Unit 1: Cells and Energy Flow
What is the difference between a food web and a food chain?
Food chains are more complex representations that show the interlocking relationships between many organisms in an ecosystem.
What are the 3 types of plate boundary, and how do they move in relation to each other?
Divergent - away
Convergent - towards
Transform - side to side
Where is there more air pressure, at sea level, or at a high altitude?
Sea level
Fish Creek, Butcherknife, Elk River, Trout Creek
What feature (or lack of a feature) makes the Yampa River unique among western rivers?
It is not dammed in any significant way
What 2 structures do plant cells have that animal cells do not?
Cell wall
Chloroplasts
Which scientist is credited with the Theory of Continental Drift?
Alfred Wegener
Which element is most abundant in our atmosphere?
Nitrogen
What is one human-caused impact on the San Juan River?
Answers will vary
List at least 6 types of fossilization and give a very brief explanation for how it occurs.
Answers will vary
What are the 3 components of Cell Theory
All living things are made of cells.
Cells are the basic units of life.
All cells come from pre-existing cells.
Name the 3 types of rock and give an explanation for how each forms.
Sedimentary - pressure
Metamorphic - heat and extreme pressure
Igneous - heat
What is the Coriolis Effect?
Because all parts of the Earth make one rotation in a single day, the poles of Earth must be spinning slower than the equator because they take the same amount of time to go a shorter distance.
Draw a quick diagram of the water cycle that has at least 4 parts to it.
Parts could include:
Evaporation
Condensation
Precipitation
Runoff
Infiltration
Transpiration
What is the difference between photosynthesis and cellular respiration?
Photosynthesis - plants use sunlight to produce their food (sugar) from water, carbon dioxide, and nutrients.
Cellular respiration - cell breaks down the sugar (glucose) from photosynthesis to release energy (ATP) for the cell.
What things do plants need for the process of photosynthesis?
H2O, CO2, Nutrients, Sun
What is the Law of Superposition?
The geologic principal that strata and fossils further down in Earth's crust must be older than those on top of them.
Name the weather aspect that each type of forecasting map presents:
Isobaric
Precipitation
Isothermic
Windstream
Precipitation - precipitation amounts
Isothermic - temperature
Windstream - wind speed and direction
What is the difference between cohesion and adhesion? What is an example of each?
Cohesion - water wants to stick to other water molecules because of polarity (ex. surface tension)
Adhesion - water wants to stick to other substances (ex. capillary action)
Explain, either in words or a drawing, the Nitrogen Cycle.
Atmospheric nitrogen gets fixed in soil, turns to ammonia, goes through nitrification (nitrites and nitrates), dentrification, goes back into atmosphere
What does ATP stand for, what is it, and where is it made?
Adenosine triphosphate, it is the energy for a cell, and it is made in the mitochondria.
What is the difference between absolute and relative age?
Relative age is the age of a fossil or layer in relation to those around it (i.e. older, younger)
Absolute age is using carbon-14 dating or something similar to find the actual age of the specimen
What are the layers of the atmosphere in order from closest to Earth to furthest away? What is a feature of each layer?
troposphere - life exists here
stratosphere - ozone layer
mesosphere - meteors burn up here
thermosphere - auroras
exosphere - basically space, lots of satellites
What is the difference between Riparian and Prior-Appropriative water rights?
Riparian - if it touches your land you can use it
P-A - if you were the first to put it to "beneficial use" you have senior rights, "first in time, first in right"