P/S Cycle
The Carbon Cycle
The Water Cycle
The Nitrogen Cycle
Complex Questions
100
How is the phosphorus cycle different from other cycles?
Phosphorus doesn’t enter the atmosphere.
100
What is released as a waste product of cellular respiration?
CO2
100
How does water enter into the atmosphere?
evaporation
100
What is the name of the process in which nitrogen gas from the atmosphere is converted into a soluble form in the soil (ammonium)?
nitrogen fixation
100
Explain the connection between photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Both are involved in the carbon cycle. Photosynthesis allows autotrophs to take in carbon dioxide to produce glucose. Cellular respiration breaks down the glucose to produce ATP and carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere as a waste product. Their equations are also opposite.
200

Where is phosphorous stored?

In rocks

200
What is the name of the process in which carbon dioxide is taken from the atmosphere?
Photosynthesis
200
When water condenses, _____________ is formed.
precipitation
200
What types of organisms can fix nitrogen? From what form to what form?
nitrogen fixing bacteria, N2 to NO3
200
Why do farmers rotate their crops?
Some plants, like corn and rice, are nitrogen lovers and extract the majority of the nitrogen from the soil. Farmers will then plant a legume such as soybeans or cowpeas to replace the lost nitrogen.
300

When is phosphorous returned back into sediment and rock?

When organisms decompose

300
What types of organisms are able to remove carbon dioxide from the environment?
Plants/autotrophs
300

What is the molecular formula for water? List its elements and the number of atoms of each element it contains.

H2O

2 Hydrogens

1 Oxygen

300

What is the name of the process in which ammonium is converted to nitrate, a form of nitrogen that plants can use?

“nitrification"

300
How are fossil fuels contributing to the carbon cycle?
They release huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when they are burned.
400

How are rocks broken down to release their stored phosphrous?

Weathering, rain, and or erosion

400

How do consumers take in their carbon compounds?

Eating plants and other animals

400
What is the gaseous form of water called?
water vapor
400

What is the name of the process in which bacteria convert nitrate back into nitrogen gas which is then released back into the atmosphere?

Denitrification

400
How are humans affecting the water cycle?
deforestation, irrigation, urban sprawl, damming rivers
500

How do humans disrupt the Phosphorous cycle?

P- add too much fertilizer, runoff

500
How are the overall chemical equations for photosynthesis and cellular respiration similar?
They are opposites, the products in photosynthesis are the reactants in cellular respiration and vice versa.
500
What is the energy source that drives the water cycle?
Heat from the sun (solar energy) causes water to evaporate
500

What is the nitrogen cycle necessary for animal life?

Nitrification/Nitrogen fixation transforms the atmospheric carbon into forms that can be used and processed by animals
500
What are the three ways in which atmospheric nitrogen can be fixed into soluble compounds that plants can take in?
nitrogen fixing bacteria, lightening, humans taking it to make fertilizer
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