OPENING ASSIGNMENT
✕
What is Environmental Science?
+
Write your understanding in at least 3 complete
sentences.
Post 911 Health Effects
✕Just days after September 11, 2001, the Environmental
Protection Agency assured the public that there should be
no concern about any health hazards associated with
exposure to smoke and debris in lower Manhattan.
✕Today we will watch a documentary called Dust to Dust –
the Health Effects of 911. As we watch the video I want you
to take some notes on the environmental effects of this
disaster. You will use these notes to write a persuasive
essay to the EPA on Monday.
✕https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49X5erPySVA
Opening Assignment
✕Get your notes out from the documentary we watched on
the health effects of the 9/11 event and the handling of the
disaster by the EPA.
✕Refresh your memory about how the EPA handled the
event and the situations that the people who were exposed
to the contaminants had to deal with.
Post 9/11 Health Effects Persuasive Essay Prompt
✕Just days after September 11, 2001, the Environmental
Protection Agency assured the public that there should be
no concern about any health hazards associated with
exposure to smoke and debris in lower Manhattan.
✕In your opinion, should the EPA have done more to protect
the first responders and the people of NYC? Use specific
reasons and examples from the documentary we watched
“Dust to Dust – The Health Effects of 9/11 ” to support your
position.
OPENING ASSIGNMENT
Explain your understanding of . . .
1. How the Earth was formed
2. the requirements for life to occur on
Earth
Environmental Science
Unit 2 – The Earth as a System
BY MRS. SHAW
CURRICULUM FROM
UNIT 2 - MANY PLANETS, ONE EARTH
LEARNING GOALS
Students will be able to
+
List the requirements for life to occur and be
sustainable
+
Explain how the earth is divided into four spheres that
work together as a system.
+
Describe the negative feedback relationship between
rock weathering and climatic changes in relation to the
geochemical carbon cycle.
+
Explain the types of biogeochemical cycles that occur
on Earth and how those cycles effect life on Earth.
http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/video/index.php#
PART 1
Origin of the Earth
and The Earth as a
System
WHY DO WE HAVE LIFE ON EARTH?
✕
The Earth
+
+
+
Is in the exact right location . . .far enough
away and also close enough from the Sun to
receive the energy we need for life
Has liquid water
Has free Oxygen in the atmosphere
TO UNDERSTAND HOW WE HAVE LIFE ON
EARTH
✕
We need to know how
the Earth first formed. . .
.
✕
Our solar system
formed from a solar
nebula, a cloud of gas
and dust, that
collapsed and
condensed about 4.56
billion years ago.
✕
Most of the matter
formed the Sun but the
rest formed the planets
and other bodies in our
solar system
THE YOUNG EARTH
✕
The young Earth was
anything but habitable.
Radioactive elements
decaying within its mass
and impacts from debris
raining down from space
generated intense heat—
the first eon of Earth's
history, from about 4.5 to
3.8 billion years ago, is
named the Hadean after
hades, the Greek word
Scientists study meteorite
materials to discover what
materials were first present
on Earth that eventually
were recycled into Earth’s
crust.
The Willamette Meteorite, the largest
ever found in the United States (15 tons)
ABOUT 4 BILLION YEARS AGO
About 4 billion years ago,
conditions on Earth
gradually began to
moderate.
The planet's surface cooled,
allowing water vapor to
condense in the
atmosphere and fall back
as rain.
This early hydrologic cycle
promoted rock weathering,
a key part of the carbonsilicate cycle that regulates
Earth's climate
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE CLOUD
OF GAS AND DUST TURNED INTO OUR
STAR, THE SUN, AND PLANETS?
✕
The Universal Law of Gravitation – everything
with mass has gravity and is attracted to
everything else with mass.
✕
Where is our evidence of this??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_ZzTmzN-D0
✕
The Earth as a System
Open vs. Closed System
Open System – a system in which both energy and
matter are exchanged with the surroundings.
Closed System – a system in which energy, but not
matter, is exchanged with the surroundings.
Earth as Closed System
✕Earth is a system of matter
(stuff) and energy (ability to
do work)
✕Earth is a closed system
because matter does not
enter or exit the system but
energy does.
✕Ex: Sealed Jar vs.
Aquarium
-sphere
✕
The names of Earth’s four spheres are derived
from ancient Greek. The Greek word for “ball” is
spharia, from which the word sphere is derived.
✕The Greek roots
• Atmos = vapor
• Hydro = water
• Geo = Earth
• Bios = Life
Earth’s 4 Spheres
Matter on Earth is liquid, solid, or gas
Earth’s 4 spheres “store” matter
1. Atmosphere
2. Hydrosphere
3. Geosphere
4. Biosphere
Atmosphere
• includes all gases
that surround Earth’s
surface
• Provides air we
breathe
(78% Nitrogen, 21%
Oxygen, 1% Other)
• Protects from sun’s
harmful radiation
• Burns up meteoroids
• Keeps us warm
Hydrosphere
• Earth’s water (except in gaseous form)
(97% salt water, 3% Freshwater)
• includes oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, polar
ice sheets, etc.
Opening Assignment
1. Differentiate between an open and a
closed system.
2. Explain why Earth is considered a
closed system.
Geosphere
• Mostly solid part of Earth
• Sometimes referred to as Lithosphere
• Rock and soil on Earth’s surface and on
ocean floor
• Solid and molten (liquid) interior
Biosphere
All forms of life in geosphere, hydrosphere,
and atmosphere
Extends from deepest part of oceans to
Atmosphere
Interactions of the Four Spheres
✕Earth itself is a closed system
✕The 4 spheres are open systems
+Matter and energy are constantly exchanged between
the spheres via
✕Chemical reactions, radioactive decay, radiation (light
and heat), growth and decay of living organisms.
