B3 - The Greenhouse Effect Flashcards
Where are the 3 places where carbon dioxide can be sequestered?
Oceans, lakes and ponds
Plants and trees
Peat bogs
What is the greenhouse effect?
When greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane trap heat from the sun in the atmosphere and re-radiate it in all direction including the planet
What is the advantage of the greenhouse effect?
At night, without the greehouse effect, there would be nothing to keep the heat in and it would be very cold
What is global warming?
A type of climate change where the Earth is gradually heating up because of the greenhouse effect
What is deforestation?
The cutting down of trees on a large scale
What are the 3 reasons for deforestation?
To get wood for building materials
To clear land for farming
To produce paper from wood
What are the 4 problems caused by deforestation?
More methane in the atmosphere
More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
Less carbon dioxide taken in
Less biodiversity
Why does deforestation cause there to be more methane in the atmosphere?
Cattle produce methane and the main reason for deforestation is to clear space for cattle to be farmed
Why does deforestation cause there to be more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide is released when trees are burned
Microorganisms feeding on bits of dead wood release carbon dioxide as a waste product of respiration
Why does deforestation cause less carbon dioxide to be taken in?
Less trees are using carbon dioxide in photosynthesis
What is biodiversity?
The variety of different species in a habitat
The more species, the greater the biodiversity
What are peat bogs?
Areas that are acidic and waterlogged so that plants living in them don’t fully decay when they die because there’s not enough oxygen
The partly-rotted plants build up to form peat
What is peat actually made from?
Mostly carbon
This is why peat bogs reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
What hapoens when we destroy peat bogs?
The peat fully decomposes when the bogs are drained which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
What are the 6 things that result from global warming?
Seawater expands so sea level rises
Ice melts (sea level rises even more)
Changed weather patterns including an increase in hurricanes
The distribution of many species will change according to the changes in temperature
Biodiversity is reduced as some species will become extinct
Migration of species to different areas of the world
