.
Explain the difference between precipitation and collection in the water cycle.
Precipitation occurs when water falls from clouds as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Collection occurs when water gathers in oceans, lakes, rivers, and other places.
After a heavy rainstorm, students notice that trash from their school parking lot has washed into a nearby creek. Describe one solution that could prevent this problem.
The school could install trash-catching barriers near storm drains, provide covered trash cans, or organize regular cleanups to prevent litter from entering the creek.
A student measures the shadow of a flagpole in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon. The shadow changes length and direction. Explain why this happens.
Earth's rotation changes the Sun's apparent position in the sky. As the Sun appears higher or lower, the shadow changes length and direction.
Two valleys have different shapes. Valley A has a narrow, V-shaped bottom, while Valley B has a wide, U-shaped bottom. Explain what most likely formed each valley.
Valley A was formed by flowing river water that eroded the land. Valley B was formed by a moving glacier that carved a wide, U-shaped valley.
A power plant burns coal to generate electricity. Explain one negative environmental impact of burning coal.
Burning coal releases carbon dioxide and other air pollutants. These emissions can contribute to climate change and air pollution.
A student notices that a puddle of water disappears after several hours of sunshine. Explain what happened to the water and what caused the change.
The Sun provided energy that caused the liquid water to evaporate and enter the atmosphere as water vapor.
A community plans to build a large parking lot near a river. Identify two possible environmental impacts and explain one way the community could reduce these impacts.
Building the parking lot could destroy animal habitats and increase polluted runoff entering the river. The community could plant vegetation near the river or use permeable pavement to help reduce runoff.
When it is daytime in Texas, it is nighttime in some other parts of the world. Explain how Earth's rotation causes different locations to experience day and night at the same time.
Only the half of Earth facing the Sun receives direct sunlight. As Earth rotates, different locations move into and out of sunlight, causing day and night.
A river begins in the mountains and flows toward a lake. Explain how erosion and deposition could create two different landforms along the river's path.
Flowing water can erode rock and soil in the mountains, forming a V-shaped valley or canyon. When the river reaches the lake and slows down, sediment is deposited, possibly forming a delta.
A town wants to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Describe two changes the town could make and explain how these changes would benefit the environment.
The town could use solar panels or wind turbines to produce electricity and improve energy efficiency in buildings. These changes would reduce fossil fuel use and air pollution.
Describe how water from the ocean can become part of a cloud, fall as rain on a mountain, and eventually return to the ocean.
The Sun heats ocean water, causing evaporation. Water vapor rises, cools, and condenses into clouds. Water falls as precipitation, then returns to the ocean through rivers, runoff, or groundwater flow.