APES Final Review Vocabulary Latest Update 100% Correct

APES Final Review Vocabulary Latest Update 100% Correct Average residence time time it takes for a given part of the total reservoir of a particular material to by cycled through the system Gaia Greek goddess Mother Earth Sustainability the ability to meet humanity's current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs Lag time time between a stimulus and the response of a system Volatile Organic Compounds a variety of organic compounds used as solvents in industrial processes Positive feedback when a change in some conditions triggers a response that intensifies the changing condition negative feedback when a changing in some condition triggers a response that counteracts the changed condition true cost/external costs harmful environmental side effects that are not reflected in a product's cost First law of thermodynamics energy is neither created nor destroyed, but may be converted from one form to another second law of thermodynamics when energy is changed from one form to another, some useful energy is always degraded into lower quality energy Ionizing radiation radiation with enough energy to free electrons from atoms forming ions, may cause cancer High Quality Energy organized & concentrated, can perform useful work Low Quality Energy disorganized, dispersed Natural radioactive decay unstable radioisotopes decay releasing gamma rays, alpha & beta particles half-life the time it takes for half the mass of a radioisotope to decay. A radioactive isotope must be stored for approximately 10 half-lives until it decays to a safe level nuclear fission nuclei of isotopes split apart when struck by neutrons nuclear fusion 2 isotopes of light elements forced together at high temperatures till they fuse to form a heavier nucleus. Happens in Sun, very difficult to accomplish on Earth, prohibitively expensive 10 half lives estimate of how long a radioactive isotope must be stored until it decays to a safe level ore a rock that contains a large enough concentration of a mineral making it profitable to mine mineral