Earth's Spheres
This 'sphere' contains all living things, from plants to animals to bacteria.
What is the Biosphere?
The pathway of an element like carbon through the living and non-living parts of the Earth.
What is a Biogeochemical cycle?
This 'rule' states that only about 10% of energy is passed from one trophic level to the next.
What is the 10% Rule?
The transfer of heat through empty space, like how the sun's energy reaches Earth.
What is Radiation?
A lizard lies on a hot rock to warm up. The rock heats the lizard by this process.
What is Conduction?
The layer of the atmosphere where we live and all weather occurs.
What is the Troposphere?
The process of burning fossil fuels, which rapidly releases carbon into the atmosphere.
What is Combustion?
An organism that must eat other organisms to get its energy.
What is a Consumer?
The transfer of heat through direct physical touch.
What is Conduction?
A plant turns sunlight, water, and CO2 into sugar (food). This process is...
What is Photosynthesis?
This sphere contains rocks, earth and soil.
What is the Geosphere?
This process pulls CO2 from the atmosphere and converts it into food. It is part of the 'fast' carbon cycle.
What is Photosynthesis?
This law explains why energy is 'lost' as heat at every step in a food chain.
What is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics?
The transfer of heat by the movement of a fluid, like hot air rising.
What is Convection?
The circular motion of hot air rising and cool air sinking is called this.
What is a Convection current?
The three main layers of the Geosphere.
What are the Crust, Mantle, and Core?
The raw, unrefined liquid fossil fuel that is refined into gasoline.
What is Crude oil (or Petroleum)?
This law, also known as the Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy cannot be created or destroyed.
What is the 1st Law of Thermodynamics?
The type of electromagnetic wave that we feel as heat.
What is Infrared (Radiation)?
In a power plant, steam spins this device to create kinetic energy.
What is a Turbine?
All of the frozen water on Earth, including glaciers and permafrost.
What is the Cryosphere?
Coal, oil, and natural gas are known as these long-term storage areas for carbon and energy.
What are Energy Sinks (or Carbon Reservoirs)?
The measure of disorder or the amount of unusable heat energy in a system.
What is Entropy?
Global winds and ocean currents are giant examples of this type of heat transfer.
What is Convection?
Fertilizer from farms (Geosphere) washes into a lake (Hydrosphere), causing a rapid growth of algae (Biosphere).
What is an Algal Bloom?