Cumulative Test Review, p 182
Energy
1. What are examples of renewable energy?
Solar, Wind, Hydropower, Wave & Tidal
2. What are examples of non-renewable energy sources?
Coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of:
Fuel
Solar
Advantage
‘Endless’; no harmful emissions
Wind
Plentiful; no harmful emissions
Geothermal
Plentiful;
Nuclear
Very efficient in production of
energy
Hydrogen
Emission is water;
Disadvantage
Not constant-clouds;
Technology expensive
‘eye sore’; expensive through
installation
Expensive to install, uses some
traditional electricity to run;
good hybrid system
Expensive to make plants;
harmful radiation could be
released upon catastrophe;
limited uranium; radioactive
waste
Upcoming technology;
hydrogen is explosive (think
Hindenberg disaster)
4. Is nuclear power considered renewable or non-renewable?
Nuclear power is often stated in the media as both. In our class we said it is non-renewable due
to the limited supply of uranium, and the problem with radio-active waste storage. Nuclear
power plants use fission.
5. What controls the rate of a nuclear reaction?
The raising and lowering of the rods in the chamber
6. When was the Chernobyl disaster?
1986
7. What are the end products of nuclear fission?
Heat and radiation
8. What is nuclear fission?
A neutron and a nucleus collide to create smaller fragments creating heat and energy in the
process.
Fusion on the other hand combines two nuclei.
9. What are examples of fossil fuels?
Coal, natural gas, and oil.
LAND
10. What’s the difference between chemical weathering and physical weathering? Give examples
Weathering means wearing away.
Chemical examples: hydrolysis (reaction with water) and Oxidation (oxygen reacting with other
substances)
Physical examples: potholes, wind, water, root wedging, frost wedging
11. What are the 5 basic soil types? Where are they found in the U.S.?
Soil
Tropical—hot humid moist, 10’
Grassland-grasses, few trees, 3’
Forest-hardwood trees (oak, maple & pines),
seasons, 3’
Desert-hot, dry, MM (missing moisture)
Arctic-always partially frozen, cm (cold man!)
Found in the U.S.
HI, FL WA-temperate
Mid-west
Northeast & Mid-Atlantic
Southwest: TX, NV, UT, CO, AZ
AK
13. What are the main biomes we studied? What are their physical characteristics? Where are they in
the world? Which ones are found in the U.S. and where?
Biome
Desert
Tropical Rainforest
Taiga
Tundra
Deciduous Forest
Savannah
Grasslands
Coral Reef
Estuaries
Fresh/Saltwater Wetlands
Characteristics
Less than 10 in of precip.; acacia
trees; succulent plants; both
plants and animals conserve
water; camel; aloe plant; cactus
Over 50” of precip;
Pines, spruces, caribou, moose,
largest biome in the world,
temperatures below freezing 6
months out of the year. Many
insects
6-10 inches of precip (usually
snow)
Looses leaves; maple, oak,
beech
Rolling grassland with isolated
trees; not enough rain for
forests; acacia trees
Few trees, shaped often by fire
Warm shallow water; barriers
along continents, corals are
bacteria & polyps
Freshwater streams or rivers
merge with the ocean; differing
salinity; algae; seaweeds,
mangrove trees (tropics)
oysters, crab
Stagnant water with different
depths; marshes, swamps &
bogs. Highest diversity of all
ecosystems except rainforest
(Dr. Peters)
Where found? U.S.?
Sahara—Northern Africa, Great
Victoria Desert—Australia;
Great Basin-NV, UT, Mojave—
NV, UT Sonoran--CA
Alaska, North Canada
Around the North Pole, Alaska
Mid-Atlantic
East Africa
American prairie, Mid-West
Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Chesapeake Bay
Around the Bay; Great Dismal
Swamp, VA
14. Know these terms:
A. Benthic-below the Pelagic, but not the very deep ocean (Abyssal)
B. Arable-land used for agriculture
C. Pelagic—open ocean
D. Profundal—deepest freshwater area
E. Limnetic—In the Center of a freshwater area
F. Deciduous—shedding its leaves annually
G. Coniferous—cone bearing
H. Humus—the decomposition of plants and animals
I. Leaching—nutrients moving downward with water
15. What are the different layers in the soil profile called?
The layers are called horizons
16. What are the different layers in the soil? What would you expect to find in each?
Horizon O—(surface litter)--grass, leaves, sticks, dead things, fungus
Horizon A—(Topsoil)--partially decomposed organic materis, worms, moles, small rocks, small roots of
grass, small burrowing animals
Horizon E—(Zone of leaching)—water moves downward it takes the nutrients with it; find clay; not
fertile
Horizon B---(Subsoil)--relatively infertile, clay, larger rocks, where ‘footers’ for decks need to reach,
different color
Horizon C-- (Rock particles)—much rockier; big roots, large rocks & roots more clay.
Horizon R—(Bedrock)—unweathered parent rock; ‘rock bottom’; solid; need to blast it apart