Earth And Life

Question 1

What % of all living organisms is water?

Answer 1

Between 65-95%

Question 2

What is the most abundant molecule in living cells?

Answer 2

Water

Question 3

How much does water vapour in the atmosphere raise global temperatures?

Answer 3

Around 15°C

Question 4

How many litres of water is required to produce 1kg of chocolate?

Answer 4

17,000

Question 5

How much water is required to produce 1 tonne of steel?

Answer 5

100,000+

Question 6

Which element forms the basis of 95% of all known compounds?

Answer 6

Carbon

Question 7

What percentage of the world’s energy is supplied by fossil fuels?

Answer 7

80%

Question 8

What percentage of water is stored in the oceans?

Answer 8

97

Question 9

What is the cryosphere?

Answer 9

Water in a solid (frozen) state

Question 10

What percentage of fresh water on Earth is frozen?

Answer 10

75

Question 11

What are aquifers?

Answer 11

Rocks such as chalk and some sandstones that can store and transmit water

Question 12

Which store accounts for 0.7% of all water and 20% of fresh water?

Answer 12

Groundwater (aquifers)

Question 13

what is ablation?

Answer 13

Water being lost from snow or ice (e.g. by melting, iceberg calving, sublimation)

Question 14

What is sublimation?

Answer 14

Water changing from a solid state (ice) to a gaseous state (water vapour)

Question 15

Where is 99.9% of carbon stored?

Answer 15

Sedimentary rock such as limestone

Question 16

How much carbon is stored in sedimentary (carbonate) rocks and deep ocean sediments?

Answer 16

100,000,000 Gigatonnes

Question 17

How many Gigatonnes of carbon are stored dissolved in the oceans?

Answer 17

39,000

Question 18

Typically, how long is carbon stored in rocks?

Answer 18

150 million years

Question 19

What is peat?

Answer 19

Partly decomposed organic matter that has accumulated in waterlogged and therefore anaerobic conditions

Question 20

What is the dew-point?

Answer 20

Temperature at which the air becomes fully saturated. Further cooling results in condensation.

Question 21

Describe convection and how it produces clouds

Answer 21

Air is heated at the surface, rises in columns and cools. It tends to form cumulus clouds with flat based and that extend up through the atmosphere

Question 22

Describe frontal uplift and how it produces clouds

Answer 22

Warm air rises a long a front over several hundreds of kilometers. Stratus clouds (widespread dense horizontal layer) formed at lower levels and cirrus clouds (made of ice crystals and with a wispy appearance) form at high altitudes

Question 23

Describe advection in cloud formation

Answer 23

A large mass of air moves horizontally over a cooler surface (often the ocean). Atmosphere is cooled below few point and stratus clouds (dense widespread layer) are formed

Question 24

Describe orographic uplift in cloud formation

Answer 24

Air forced over a range of hills or mountains. If sufficient cooling occurs, condensation takes place

Question 25

What is environmental lapse rate?

Answer 25

For every km increase in altitude, temperature decreases by approximate 6.5°C

Question 26

What constitutes high intensity rain?

Answer 26

>10-15mm/hour

Question 27

What is interception?

Answer 27

The temporary storage of water on vegetation or buildings before it reaches the surface

Question 28

What does pervious mean and what is an example of a pervious rock type?

Answer 28

Water is able to move through cracks and joints, e.g. carboniferous limestones

Question 29

What is the water table?

Answer 29

Boundary between saturated and unsaturated conditions underground

Question 30

What is iceberg calving?

Answer 30

When glaciers reach the sea ice masses break off and float away

Question 31

What does anthropogenic mean?

Answer 31

Caused by human activities

Question 32

What is combustion?

Answer 32

Burning if organic material in the presence of oxygen

Question 33

What is weathering?

Answer 33

The in situ breakdown of rocks at or near the Earth's surface by physical, chemical or biological processes

Question 34

How many billions of tonnes are transferred to the oceans and atmosphere by chemical weathering of rock annually?

Answer 34

0.3 billion tonnes

Question 35

What is chelation?

Answer 35

Biological organisms produce organic acids which weaken and breakdown rocks (biological weathering)

Question 36

What is carbon sequestration?

Answer 36

The capture and long-term storage of carbon from the atmosphere. It occurs naturally but humans are trying to find ways of achieving this in order to reduce levels of atmospheric CO2