Systems & Feedback Loops
What type of system allows both energy and matter to cross its boundaries freely?
Open System
Which subatomic particle carries a negative electrical charge and orbits the nucleus?
Electron
What form of energy is stored within chemical bonds or elevated positions prior to release?
Potential Energy
What green pigment absorbs light energy inside plant chloroplasts to drive photosynthesis?
Chlorophyll
What process allows specialized deep-ocean bacteria to manufacture food using inorganic chemical bonds instead of sunlight?
Chemosynthesis
What type of feedback loop dampens change and brings a system back toward stability or equilibrium?
Negative Feedback Loop
An atom that gains or loses electrons and acquires an electrical charge is known as what?
Ion
Which law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed?
First Law of Thermodynamics / Conservation of Energy
What two main raw inputs (reactants) do plants require to carry out photosynthesis?
Carbon Dioxide and Water / CO₂ and H₂O
Near what deep-sea geological features do chemosynthetic ecosystems thrive in total darkness?
Hydrothermal Vents
What type of feedback loop amplifies change, driving a system further away from equilibrium?
Positive Feedback Loop
What type of chemical bond forms when two atoms share electrons to fill their valence shells?
Covalent Bond
What term describes the measure of disorder or randomness in a physical or chemical system?
Entropy
What gas is produced as a byproduct of photosynthesis and released into the atmosphere?
Oxygen / O₂
Which fundamental nutrient cycle depends heavily on specialized soil bacteria to convert atmospheric gas into usable plant compounds (fixation)?
Nitrogen Cycle
What term describes properties that emerge only when system components interact together as a whole, which individual parts do not possess on their own?
Emergent Properties
What type of bond is formed by the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions?
Ionic Bond
According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, every energy transfer increases entropy because some energy is always lost as what useless form?
Heat
In cellular respiration, organisms break down glucose in the presence of oxygen to produce energy stored in which primary energy molecule?
ATP / Adenosine Triphosphate
Which major biogeochemical cycle lacks a significant gaseous or atmospheric phase, relying instead on weathering of rock?
Phosphorus Cycle
Earth is considered open with respect to ________, but closed with respect to ________.
Energy / Matter
What weak attraction occurs between the partially positive hydrogen atom of one polar molecule and an electronegative atom of another?
Hydrogen Bond
Why must living systems continuously absorb energy from their environment to maintain biological order and structural integrity?
To counteract entropy / natural tendency toward disorder
How are the chemical equations of photosynthesis and cellular respiration related to one another?
They are inverse/opposite processes; the products of one are the reactants of the other
In chemosynthesis around hydrothermal vents, what inorganic compound is primarily used by bacteria as an energy source?
Hydrogen Sulfide / H₂S