ES 106 | Spring 2015

1. What is a system?
A system is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an
integrated whole.
2. What is Earth system science?
Earth system science embraces chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics and
applied sciences in transcending disciplinary boundaries to treat the Earth as an
integrated system and seeks a deeper understanding of the physical, chemical,
biological and human interactions that determine the past, current and future
states of the Earth.
3. What is science?
The word science comes from the Latin "scientia," meaning knowledge. Science
refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation and
experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena.
4. How does science operate?
Science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation
and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena.

5. What is a hypothesis?
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be
a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it.
6. What is a scientific theory?
A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the
natural world that is acquired through the scientific method and repeatedly tested
and confirmed through observation and experimentation.

7. What are the components of a system? Can you apply these ideas to describe
specific systems?
Processing devices are the components responsible for the processing of
information within the computer system.
8. What is an open system? Closed system? Examples?
A opened system is a system that has external interactions. An open system is
contrasted with the concept of an isolated system which exchanges neither energy,
matter, nor information with its environment. Open system is also known as
constant volume system and flow system
A closed system that does not interact with or RECEIVE input from other SYSTE
MS, especially onethat obeys conservation laws.
Examples:
A system that receives inputs of energy and matter and then outputs materials into
surrounding environments is termed: Open System (e.g. systems in human body)
A system that is shut off from the surrounding environment and is self-contained
is termed: Closed System (e.g. the earth system).
9. How can the hydrologic cycle be explained as a system?
The hydrologic cycle is a conceptual MODEL that describes the storage and
movement of WATER between the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and the
hydrosphere .
10. What is the hydrologic cycle? Can you explain all the parts?
The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the H2O cycle, describes
the continuous movement of WATER on, above and below the SURFACE of
the Earth.
11. What is a water molecule made out of (which atoms and how many of each)?
Everything is made of atoms. An atom is the smallest particle of an element, like
oxygen or hydrogen. Atoms join together to formmolecules. A water molecule has
three atoms: two hydrogen (H)atoms and one oxygen (O) atom.

12. What are the three phases of water? What happens atomically in each phase?
Water can occur in three states: solid (ice), liquid, or gas (vapor).
Solid waterice is frozen water. When water freezes, its molecules move farther
apart, making ice less dense than water.
Liquid water is wet and fluid. This is the form of water with which we are most
familiar. We use liquid water in many ways, including washing and drinking.
Water as a gasvapor is always present in the air around us.

13. How do you change phases?

Phase transition, the transformation from one thermodynamic state
to ANOTHER.
Phase-change memory, a TYPE of random-access memory.
Phase change (waves), concerning the physics of waves.
14. How much of Earths surface is water?
About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold
about 96.5 percentof all Earth's water.
15. How much of Earths water is fresh?
The majority of HUMAN uses require fresh water.
97 percent of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh
water.

16. How much water does it take to make a cup of coffee?

1lb of coffee needs 2,500 gallons
17. Properties of water in what ways is water weird?
In nature, water exists in liquid, solid, and gaseous STATES.

18. Why is solid water less dense than liquid water? Is that normal?
Ice is less dense than water because when it freezes the molecules arrange
themselves into a highly ordered crystal structure that leaves spaces in between.
19. What is waters specific heat capacity? Is that typical?
The high specific heat capacity of water has a great deal to do with regulating
extremes in the environment.
20.What is the pH of water?
pH is a determined value based on a defined scale, similar to temperature. This means
that pH of water is not a physical parameter that can be measured as a concentration or in
a quantity.
21. What does it mean to be a universal solvent?
A true universal solvent will dissolve anything. Water is usually called that, simply
because if dissolves so many things. The polar nature of water allows it to dissolve ionic
and many non-ionic compounds
22. What is dissolution? Whats happening at the atomic level?
Dissolution is the process by which a solute FORMS a solution in a solvent. The atomic
level is affected by the movement of electrons so as to give rise to the observed energy.
23. What is a dipole moment?
Dipole moments occur when there is a separation of charge. They can occur BETWEEN
TWO ions in an ionic bond or between atoms in a covalent bond; dipole moments arise
from differences in electronegativity.
24.Why is water so weird?
It all has to do with the angle of the molecule. Water is special in many ways
one is that it is bipolar this is because the angle of the H2O atom is not 180 this makes
the oxygen part of the atom have a negative charge and the hydrogen part of the atom
have a positive charge.
25. What is surface tension? How does it work?

