SDI Environmental Science, SDI Environmental Science Questions and Answers Graded A+

SDI Environmental Science, SDI Environmental Science Questions and Answers Graded A+ ___________: These are highly reactive gases formed when the heat of combustion initiates reactions between atmospheric nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2). Nitrogen Oxides (N2) ___________: This is a colorless, corrosive gas that damages both plants and animals. Sulfur Dioxide (So2) This is the air around us. Ambient Air Fugitive, or __________, emissions are those that do not go through a smokestack. Non-point Source Amendments to the law in 1970 designated new standards, to be applied equally across the country, for six major pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, ozone (and its precursor volatile organic compounds), lead, and particulate matter. These six are referred to as _____________. Criteria Pollutants ___________: This is less common but more dangerous than the principal form of atmospheric carbon, carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon Monoxide (CO) ___________: These are compounds created by reactions driven by solar energy and atmospheric acids are probably the most important secondary pollutants. Photochemical Oxidants ___________: These are extremely minute particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air, are included in this class. Aerosols ___________: This includes dust, ash, soot, lint, smoke, pollen, spores, algal cells, and many other suspended materials. Particulate Material ___________: These are substances that are harmful when released. Primary Pollutants ___________: This is important in the upper atmosphere, where it shields us against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Ozone (O3) Called __________________, these chemicals cause cancer and nerve damage as well as disrupt hormone function and fetal development. Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) By comparing a treatment (exposed) group and a control (unexposed) group, you have also made this a _________. Controlled Study This involves observation of events that have already happened. Natural Experiment _________: A term we use to describe logical, orderly, analytical assessment of ideas, evidence, and arguments. Critical Thinking This evaluates whether the structure of your argument makes sense. Logical Thinking Repeating studies or tests is known as __________. Replication A process for producing knowledge based on observations. Science Producing the same result consistently to be sure that your first outcome wasn't a fluke. Reproducibility This means understanding how to compare numbers and interpret graphs, to perceive what they show about problems that matter. Quantitive Reasoning A search for ecological stability and human progress that can last over the long term. Sustainability Reasoning from many observations to produce a general rule is _________. Inductive Reasoning The use of scientific approaches to understand the complex systems in which we live; the systematic study of our environment and our place in it. Environmental Science A measure of how likely something is to occur. Probability _________: An essential part of science; Understanding how much we don't know can improve our confidence in what we do know. Uncertainty Reasoning from general to specific is known as ____________. Deductive Reasoning _________: An orderly approach to asking questions, collecting observations, and interpreting those observations to find an answer to a question. Scientific Method Everything that takes up space and has mass is ____________. Matter Tipping points where rapid change suddenly occurs if you pass certain limits. Thresholds Those that receive inputs from their surroundings and produce outputs that leave the system. Open System The flow of energy and matter into, through, and out of a system. Throughout Composed of cells, minute compartments within which the processes of life are carried out. Organisms Under ordinary circumstances, matter is neither created nor destroyed but rather is recycled over and over again. Principle of Conservation of Matter ___________: A network of interdependent components and processes, with materials and energy flowing from one component of the system to another. System These are plant eaters. Herbivores When a system is in a stable balance, we say it is in __________. Equilibrium The smallest particles that exhibit the characteristics of an element. Atoms The number of children born to an average woman in a population during her entire reproductive life. Total Fertility Rate What term is used for parents having two or more than two children? Replacement level fertility This is the average age that a newborn infant can be expected to attain in any given society. Life expectancy ________: This involves estimating the amount of territory needed to support all your consumption of food, paper, computers, energy, water, and other resources. Ecological footprint analysis Factors that increase people's desires to have babies are called ___________. Pronatalist Pressures ________: This encompasses vital statistics about people, such as births, deaths, and where they live, as well as total population size. Demography ________: This estimates the relative amount of productive land required to support each of us. Ecological footprint ________: The number of births in a year per thousand persons. Crude birth rate ________: This allows couples to determine the number and spacing of their children. Family Planning ________: This occurs when births plus immigration in a population just equal deaths plus emigration. Zero population growth ____________: This involves shaping the land to create level shelves of earth to hold water and soil. Terracing It is now possible to build entirely new genes, and even new organisms, often called "transgenic" organisms or _____________. GMO ____________: This removes a thin layer of soil as a sheet of water flows across a nearly level or gently sloping field. Sheet erosion ____________: These are large-scale food shortages, with widespread starvation and social disruption. Famines ____________: This is a general term for nutritional imbalances caused by a lack of specific nutrients. Malnurishment ____________: The most abundantly used synthetic pesticides. Organophosphates ____________: This is a problem in farmland streams, where soil washes away from streambanks. Streambank erosion ____________: This has an aim to reduce or repair the damage caused by destructive practices. Sustainable Agriculture ____________: This is splicing a gene from one organism into the chromosome of another, has the potential to greatly increase both the quantity and the quality of our food supply. Genetic engineering ____________: This is a condition in which mineral salts accumulate in the soil, and is often a problem when irrigation water dissolves and mobilizes salts in the soil. Salinization Surface and deep-water circulation system is called the ____________ (temperature and salinity-related) circulation. Thermohaline The layer immediately adjacent to the earth's surface is called the ______________. Troposphere Long-term temperatures and precipitation trends we refer to as ____________. Climate Every gram of evaporating water absorbs 580 calories of energy as it transforms from liquid to gas. Water vapor in the air stores that 580 calories per gram, and we call that stored heat ______________. Latent Heat This temperature boundary occurs because ozone (O3) molecules in the stratosphere absorb _____________. Solar Energy The daily temperatures, wind, and precipitation that we call weather occur in the __________. Troposphere The ____________ is a common term to describe the capture of energy by gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse Effect Within the troposphere, air circulates in great vertical and horizontal __________________. Convection Currents Surfaces that reflect energy have a high ___________ (reflectivity). Albedo Minute particles and liquid droplets, collectively called____________, also are suspended in the air. Aerosols This the gradual sinking of the ground surface. Subsidence The most serious water pollutants in terms of human health worldwide are __________. Pathogenic organisms _________ waters are rich in organisms and organic materials. Eutrophic The general term for falling liquid or solid water is __________. Precipitation The length of time water typically stays in a compartment is its ___________. Residence time Factories, power plants, sewage treatment plants, underground coal mines, and oil wells are classified as ________. Point source Geologic layers that contain water are known as _________. Aquifers __________: These sources of water pollution are diffuse, having no specific location where they discharge into a particular body of water. Nonpoint sources Rivers and lakes that have clear water and low biological productivity are said to be ________. Oligotrophic Plants take up moisture and release water vapor from leaf pores, in a process known as _________. Transpiration To measure the amount of electricity used over time, we use ____________. Kilowatt hours Household energy use is measured in _________. Watts or Kilowatts ___________ capture solar energy and convert it directly to electrical current. Photovoltaic Electricity is measured in _______. Watts ____________: Devices that use ongoing electrochemical reactions to produce an electrical current. Fuel Cells Oil is measured in ___________. Barrels __________: These are fine-grained sedimentary rock rich in solid organic material called kerogen. Oil shales The application of force over distance, as in pushing block across a table, is measured in __________. Joules ___________: This is splitting, releasing energy and more neutrons. Nuclear Fission Solar thermal systems can produce extremely hot water, hot enough to make steam and run a turbine in ___________ systems. Concentrating Solar Power