Global systems -seb

Question 1

What is the greenhouse effect?

Answer 1

Sunlight (short-wave radiation) mostly passes through the atmosphere, where it heats the ground and oceans. This heat is emitted as infrared radiation (long-wave radiation), which is mostly reflected by certain greenhouse gases (e.g. CO2) in the atmosphere.

Question 2

what are the main greenhouse gases?

Answer 2

a greenhouse gas is any gas that reflects long-wave radiation.

methane (CH4), water vapour (H20), carbon dioxide (C02), nitrous oxide (N20), ozone (03)

Question 3

What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?

Answer 3

The enhance greenhouse effect refers to the intensification of the greenhouse effect, due to human activity. Human activities in particular burning fossil fuels and natural gas, agriculture and land clearing increase the concentrations of greenhouse gases and contributing to global warming.

Question 4

what are CFC’s?

Answer 4

CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons) are compounds that contain only chlorine, fluorine and carbon

Question 5

Where do CFC’s come from?

Answer 5

CFC’s were originally used in refrigerators and aerosol spray

Question 6

Why are CFC’s bad?

Answer 6

CFC’s can last for hundreds of years in the atmosphere and are thousands of times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat. CFC’s also destroy ozone molecules. This lead to a hole in the ozone above antartica

Question 7

Where is the ozone layer?

Answer 7

Ozone forms naturally in the thin air about 25km high

Question 8

why is ozone important?

Answer 8

Ozone absorbs dangerous ultra-violet (UV) radiation from the sun. Without it the UV would make life virtually impossible

Question 9

what is the montreal protocol?

Answer 9

In 1987, 32 countries met in Montreal and signed an agreement to eliminate the
use of ozone-destroying chemicals. The agreement, called the Montreal Protocol, has meant that chemicals such as CFCs have been replaced with hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

Question 10

What is the biosphere?

Answer 10

The biosphere includes all parts of the earth’s surface and atmosphere where living things exist. It is the sum of all earth’s ecosystems and extends to where all life exists

Question 11

what is the atmosphere?

Answer 11

The atmosphere is composed of the layers of air surrounding the planet.

Question 12

What is the atmosphere made up of?

Answer 12

The atmosphere is made up of gases such as 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, <1% argon and <1 % carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide.

Question 13

What is the lithosphere

Answer 13

The lithosphere is made up of all rock in the earth’s continental crust and oceanic crust.

Question 14

What is the hydrosphere?

Answer 14

The hydrosphere is made up of all the water on earth. Including the oceans and the rain which also exists in the atmosphere and on land.

Question 15

What are the layers of the Earth?

Answer 15

-Core
-Mantle
-Crust

Question 16

How thick is the Crust?

Answer 16

-Continental Crust
(10-70km)
-Oceanic Crust (7km)

Question 17

How many major tectonic plates are there?

Answer 17

12

Question 18

How do the tectonic plates move?

Answer 18

“Plates” of lithosphere are moved around by the underlying hot mantle convection cells

Question 19

What is a divergent plate boundary?

Answer 19

It is where the 2 plates are moving away from eachother and new material is erupted to fill the gap.

Question 19

What is a convergent plate boundary?

Answer 19

A convergent boundary is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction.

Question 20

What is a transform plate boundary?

Answer 20

Where the plates slide past eachother

Question 20

What are the steps of the nitrogen cycle?

Answer 20

1. Nitrogen Fixation
2. Nitrification
3. Nitrogen Assimilation
4. Nitrogen Ammonification
5. Dentrification

Question 20

What is the Carbon cycle?

Answer 20

The carbon cycle is nature’s way of reusing carbon atoms, which travel from the atmosphere into organisms in the Earth and then back into the atmosphere over and over again.

Question 20

What is the nitrogen cycle?

Answer 20

The Nitrogen Cycle is a biogeochemical process that converts nitrogen into various forms, passing from the atmosphere to soil, organisms, and back into the atmosphere.

Question 20

What are the steps of the Carbon Cycle?

Answer 20

1. Respiration and Photosynthesis
2. Organic matter and waste
3. Carbon stored underground
4. CO2 produced by humans