Life Resources and Atmospheric Changes Flashcards
What can we not know for definite about life on Earth?
How it all started
What is 1 theory about how life was formed?
The primordial soup theory
What are the 4 stages to the primordial soup theory?
- Billions of years ago, the Earth’s atmosphere was rich in NITROGEN, HYDROGEN, AMMONIA, AND METHANE
- LIGHTNING struck, causing a chemical reaction between the gases, resulting in the formation of AMINO ACIDS.
- The amino acids collected in a ‘PRIMORDIAL SOUP’
- The amino acids gradually combined to produce ORGANIC MATTER which eventually evolved into simple LIVING ORGANISMS
Define ‘primordial soup’
A body of water out of which life gradually crawled
What did Miller and Urey do in the 1950s?
Carried out an experiment to prove this theory.
They sealed the gases in their apparatus, heated them and applied an electrical charge for a week
What were the results of Miller and Urey’s experiment, and what did they suggest?
They found AMINO ACIDS WERE MADE, but not as many as there re on Earth.
This suggests the theory could be along the right lines, but isn’t quite right
The Earth’s crust, oceans, and atmosphere are the ULTIMATE SOURCE of ____ and ____ - we can get ____ we ____ from them.
The Earth’s crust, oceans, and atmosphere are the ULTIMATE SOURCE of MINERALS and RESOURCES - we can get EVERYTHING we NEED from them.
What purpose does fractionally distilling air serve?
To get a variety of products (e.g. nitrogen and oxygen) for use in INDUSTRY
Describe the 6 steps of fractionally distilling air for use in industry
- Air is FILTERED to remove dust
- It’s then COOLED to around -200 degrees C and becomes a LIQUID
- CARBON DIOXIDE freezes and is removed
- The liquefied air then ENTERS the fractionating column and s HEATED slowly
- The remaining gases are separated out by FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION. Oxygen and argon come out together so ANOTHER column is used to separate them
What does carbon dioxide level affect? (2)
- The climate
2. The oceans
An increase in carbon dioxide is causing ____ ____ - a type of ____ ____.
An increase in carbon dioxide is causing GLOBAL WARMING - a type of CLIMATE CHANGE.
How is CO2 affecting the oceans?
The oceans are a natural store of CO2 - they absorb it from the atmosphere.
However, the EXTRA CO2 we’re releasing is making them too ACIDIC.
What is the rising acidity of the oceans doing to the sea life?
It is bad for coral and shellfish
How could the extra absorption of CO2 by oceans affect the future?
Oceans might not be able to absorb any more CO2 in the future
