Matter and The Environment Review
We examined the question "How do the non-living parts of the Earth's Systems provide the basic materials to support life?" in our unit on Matter and the Environment.
We explored the causes of the Dead Zones in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Chesapeake Bay. We learned terms like Eutrophication (as seen in the video) and hypoxia which is low oxygen because of death and decay of phytoplankton and other plant materials. Hypoxia is often the reason why fish die.
Four sub questions were also examined in this unit which included:
- What properties of matter are most important to environmental systems?
- Atoms are the basic unit of matter.
- Water has important properties to sustain life; 70% of the Earth is covered in water.
- Cohesion - stickiness of water which allows small insects to take in water and the reason why raindrops are oval-shaped.
- Resistance to temperature changes - land cools faster than water
- Density- a pond in the winter will freeze only on surface because ice is less dense than liquid water.
- pH - water is neutral.
- Universal solvent- water can dissolve almost anything.
- What are the characteristics of Earth's geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere?
- Geosphere - land and minerals, fossil fuels
- Biosphere- living portion of the Earth
- Atmosphere- gasses keep Earth surface at relatively same temperatures annually; protects life from harmful radiation of sun, and supports life.
- Hydrosphere- water cycles through the geosphere, atmosphere and biosphere
- Water cycle involves the following processes:
- Transpiration
- Respiration
- Infiltration
- Evaporation
- Precipitation
- Condensation
- How do humans affect the biosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere?
- For this question we researched how the spheres interacted and how humans have affected the spheres by burning fossil fuels, increasing crop yields by adding fertilizers which have caused dead zones in many bodies of water including Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay. How the Global warming caused by burning fossil fuels has increased the amount of carbon in atmosphere and resulted in more intense storms. These super storms like Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy have resulted in beach erosion, changing the landscape and the habitats of some organisms. Science daily is a good resource to see how humans have affected the spheres.
burning fossil fuels
Oceans of Garbage - How do nutrients cycle through the environment?
- Why is carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur considered the elements of life?
- Carbon is what most of our foods are composed of. We are carbon based life forms. We get our carbon from eating plants (grains, potatoes, cereals) and from eating animals, We are consumers. We return carbon to atmosphere through respiration.
- The honors class completed a virtual photosynthesis lab activity.
- Decomposers break down carbon molecules as plants and animals die.
- Carbohydrates and lipids are made of Carbon hydrogen and oxygen
- Carbon cycle:
vocabulary: photosynthesis, respiration, consumption, combustion, deposition, weathering. - Hydrogen is necessary because it makes up water.
- Oxygen is necessary because we need it to breathe and it makes up water.
- Nitrogen is necessary because we need it to build proteins, a macromolecule for our muscles.
- The atmosphere is composed of 78% Nitrogen. Atmospheric nitrogen is not useful form of nitrogen for plants. Bacteria are the reason the Nitrogen cycle works.
- Nitrogen cycle:
- Phosphorus and Sulfur are necessary because they make up the macromolecule that is our genetic blue print - DNA.
- Jeopardy review game
Where does the mass of a plant come from? Plants in take carbon, as carbon dioxide to make their own food, this is photosynthesis. Plants also return carbon to the atmosphere through respiration.
