Matter & Macromolecules
The smallest unit that maintains the chemical properties of an element.
What is an atom?
Water is called this because it can dissolve many different substances.
What is the universal solvent?
All living things on Earth belong to this sphere.
What is the biosphere?
Matter that organisms need to carry out their life processes.
What are nutrients?
Predator-prey relationships are an example of this type of feedback loop.
What is a negative feedback loop?
A substance made from two or more different elements chemically bonded together.
What is a compound?
This property allows water molecules to stick to one another.
What is cohesion?
This sphere includes all the gases surrounding Earth.
What is the atmosphere?
This process moves carbon from the atmosphere into plants.
What is photosynthesis?
This type of feedback loop moves a system farther in its original direction.
What is a positive feedback loop?
Proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids belong to this group of large molecules.
What are macromolecules?
The process in which liquid water changes into water vapor.
What is evaporation?
Oceans, rivers, groundwater, ice, and water vapor are all part of this sphere.
What is the hydrosphere?
Ammonia from fertilizers and animal waste can enter bodies of water and contribute to this process, which causes excessive algae growth.
What is eutrophication?
This type of feedback loop helps return an environmental system toward stability.
What is a negative feedback loop?
These polymers contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and are a major source of energy.
What are carbohydrates?
The process in which water vapor cools and becomes liquid water.
What is condensation?
This sphere includes all the rock above and below Earth’s surface.
What is the geosphere?
This process converts nitrogen gas into ammonia that can enter the nitrogen cycle.
What is nitrogen fixation?
Water belongs to multiple Earth spheres because it exists in organisms, the air, and bodies of water. Name those three spheres.
What are the biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere?
Explain one difference between an element and a compound.
What is: an element contains one type of atom, while a compound contains two or more elements chemically bonded?
Water that soaks into the ground and is stored in aquifers is called this.
What is groundwater?
Give one example of how humans interact with one of the different Earth spheres.
What is: humans breathe from the atmosphere, drink from the hydrosphere, live on the geosphere, or belong to the biosphere?
A major decrease in bacteria would harm the nitrogen cycle because plants would receive less of this usable nitrogen compound.
What are nitrates?
Negative feedback loops are more common in natural systems because they produce this condition.
What is stability?