Science Exam (Keilty)
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126 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Environmental Science | The study of how human actions effect our living and nonliving environment |
| Environmental Issue | Problems in the Earth's environment |
| Ecology | The study of how living things interact with each other and with their nonliving environment |
| Hunters and Gatherers | People who hunted animals and cause extictions and people who scavenged for food |
| Agricultural Revolution | A time where humans began to farm which developed cities causing stress on certain ares of land |
| Industrial Revolution | A revolution that started the need for fossil fuels |
| Natural Resource | Any natural organism or substance that can be used for energy |
| Renewable Resource | A natural resource that can be restored |
| Nonrenewable | A resource that requires a large amount of time to replenish |
| Depletion | Using a large portion of a resource at once |
| Pollution | An undesirable change in natural environment that's caused by substances harmful to living organisms |
| Biodegradable | Pollutants that can be broken down by natural processes |
| Non-biodegradable | Pollutants that cannot be broken down naturally |
| Biodiversity | Describes how many different species of organisms live in an ecosystem |
| Mass Extictions | When humans cause a large ammount |
| Tradgedy of Commons | When a public area is destroyed because no one cares about it because not one person own it |
| Developed Countries | Countries that have well developed industries |
| Developing Countries | Countries that have very simple technology and industries |
| Ecological Footprint | Ammount of land to sustain one person |
| Sustainability | The ability to maintain life |
| Cost Benefit Analysis | When someone contrasts if the benefits outweigh the cost |
| Risk Assessment | When someone looks at longterm and short term risks involved with doing something that might effect the environment |
| Recyclable | A material that can be used again |
| Nonrecyclabe | A meatrial that cannot be used more than once |
| Supply and Demand | When there are more of the goods the supply and cost goes down but when the demand is up the supply is down but the cost is up |
| Lab Report Sections | Introduction, materials, procedure, data, analysis, conclusion |
| Control Group | Used as a reference towards the experimental group |
| Experimental Group | Cantains all variables you control and the independent variable that is being changed |
| Independent Variable | The variable that is manipulated or tested by the experimenter |
| Dependent Variable | The variable that is gathered as data |
| Data Table | Table of data collected in an experiment |
| Hypothesis | Prediction about a relationship between the independent and dependent variables in an experiment |
| Human Error | A mistake made while trying to follow procedure |
| Experimental Error | A flaw in the design of experiment |
| 1st Law of Thermodynamics | States that energy is not created or destroyed, only transferred |
| Energy | Ability to move or do work |
| States of Matter | Solid, liquid, gas, plasma |
| Heat | Form of energy that is trasfered by difference in temperatures |
| Temperature | Ammount of molecular movement, measurement of hotness or coldness |
| Brownian Motion | Idea that atoms are always moving |
| Celcius | Prefered measurement of temperature in a science laboratory |
| Kelvin | 0 on this scale is absolute zero |
| Absolute Zero | The theoretic temperature when all atomic motion will stop |
| 3rd Law of Thermodynamics | All Brownian Motion stops at absolute zero |
| Radiation | Transfer of heat energy in the form of rays, waves, or particles |
| Conduction | Transfer of energy between the particles of matter |
| Convection | The transfer of heat energy in gas or liquid by means of the currents within |
| Conductor | A substance that allows heat energy to transfer between two objects |
| Insulator | A substance that prevents heat energy between two objects that contact one another |
| Layers of the Atmosphere | Toposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, Exosphere |
| Atmosphere | A mixture od gases that surround a planet such as Earth |
| Aerosols | Liquid droplets found in atmosphere |
| Toposphere | Lowest layer of atmosphere in which teperature drops as altitude increases; the part of the atmosphere where weather exists |
| Stratosphere | The second layer of the atmosphere in which temperature increases as altitude increases ; this layer contains good ozone |
| Ozone | A gasa molecule that is made up of three oxygen atoms |
| Mesosphere | The thrid layer of the atmosphere in which the temperature decreases and altitude increases; the coldest layer of the atmosphere |
| Thermosphere | The layer in which the temperature increases and altitude increases; air in this layer is very thin |
| Ionosphere | Lower part of the Thermosphere that contains auroras |
| Exosphere | Layer of atmosphere that fades into space |
| Convection Current | Warm air rising and cool air sinking moving air in a circular motion because of uneven heating of Earth's surface |
| Greenhouse Effect | Process by which the atmosphere traps heat radiated up from Earth |
| Lapse Rate | The rate in which the Troposphere cools |
| UV Radiation | Harmful radiation from the sun |
