Unit 7: Atmospheric Pollution
Primary Vs. Secondary Pollutants.
CED: Topic 7.1 – Introduction to Air Pollution (p.147)
Primary is directly from a source, while Secondary pollutants form in the atmosphere after primary pollutants react with sunlight, oxygen, or water vapor.
What are at least three major causes as to Why Biodiversity Declines?
CED: Topic 2.1 – Introduction to Biodiversity (p.59)
Which fossil fuel burns the "cleanest" in terms of carbon dioxide and particulate emissions?
CED: Topic 6.5 – Fossil Fuels (p.131)
Natural Gas
Which process describes one tectonic plate moving under another and sinking into the mantle?
CED: Topic 4.1 – Plate Tectonics (p.87)
Subduction
"K" and "R" are used to describe which of the following aspects of populations?
CED: Topic 3.2 Notes – K-Selected r-Selected Species (p.72)
The reproductive tactics used by the populations. R- (Many offspring, little care), K- (produce fewer, more nurtured offspring).
What is used often used to reduce SO2 emissions from coal plants.
CED: Topic 7.6 – Reduction of Air Pollutants (p.154)
What is Scubbers?
The Three Levels of Biodiversity.
CED: Topic 2.1 – Introduction to Biodiversity (p.59)
1. Habitat Diversity - habitat diversity is the variety of ecosystems in a region.
2. Species Diversity - species diversity looks at variation between species in an ecosystem.
3. Genetic Diversity - Genetic diversity is variation in genes (alleles) among individuals in a population.
Difference between Nonrenewable & renewable resources?
CED: Topic 6.1 – Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources (p.127)
Renewable resources naturally replenish themselves in a short period (sunlight, wind, water), nonrenewable resources exist in finite amounts and cannot be replaced once used (coal, oil, natural gas).
At which type of boundary is new oceanic crust created?
CED: Topic 4.1 – Plate Tectonics (p.87)
What is Divergent boundary
What describes a population that has significantly overshot it carrying capacity?
CED: Topic 3.5 - Population Growth and Resource Availability (p.76)
It's growth rate overshoots it's carrying capacity, leading to environmental damage and a subsequent population dieback.
Describe the Greenhouse Gases
CED: Topic 7.4 – Atmospheric CO₂ and Particulates (p.151)
Sunlight enters the atmosphere, Earth absorbs some of that energy, and greenhouse gases trap part of the outgoing infrared radiation.
In a Small forest plot, you find 40 maple trees, 10 Oak trees, and 50 pine trees. What is the relative abundance of the Oak trees?
CED: Topic 2.5 – Natural Disruptions to Ecosystems (p.63)
10/100 = 0.10
0.10 times 100 = 10% The relative abundance of Oak trees is 10%.
The amount of energy resources known to be contained in a supply or deposit, such as the barrel volume of an oil field that has been explored by geologists, is known as a:
CED: Topic 6.4 – Distribution of Natural Energy Resources (p.130)
A proven reserve is and explored and scientifically confirmed volume.
What provides evidence for the theory of seafloor spreading?
CED: Topic 4.2 – Soil Formation and Erosion (p.88)
The age of rocks being youngest at mid-ocean ridges.
A country has a population growth rate of 2.5%. How many years will it take for the population to double?
CED: Topic 3.5 – Population Growth and Resource Availability (p.76)
It will take 28 years for the population to double.
70/2.5 = 28 years.
How does Acid deposition form?
CED: Topic 7.7 – Acid Rain (p.155)
Acid deposition forms when NOx and SO₂ react with water and oxygen to form nitric and sulfuric acid.
What is Ecological Succession?
CED: Topic 2.7 – Ecological Succession (p.65)
An ecosystem is never frozen in time. After a disturbance or the creation of new land, the types of species present, their abundance, and the physical structure of the community all change in a fairly predictable pattern. That long-term pattern is ecological succession.
A coal power plant consumes 100 units of energy from coal. It produces 35 units of electricity.
1. What is the efficiency of the power plant and how many units are "lost as waste heat?
CED: Topic 6.4 – Distribution of Natural Energy Resources (p.130)
35% efficiency = energy out/total energy in. 65 units of energy.
A set of magnetic stripes on the ocean floor shows that a point on the seafloor has moved 300 km away from a mid-ocean ridge over the last 10 million years.
Calculate the average rate of seafloor spreading in centimeters per years (cm/years).
Topic 4.3 – Soil Composition and Properties (p.89)
R = 3 cm/yr
A Type II survivorship curve is described as:
CED: Topic 3.3 – Survivorship Curves (p.74)
Roughly constant survival probability regardless of age.
A lake had a pH of 6.0 in 2010. By 2020, after increased acid deposition, the pH dropped to 4.0. By what factor ion concentration increased?
CED: Topic 7.6 – Reduction of Air Pollutants (p.154)
The H+ concentration has increased by a factor of 100.
What are traits of high tolerance species?
CED: Topic 2.4 – Ecological Tolerance (p.62)
High tolerance species are usually generalists; low tolerance species are often specialists and more vulnerable to change.
Burning biomass releases CO2. How can some biomass energy generation still be considered carbon-negative?
CED: Topic 6.7 – Energy from Biomass (p.134)
Carbon captures and storage (CCS) remove emitted CO2 emissions.
Which layer of the earth is semi-fluid and allows the tectonic plates to move?
CED: Topic 4.1 – Plate Tectonics (p.87)
Asthenosphere
When a population reaches it carrying capacity, what is likely to occur?
CED: Topic 3.4 – Carrying Capacity (p.75)
The population may temporarily exceed the capacity and then decline until resources can support the population.