What are the 2 characteristics scientists use to separate the layers of the atmosphere?
Temperature and Air Pressure/Density
What are the layers of the Earth from innermost to outermost?
Inner Core, Outer Core, Lower Mantle, Upper Mantle (aesthenosphere), and Crust (oceanic or continental crust)
Where do plants get the water they use for Photosynthesis from?
Groundwater through their roots
Explains the difference between a Biotic and Abiotic Factor in an Ecosystem - provide an example of each.
Biotic - Living Organisms - Animals, Plants, Bacteria, Protists, or Fungi
Abiotic - Something that is Non-Living/Never Alive - Water or Rocks
What is the most common greenhouse gas? What cycle is it involved in?
Carbon Dioxide - The Carbon Cycle
Which is the coldest layer? What also happens here that is important to living things?
Mesosphere; meteors burn up here!
When sediment is transported from one place to another by natural forces such as gravity, water, animal or human activity?
Erosion
Infiltration/Percolation
The collection of all of Earth's living things including plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, and protists is known as _____________________.
The Biosphere
Name the 5 main layers of the amosphere from closers to earth's surface to furthest away
Thermosphere (closest to Earth) - Stratosphere - Mesosphere - Thermosphere - Exosphere (furthest from Earth)
Which layer contains the Ozone?
The Stratosphere
When wind, water, ice, or chemical reactions break down rocks into smaller pieces.
Weathering
Give one example of a way that the water cycle plays into the rock cycle.
Weathering - Liquid Water Runoff, Rain, or Frost Wedging
Erosion - Water can carry sediments to new locations
Depostion - When water is no longer flowing it has to drop the sediments it is carrying in a new location
What type of bacteria convert Atmospheric Nitrogen into a useable form?
Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria - Nitrogen Fixation
What is a common reason mountains form?
In what layer do we live? What are some other characteristics of this layer?
Troposphere
All Water, Weather, and a majority of the atmosphere's mass of gases
What are the 3 types of rock created in the rock cycle?
Sedimentary, Metamorphic, and Igneous
If too much runoff carries fertilizer (nitrogen) into a waterway, what is a possible result of this pollution?
Algae Bloom (Eutrophication)
Why are decomposers important
They play roles in the Carbon and Nitrogen cycle by breaking down dead and decaying organic material
What is the largest contributor of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere?
Human Activity - the use of fossil fuels to power machinery, cars, industry, etc.
What are the 2 main gases that make up the atmosphere and what percentage of the atmosphere do they make up?
Nitrogen Gas - 78%
Oxygen Gas - 21%
Other Trace Gases - 1% or less
Name the process that must happen to change the following rock pairs from one to the other:
1. Igneous --> Sedimentary
1. Sedimentary --> Metamorphic
1. Sedimentary -->Igneous
1. Weathering/Sedimentation
2. Heated and Pressurized
3. Melting then Cooling
List all the phases of the Water Cycle and explains what happend
Evaporation - water from a water body changes from a liquid to a gas because of solar radiation
Condensation - water vapor cools and condenses back into liquid water droplets
Precipitation - water returns from the clouds to Earth's surface in the form of rain, snow, sleet, or hail
Groundwater - water that collects or flows under the ground back to a larger body of water
Runoff - water that runs over the surface of the earth back to a larger body of water
Collection - when water collects in a basin or reservoir such as an ocean, lake, river, or pond
Transpiration - when trees release water vapor out of the stomata in their leaves back into the atmosphere
Explain the flow of materials through Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration - What is used by which process and what results.
Photosynthesis uses Sunlight, Water, and Carbon Dioxide to make Glucose and Oxygen
Cellular Respiration uses Glucose and Oxygen to make Water, Carbon Dioxide, and Energy (ATP)
Explain the difference between a Positive Feedback Loop and a Negative Feedback Loop
Positive Feedback Loop is something that strenthens a process or change - melting sea ice and global warming
Negative Feedback Loop something that balances a process or change - predator prey population changes mirroring each other