The cohesive forces between liquid molecules are responsible for the phenomenon
known as surface tension. The molecules at the surface do not have other like molecules
on all sides of them and consequently they cohere more strongly to those directly
associated with them on the surface.
26.What is an atom?
An atom is the smallest, indivisible, part of an element which still maintains all of the
physical and chemical properties of that element.
27. What are the three types of particles that make up an atom? What charge does each
particle have?
Atoms are composed of smaller particles known as protons, neutrons, and electrons.
Protons have a positive electrical charge, neutrons have no electrical charge, and
electrons have a negative electrical charge. Protons and neutrons together form the
nucleus or central mass of theatom.
28. Where are most atoms made?
The nucleus is composed of Protons and Neutrons, collectively nucleons.
Electrons which make up the rest of an atom have a mass only 1/1820 of a proton, much
much smaller by mass.
29. Whats the atomic number? Atomic mass? Can you read them off a periodic table of
elements?
The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, which determines the chemical
properties of an element and its place in the periodic table.
The atomic mass (ma) is the mass of an atomic particle, sub-atomic particle, or molecule.
yes we can read them off a periodic table of elements.
30.What is a valence electron?
A valence electron is an electron that is associated with an atom, and that can participate
in the formation of a chemical bond; in a single covalent bond, both atoms in the bond
contribute one valence electron in order to form a shared pair.
31. How does the electron shell model work?
Each of the atom is mainly composed of three sub-atomic particles neutrons,
protons and electrons. The center part of atom is a dense area which contains
proton and neutrons and known as nucleus. The negatively charged particles;

electrons are placed around nucleus in circular paths which are known as electron
shell. Electronic shells are segregated spheres around nucleus in an atom where
all the electrons are revolving around positively charged nucleus. It is just like our
solar system in which all the planets are revolving around sun. Usually we study
five shells around nucleus in an atom which are designated as K, L, M, N, O and
so on. Remember there can be infinite electron shells but items not necessary that
there will be some electron. The number of electrons in an atom is fixed which is
equal to the number of protons; atomic number.
32. Be able to recognize and/or draw electron dot structures for elements (see in class
worksheet for extra info)
valence electrons are represented by dots placed around the chemical symbol.
Electrons are placed up to two on each side of the elemental symbol for a maximum
of eight, which is the number of electrons in a filled s and p shell. Electron dot
structures for the first two periods - Number of valence electrons related to group
number.

33. What is an ion? How do they form?

An ion is a charged atom or molecule. It is charged because the number of
electrons do not equal the number of protons in the atom or molecule. Ions are
formed by ionic bonding where to be stable an element eith gives up an electron
or receives one.
34. What is a cation? Anion?
A cation is a positively charged ion. Thus it has fewer electrons than protons. It is
also attracted to the cathode in the process of electrolysis.
A negatively charged ion, which has more electrons than protons, is called an
"anion."
35. What are the 3 types of chemical bonds? Whats different about them?
ionic bonding - exists between metals and nonmetals; stronger than covalent and
polar covalent; metal gives up electron to non-metal in order to satisfy octet .
36. What is an ionic bond? How does it form?

