hooray
A natural resource is defined as:
Anything occurring naturally in the environment that humans use.
Is sand a renewable resource?
No, it is nonrenewable due to the time it takes for grains of sand to form. Remember that these tiny grains take a VERY long time to form from large rocks that slowly weather away.
water from precipitation and runoff that seeps into the ground and fills empty spaces between rocks is known as:
groundwater
True or False?
The graphite in your pencil is a mineral.
True
An ____ is a large natural underground storage space for water, most often pulled up for agricultural (farm) use.
aquifer
We rely greatly on water because it is the fuel for the millions of ____ we have in our body. It is vital for life.
cells
What type of energy is produced when sunlight passes through glass to heat a space & maximize its exposure to sunlight/ability to retain heat?
solar energy
How does coal form and how long does it take?
Formed from remains of plants that died long ago in tropical climates, takes millions of years to form.
What is an ore?
When there is enough of a mineral to be extracted from the ground, we call it an ore.
What are some of the downsides of desalination (removing salt from seawater)?
What was the most important message from the documentary (The Last Drop) which we watched in class?
It proved that we need to be very aware of how much water we have, how much we waste and better ways to conserve our water resources.
Provide an example of a renewable resource and a nonrenewable resource.
RENEWABLE (R)
Water
Sunlight
Wind
Oxygen
NONRENEWABLE (NR)
Soil
Coal
Gold
Helium
Most of our freshwater is locked up as ice at the ______.
North & South poles
The difference b/w a renewable and a nonrenewable resource is that:
Renewable: resources we DO NOT run out of (Ex. solar power)
Nonrenewable: resources that we cannot replace, possibly because there is only a certain amount of them (Ex. silver)
Wind increases the speed of _______ that gather wind energy at a less expensive cost. This is a rapidly growing energy source.
turbines
Explain the importance of Tantalum.
It is an ore in high demand b/c it is used in smartphones and other electronic devices.
What is desalination?
the process of extracting salt from seawater
Why is phosphorous important to all organisms?
All animals and plants need phosphorus to produce energy that keeps them alive :)
What is bioenergy?
The use of wood, grasses and other plant-based materials to produce heat- has been used for centuries
Water is crucial for _________. We need to be able to grow & access plants. Animals also need access to plants as a energy source, as do humans.
agriculture/farming
Why has the level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere increased so much over the last 200 years?
Humans are burning fossil fuels at a faster rate than natural processes can absorb harmful emissions (unhealthy pollutants entering the air)
Describe a BOOMTOWN.
a community that experiences sudden, rapid population and economic growth, usually triggered by the discovery of valuable resources or by infrastructure projects, leading to quick population and business growth
Geothermal energy uses heat from Earth's _____ as a source of heat.
crust
These form from the remains of small animals, algae and marine organisms:
oil and natural gas
Nuclear energy is the splitting of an ___ into two nuceli.
atom