Textbook Chapter 3: The Aquatic Environment

Question 1

Aqueous Solution

Answer 1

Solution in which water is the solvent

Question 2

Buoyancy

Answer 2

The power of a fluid to exert an upward force on a body placed in it

Question 3

Cohesion

Answer 3

The ability of water molecules, because of hydrogen bonding, to stick firmly to each other, restricting external forces to break these bonds

Question 4

Diffusion

Answer 4

Spontaneous movement of particles of gasses or liquids from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration

Question 5

Epiliminon

Answer 5

Warm, oxygen-rich upper layer of water in a lake or other body of water, usually seasonal.

Question 6

Evapotranspiration

Answer 6

Sum of the loss of moisture by evaporation from land and water surfaces and by transpiration from plants

Question 7

Groundwater

Answer 7

Water that occurs below Earth’s surface in pore spaces within bedrock and soil free to move under the influence of gravity

Question 8

Hypolimnion

Answer 8

Cold, oxygen-poor zone of a lake, below the thermocline

Question 9

Hydrogen bonding

Answer 9

A type of bond occuring between an atom of oxygen or nitrogen and a hydrogen atom joined to oxygen or nitrogen on another molecule; responsible for the properties of water

Question 10

Infiltration

Answer 10

Downward movement of water into the soil

Question 11

Ion

Answer 11

An atom that is electrically charged as a result of a loss of one or more electrons or a gain of electrons

Question 12

Intertidal zone

Answer 12

Area lying betwen the lines of high and low tide

Question 13

Interception

Answer 13

The capture of rainwater by vegetation from which the water evaporates and does not reach the ground

Question 14

Partial salinity unit (PSU)

Answer 14

The total amount of dissolved material in seawater, expressed as parts per thousand

Question 15

Precipitation

Answer 15

All the forms of water that fall to Earth; includes rain, snow, hail, sleet, fog, mist, drizzle and the measured amounts of each.

Question 16

Surface tension

Answer 16

Elastic film across the surface of a liquid, caused by the attractive forces between molecules at the surface of the liquid.

Question 17

Surface runoff

Answer 17

The excess water that flows across the surface of the ground when the soil is saturated during heavy rains

Question 18

Specific heat

Answer 18

Amount of energy that must be added or removed to raise or lower the temperature of a substance by a specific amount

Question 19

Solvent

Answer 19

Dissolving agent of a solution [water included]

Question 20

Solution

Answer 20

Liquid that is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances

Question 21

Solute

Answer 21

A substance that is dissolved in a solution

Question 22

Thermocline

Answer 22

Layer in a thermally stratified body of water in which temperature changes rapidly relative to the remainder of the body.

Question 23

Tidal overmixing

Answer 23

Mixing of freshwater and seawater when a tidal wedge of seawater moves upstream in a tidal river faster than the freshwater moves seward

Question 24

Upwelling

Answer 24

A water current or movement of surface waters produced by wind that brings nutrient rich cold water to the surface

Question 25

Viscosity

Answer 25

Property of a fluid that reissts the force that causes it to flow

Question 26

Water cycle

Answer 26

Movement of water between atmosphere and Earth by way of precipitation and evaporation