Connectedness & Quantitative Skills Flashcards
What are the most abundant elements in the Earth’s crust?
Oxygen, silicon, aluminium
What are the main human-produced Greenhouse Gases?
Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide
Where is the farthest point from Earth’s centre?
South America
Where is most of Earth’s freshwater stored?
Ice caps and glaciers
When did Earth’s largest ever animal exist?
1.5 million years ago to today (blue whale)
How much space dust falls to Earth each year?
20 000 tonnes
What is an element?
The most fundamental form of matter at the atomic scale (e.g. Phosphorus, oxygen, carbon)
What is a flux?
The movement of matter or energy between systems
What is a sink or a reservoir
A location where matter or energy accumulates
What is residence time?
The length of time a compound spends in a sink
Why is phosphorus Important?
- Every living thing, needs phosphorus
- After nitrogen, it’s the most important nutrient for crops
- Unlike nitrogen, crops can only get it from soil
- Problem – we’re running out of useable phosphorus
What does Earth Systems connectedness imply?
Global challenges relating to Earth Systems such as biodiversity loss, climate change, etc. often cut across all or most of the spheres
Why is it such a big deal if just one of the spheres experience a major change?
Changes in one sphere may affect one or more of the other spheres -> a ripple effect
Why do we use units
Units are ways to measure everyday dimensions like temperature, pressure, distance, time
Why do we need to be on top of conversions?
Conversions are important because we need to be sure that the quantities we find are accurate for both whatever we are doing and for where we are in the world (eg. are temperature measurements in C or F)