✕Matter and Energy move between the spheres in order to
complete certain cycles in Earth’s system.
+Energy, water, nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous, oxygen
and rock cycles.
How Earth’s Systems Interact
✕https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnpF0nd
Xk-8
Sphere Interactions in YOUR world
✕Today you will go on a school tour to observe the Earth as a
system around you.
✕Bring your worksheet and make observations about the
various sphere interactions that you see.
Observing Connections
✕Identify and record connections among the four
components of the Earth system by: making observations;
recalling and integrating your existing knowledge about
them; and speculating carefully about the connections that
might be taking place.
✕Record your answers on the Observations page of this
Work Sheet. An excellent list of interconnections will be
long; it will involve all four of the components; it will be
specific; it will bring in your knowledge from previous studies
in other classes as well as this one; and it will show that you
are thinking deeply and carefully about your study site.
✕Tips, Questions, and Comments to Get You Thinking
1. Write down your observations as short phrases. Use verbs.
1. Example: Leaves fall, decompose, and become part of the soil.
2.
Write down as many interconnections as you can think of. Be as specific as you
can. You can even use general quantities, such as “a little,” “some,” or “a lot.”
3.
Work with other students if you wish, but before you add anything to your list,
make sure you understand it and agree with it!
4.
Examples of questions you might consider: What happens in the soil that changes
the characteristics of the living things at the site? What happens in the water that
changes the characteristics of the air? What moves from one study site component to
another?
5. Explore actively and thoughtfully. If your teacher gives you permission, dig small
holes, turn over stones, and examine the water, soil, and vegetation with a magnifying
glass. Take time to sit quietly and contemplate the study site as well.
6. It may help your thinking to compare this place to others. What’s happening at this
site that doesn’t happen somewhere else? How is this one different? What about soil
characteristics? Different kinds of plants? Less water, or more?
7. Recall ideas from other courses you have taken. Think about biology, chemistry,
Earth science, ecology, geography, meteorology, and physics.
8. After you’ve made an initial list, look it over. Be sure you have described examples at
the study site for each of the four components. Is each of them acting upon each of the
other three in at least two or three ways?
Opening Assignment: List 4 sphere
interactions going on in this picture
PART 2
Biogeochemical cycles
in Nature
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLING
✕
Biogeochemical
cycling—flow of
chemical elements and
compounds(Carbon,
Nitrogen, Water, Oxygen,
Phosphorous) between
Earth's biosphere,
atmosphere,
hydrosphere and
geosphere.
GEOCHEMICAL CARBON CYCLING
THE CARBON – SILICATE CYCLE
Step 1: Rainfall scrubs the CO2 out of the air
producing carbonic acid (H2CO3), a weak
acid.
Step 2: The solution reacts on contact with the
silicate rocks to cause erosion and the
release of calcium and other cations like
carbonate and bicarbonate. .
Step 3: The ion solution is washed into oceans
and the calcium carbonate is precipitated in
sediments like limestone.
THE CARBON – SILICATE CYCLE
CONTINUED
✕ Step 4: Over long time periods, oceanic
crust containing limestone sediments is
forced downward into Earth's mantle at
points where plates collide, a process called
subduction. Step 5: Eventually, the
limestone heats up and turns the limestone
back into CO2, which travels back up to the
surface with magma.
✕ Step 6: Volcanic activity then returns CO2 to
the atmosphere.
WHAT IS A NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
RELATIONSHIP?
✕
A negative feedback system involves something
being regulated at an optimal level. If the item
being regulated goes outside the level that it
functions best, something will occur to
counteract that level and bring it back to within
range.
✕
For example . . . .your body temperature should
be somewhere between 97 – 99 degrees
Farenheit. If your body temp. rises or falls below
this level, your body will form a reaction to try to
bring it back to where your organs can function
HOW A NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
RELATIONSHIP OCCURS BETWEEN ROCK
WEATHERING AND CLIMATIC CHANGES
✕
When Earth’s climate warms or cools, the
system responds in ways that moderate
the temperature change and push
conditions back toward equilibrium,
essentially creating a natural thermostat
HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?
As temperature increases = weathering rate increases
As weathering increases = CO2 consumption increases
As temperature decreases = weathering rate decreases
As weathering decreases = CO2 consumption decreases
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o4ODWMZq5U
Biogeochemical Cycles Group Project
✕Today we will start our Biogeochemicals
group projects.
✕You will have until Thursday to complete the
project. Your groups will start presenting on
Monday
Opening Assignment
✕Copy these down and complete them for homework tonight
✕Define the following terms:
+Ecosystem
+Eutrophication
+Cultural Eutrophication
✕Explain how an excess of nutrients can affect an aquatic
ecosystem.
Opening Assignment – Get your homework out 
✕Copy these down and complete them for homework tonight
✕Define the following terms:
+Ecosystem
+Eutrophication
+Cultural Eutrophication
✕Explain how an excess of nutrients can affect an aquatic
ecosystem.
Eutrophication
✕https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMZ8xf
HPNu8
OPENING ASSIGNMENT
✕ Use
your notes and in your own
words explain the negative
feedback system associate with
rock weathering and our climate.
REVIEW OF THIS NEGATIVE
FEEDBACK
✕
http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/te
xt.php?unit=1&secNum=1
DRAW A COPY OF THE
GEOCHEMICAL CARBON CYCLING
MANY PLANETS, ONE EARTH VIDEO
✕
http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/te
xt.php?unit=1&secNum=1