The Water Cycle
What is the main source of energy that causes water to evaporate from Earth's surface?
The Sun (solar energy).
What do we call water stored underground in spaces between soil and rock?
Groundwater.
What gas do plants take in from the atmosphere to make food?
Carbon dioxide (CO₂).
What process allows plants to use sunlight to make glucose (sugar)?
Photosynthesis
What gas dissolves in ocean water and causes ocean acidification?
Carbon dioxide.
A plant releases water vapor through tiny pores in its leaves. What is this process called?
Transpiration.
What is the name for an underground layer of rock, sand, or sediment that stores water?
An aquifer.
Name two places where carbon can be stored on Earth.
Examples include plants, soil, oceans, limestone, coal, oil, and natural gas.
During photosynthesis, plants use carbon dioxide and water. What gas do they release?
Oxygen
What happens to ocean water's pH when more carbon dioxide dissolves in it?
The pH decreases, making the water more acidic.
Rainwater soaks into the ground and moves through soil. What is this process called?
Infiltration.
What do we call a land area where water drains into the same river, lake, or other body of water?
A watershed.
What happens to stored carbon when a forest is burned or cleared?
Carbon is released into the atmosphere, mainly as carbon dioxide.
What molecule provides cells with usable energy when glucose is broken down during cellular respiration?
ATP
Why can corals, oysters, and clams struggle to build their shells in more acidic water?
Acidification reduces the amount of available carbonate ions, making it harder to build and maintain shells and skeletons.
Water vapor cools and forms tiny liquid water droplets that make clouds. What is this process called?
Condensation
Why can groundwater in a deep aquifer take hundreds or thousands of years to move?
Water moves slowly through tiny, connected spaces in underground soil and rock.
Cars and power plants burn coal, oil, or natural gas. How does this affect the carbon cycle?
It releases carbon stored underground into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
What two main waste products are released during cellular respiration?
Carbon dioxide and water.
What tiny ocean organisms perform photosynthesis and produce a large amount of Earth's oxygen?
Marine phytoplankton.
Snow melts on a mountain, and water flows downhill into a stream. What is this movement of water over land called?
Surface runoff.
A town replaces a grassy field with roads and parking lots. Why could flooding increase?
Roads and parking lots prevent water from soaking into the ground, causing more runoff.
Coastal wetlands can trap carbon and keep it stored for a long time. What does it mean to sequester carbon?
To capture and store carbon away from the atmosphere.
An aquatic plant is placed in water containing dissolved carbon dioxide. How can photosynthesis change the amount of carbon dioxide in the water?
The plant absorbs dissolved carbon dioxide to make glucose, which can raise the water's pH.
If ocean acidification harms small marine organisms and shellfish, how could tuna and dolphins be affected?
Their food supply could decrease as organisms lower in the food chain decline, disrupting the food web.