| Ozone (Good and Bad) | Ozone bad in Troposphere good in Stratosphere |
| Eletromagnetic Spectrum | The range of types of electromagnetic energy |
| Air Pollution | Harmful substances that build up to unhealthy levels |
| Primary Pollutant | Pollutant that is put directly into the atmosphere by humans or natural activities |
| Secondary Pollutant | Pollutant that forms by a chemical reaction with a primary pollutant, natural component in air, or both |
| Emissions | Gases released into air, mostly from vehicles and factories |
| Smog | Pollution that hangs over urban areas and reduces visibility |
| Inversion | A weather condition that traps pollutants near that surface of the Earth and prevents it from dispersing |
| Carbon Monoxide (CO) | A primary pollutant that is caused mainly by vehicles |
| Nitrogen Oxides (NO and NO2) | A mix of nitrogen and oxygen, can be caused by the bruning of fossil fuels |
| Sulfur Dioxides (SO2) | Toxic gas that can come from volcanoes, main cause of acidic rain |
| Volatile Organic Compond (VOC) | Organic gases that exist in our air that are toxic, can be caused by burning fossil fuels |
| Particulate Matter (PM) | Tiny particles of liquid or matter in air that is a primary pollutant, cause mostly by the burning of fossil fuels |
| Catalytic Converter | Pollution control device that removes pollutants from atomobile exhaust |
| Air Scrubbers | Machine that moves emissions through a spray water that dissolves many pollutants |
| ZEV | Vehicle that produces no emissions |
| Radon | A colorless, odorless gas that is radioactive |
| Formaldehyde | Indoor air pollutant that may come from furniture and carpeting, it may cause sick building syndrome |
| Clean Air Act | Allowed EPA to regulate wehicle emissions |
| Asbestos | Silica-fiber products that can cause lung damage |
| Light Pollution | Lights that point upwards and are unnecessary |
| Sound Pollution | Sound above 120 decibles that deosnt need to be this loud |
| Decibles | The unit of measurment of sound |
| Weather | Describes the current conditions outside (hot and sunny) |
| Climate | Long term, based on average weather |
| Latitude | Distance from equator, measured in degrees |
| Oblique | Rays from the sun that are not straight, they hit Earth's surface at an angle |
| Prevailing Wind | Global winds that blow in the same direction all year |
| PZEV | Vehicles that let out a very low emmisions |
| Leeward | The side of the mountain that doesnt get any moisture causing a desert |
| Windward | The side of the mountain that gets rain when a storm comes |
| El Nino | A seasonal change in which warm, wet are hits the pacific coast |
| La Nina | A seasonal change in which cold, dry air hits the pacific coast |
| Topography | The surface of Earth, mountains, vallies, etc |
| Seasons | Change in weather due to the axis of the earth |
| Ice Cores | Pieces of ice that track the ammount of CO2 in the world's history |
| Ozone Layer | Layer of O3 molecules in Stratosphere |
| CFC | The manufactured coolant responsible for destraying ozone in the upper atmosphere |
| Ozone Hole | The damaging of ozone atoms causing a hole in the ozone allowing harmful UV rays to enter Earht |
| Polar Stratospheric Clouds | The type of cloud found at the planet's poles that contibutes to the hole in the ozone layer |
| Montreal Protocal | The treaty signed by over 100 countries that states that they will no longer produce CFCs |
| Greenhouse Gases | Gases that prevent extreme fluctuations in temperature on Earth's surface |
| Keeling Graph | A graph that shows the increasing ammounts of CO2 and methane in the atmosphere and the increasing temperature on Earth |
| Global Warming | The warming of Earth's atmosphere caused by too many greenhouse gases that keep too much of the suns heat in Earth's atmosphere |
| Kyoto Protocol | Agreement that countries have to lower their emissions by 2012 |
| IPCC | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, network of worlds leading climatologists |
| Fossil Fuels | The remains of an animal or plant that has changed into oil natural gas or coal |
| Electric Generator | A generator turned by a turbine which spins beacause of steam or explosions or waves |
| Coal Fired Power Plant | Power Plant powered by burning coal |
| Oil Reserves | Oil that has been discovered but not used |
| Nuclear Energy | Energythat is conveted from a controlled nuclear explosion |
| Passive Solar Heating | Usisng energy provided by the sun to heat your room, house, or building |
| Active Solar Heating | Solar energy that is converted through a solar panel to heat water or make electricity |
| Photovoltaic Energy | Solar energy |
| Wind Energy | Uses wind movement and converts it into energy |
| Hydroelectric Energy | Dams placed in lakes that use turbines to generate energy |
| Geothermal Energy | Drilling into heated wells in Earth's core and using the steam from the wells to spin a turbine to genrate energy |
| Tidal Energy | Waves in oceans turn a turbine which generates energy |
| Conservation | Usisng only what you need |
| Ions | Electricly charged atoms |
| Biomass Fuel | Fuel that derives from plant material and animal waste |
| Cogeneration | Using a single energy source to produce both electrical and heat energy |
| Petroleum | A thick, flammable liquid usually found beneath the earth's surface |
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