Spheres
Name the four main spheres of the earth:
Hydrosphere, Lithosphere, Biosphere, Atmosphere
This function refers to the environment’s capacity to supply the raw materials and natural resources we need to survive and build things.
Source Function
A community where living things (like plants and animals) and non-living things (like weather and soil) work together to survive.
Ecosystem
With high year-round temperatures and high annual rainfall, this biome is found in areas throughout the tropical zone and supports rapid tree growth and high species diversity.
Tropical Rainforest
What is the main process that occurs in the Hydrosphere?
The Water Cycle
78% of this sphere is Nitrogen
Atmosphere
The environment handles our rubbish and pollution through this function, which absorbs, breaks down, and recycles waste products.
Sink Function
The long-term shift in Earth's weather patterns and temperatures. It means the planet is getting warmer overall, which causes more extreme and dangerous weather.
Climate Change
With dry, treeless landscapes receiving less than 25 centimeters of rainfall annually, this biome is..
Desert
This process is when plants catch energy from the sun, soak up water through their roots, breathe in carbon dioxide, and in return they make oxygen and glucose. This process is called...
Photosynthesis
This geological process breaks down rocks on Earth's surface, often driven by wind, ice, or water.
Erosion (weathering)
This term describes a resource, like solar energy or timber, that the Source function can naturally replenish over time.
Renewable Resource
The measure of force with which air molecules push on a surfac
Air Pressure
A frozen, treeless, desert located between 60 and 70 degrees latitude, this biome is characterized by sparse vegetation and months of no sunlight.
Tundra
These are the giant pieces of rock that fit together like a puzzle to form the outer shell of the Earth..(in lithosphere)
Tectonic Plates
This is the densest layer of the Earth, located at the very center. It is very hot and split into two parts (inner ______ and outer _______) (same word for both parts)
Core
This function includes the fundamental climate control and ecological processes that keep the planet habitable without humans having to do anything.
Service Function
Natural energy sources like coal, oil, and gas. They were made from dead plants and animals from long ago.
Fossil Fuels
A flat or rolling land area where the main plant life is grass instead of large trees or forests.
Grassland
This is a process within the Biosphere where it showcases a big network of connected chains. They show that animals eat more than just one type of food.
Food web
A layer of sediment or rock through which water travels, most commonly found underground
Aquifer
The cycle by which forests and oceans naturally filter our breathing supply, keeping greenhouse gases balanced.
Carbon Cycle (or air purification)
A process where landforms are made, shaped, or carried by the wind
Aeolian
A rolling grassland scattered with shrubs and isolated trees, found between a desert and a tropical rainforest.
Savanna
This process is: The energy, light, and heat that comes to Earth from the Sun.
More hints: As this energy travels through the Earth's atmosphere, it goes through three main processes before it reaches the ground:
* Absorption
* Reflection
* Scattering
Solar Radiation