Systems Flashcards
What are carbon stores measured in?
PgC (petagrams of carbon)
What are fluxes in natural systems?
measurements of the rate of flow of material between the stores (units are mass per unit time)
What are processes in natural systems?
physical mechanisms that drive the flux of material between stores
What are stores/components?
part of the system where something is held for a period of time
What are flows/transfers?
links between one store/component and another, along which something moves
What is an output?
a point where something is removed from the system
What is an input?
a point where something is added to the system
What are elements?
things which make up a system
What are relationships in a system?
descriptions of how various elements work together to carry out some sort of process
What is a system boundary?
the edge of a system
What is an isolated system?
a system with no interaction with anything outside of the system boundary (no energy or matter)
What is a closed system?
a system where only energy can cross the system boundary, but matter cannot
What is an open system?
a system with external inputs and outputs of both energy and matter
What is a cascading system?
the transfer of matter and energy along a chain of subsystems, such that the output from one subsystem becomes the input for the adjacent subsystem
What is meant by the term ‘dynamic equilibrium’?
a system has small changes in inputs and outputs but remains in a state of balance
