______ is a chemical substance with a given set of properties that cannot be broken down into substances with other properties.
Element
Sometimes an event is both a cause, or input, and an effect, or output, in the same system, a cyclical process called a......
Feedback
As the atmosphere moves, it drags along large plates of lithosphere called....
Tectonic plates
Nutrients circulate endlessly throughout the environment in complex cycles called _________
Biogeochemical Cycles
Convection occurs inside the Earth occurs within which of the following layers?
The mantle
A _________ is a combination of two or more atoms of the same type or different types joined by covalent bonds.
Molecule
The ________ consists of the layers of gases surrounding our planet.
Atmosphere
Water also enters the atmosphere by ___________.
Transpiration
______ are organisms, mainly animals, that must eat other organisms to obtain nutrients.
Consumers
The transfer of heat by the movement of a fluid is called........
Convection
A substance composed of atoms of two or more different elements is called a ..........
Compound
The ________ encompasses all water-salt, fresh, liquid. ice, and vapor on Earth's surface, underground, and in the atmosphere.
Hydrosphere
Precipitation occurs when water vapor undergoes _________.
Condensation
The addition of phoshorus to bodies of water can lead to an overgrowth of producers in process called ________
Euthrophication
Where are earthquakes most likely to occur?
Where Earth's tectonic plates are moving together
A mixture in which all the ingredients are evenly distributed is called a...........
Solution
Inputs into Earth's systems can include both _______ energy and geothermal energy
Solar
Aquifers are layers of rock and soil that hold ________
Groundwater
________ is the conversion of nitrogen gas into ammonia.
Nitrogen Fixation
Metamorphic rock forms as a result of....
Heat and Pressure
_______ are chemically diverse group of macro molecules that are classified together because they do not dissolve in water.
Lipids
Earth's spheres both overlap and ________.
Interact
These characteristics in turn, affect the rates of soil formation, erosion, and ________.
Deposition
Matter may be transformed from one type to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. This principle is called the .......
Law of conservation of matter
The period of the earth's orbit around the sun is ......
1 year