Life, Resources and Atmosphere Change Flashcards
What is one theory of how life was formed?
Primordial soup.
What is the primordial soup theory?
It states that billions of years ago, the Earths atmosphere was rich in nitrogen, hydrogen, ammonia and methane.
What happened when lightening struck?
It caused a chemical reaction between the gases resulting in the formation of amino acids.
The amino acids collected in a ‘primordial soup’, a body of water which life gradually came.
When the amino acids were formed what did they do?
They combined to produce organic matter which eventually evolved into simple living organisms.
What happened in the 1950s?
Miller and Urey carried out an experiment to prove this theory.
What did Miller and Urey do in the 1950s?
They sealed the gases in their apparatus.
Heated them and applied an electrical charge for a week.
What did Miller and Urey find after they done an experiment in the 1950s?
They found that amino acids were made but not as many as there are on Earth.
Suggesting the theory could be along the right lines, but its’t quite right.
How has the Earth got all the resources humans need?
The Earth’s crust, oceans and atmosphere are the ultimate source of mineral and resources.
We get everything from them.
Give an example of what we can do for use in the industry?
Fractionally distil air to get a varsity of products like nitrogen and oxygen for use in industry.
Describe the process that occurs when we fractionally distil air.
1 - Air is filtered to remove dust.
2 - Then cooled to around -200’c and becomes a liquid.
3 - During cooling water vapour condenses and is removed.
4 - Carbon dioxide freezes and is removed.
5 - The liquefied air enters the fractionating column and is heated slowly.
6 - Remaining gases separated by fractional distillation.
Oxygen and argon come out together so another column is used to separate them.
Burning fossil fuels releases what?
Carbon dioxide.
What happens when the world becomes more industrialised?
More fossil fuels have been burnt in power stations and in car engines.
Co2 is thought to be alternating our planet.
What is the link between the oceans and Carbon dioxide?
The oceans are a natural store of carbon dioxide they absorb it from the atmosphere.
However, the extra co2 being released is making them too acidic.
How is the extra carbon dioxide bad on the oceans?
Harm aquatic wildlife like coral and shellfish.
In the future they won’t be able to absorb any more carbon dioxide.