An ionic bond is a bond in which one or more electrons from one atom are
removed and attached to another atom, resulting in positive and negative ions
which attract each other. Ionic bonds for when two ions become attracted to each
other through electrostatic force. The objective for an Ion is to obtain the electron
configuration of a noble gas.
37. What is a covalent bond? How does it form?
All chemical bonding basically comes down to the attraction of the outermost
electrons of each atom by the nuclei of two atoms. Those outermost electrons are
the valence electrons and they are shared by both atoms. They are the "co-valent"
electrons. A covalent bond is a shared pair of electron between two atoms of same
of different elements.
In covalent shared pair of electron revolve in the orbits of both atoms and
stabilizes them and completes their octet.
38.What is a metallic bond? How does it form?
Metallic bond is the bonding between molecules within metals called alkali reactive
force. It is the sharing of a sea of delocalised electrons amongst a lattice of positive ions,
where the electrons act as a "glue" giving the substance a definite structure.

39. What is polarity? How does it form?

Polarity is a term used in electricity, magnetism, and electronic signaling. Suppose there
is a constant voltage , also called an electric potential or electromotive force (EMF),
between two objects or points. In such a situation, one of the objects or points (poles) has
more electrons than the other.
40.What kind of bond does a water molecule have?
Answer: Water molecules have unusual chemical and physical properties. When
more molecules are present, as is the case with liquid water, more bonds are possible
because the oxygen of one water molecule has two lone pairs of electrons, each of which
can form a hydrogen bond with a hydrogen on anotherwater molecule.
41. What is a mixture?
Answer: A mixture is a material system made up of two or more different substances
which are mixed but are not combined chemically. A mixture refers to the physical
combination of two or more substances on which the identities are retained and are mixed
in the form of solutions, suspensions, and colloids.
42.What is an element?

Answer: An element is a substance that is made entirely from one type of atom. For
example, the element hydrogen is made from atoms containing a single proton and a
single electron. If you change the number of protons an atom has, you change the type of
element it is.
1.

43. What is a compound?

Answer: A compound is a substance formed when two or more chemical elements
are chemically bonded together. Two types of chemical bonds common in compounds
are covalent bonds and ionic bonds. The elements in any compound are always present in
fixed ratios.
44. What is the difference between heterogeneous and homogeneous?
Answer: A homogeneous mixture has the same uniform appearance and composition
throughout. A heterogeneous mixture consists of visibly different substances or
phases. Homogeneous mixtures: milk.
45. What is a solution? Examples?
Answer: A solution is a homogeneous mixture of one or more solutes dissolved in a
solvent. solvent: the substance in which a solute dissolves to produce a homogeneous
mixture. solute: the substance that dissolves in a solvent to produce a homogeneous
mixture.
46.What is a suspension? Examples?
Answer: In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous mixture containing solid particles
that are sufficiently large for sedimentation. Usually they must be larger than one
micrometer
47. What happens when a solution is saturated?
Answer: A saturated solution is one where no more solid can dissolve at the temperature
and pressure used. The exact moment this happens can not really be seen since the solid
present will be too small. The way you normally make a saturated solution is either add
so much solid you can see it and draw off the liquid or filter the material to remove the
excess solid. If only being saturated is critical, you have to filter since just drawing off
the liquid will catch some solid that floats
48. What is heat?
Answer: In physics, a form of energy associated with the movement of atoms and
molecules in any material. The higher the temperature of a material, the faster the atoms
are moving, and hence the greater the amount of energy present as heat.
49.What is temperature?
Answer: Temperature is a measure of the average heat or thermal energy of the particles
in a substance. Since it is an average measurement, it does not depend on the number of
particles in an object. In that sense it does not depend on the size of it.
50.Is there such a thing as cold?
Answer: There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458
-- You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot
measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not
the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."

51. How does heat relate to phases?

Answer: The latent heat is the energy associated with a phase change of a substance.
The temperature will change only when the phase change has completed.
52. There are three ways heat can be transferred what are they? How do they
transfer heat?
Answer: Conduction: transfer by molecular ... Radiant energy can interact with matter
in 3 ways. Reflection - there is no change in the matter because of the radiant.
53. Which direction does heat transfer?
Answer: Heat is transferred from the hot water to the cold water until both samples
have the same
54. What three things can happen to radiation when it hits something? How are
they different?
Answer: When light hits an object it: reflects; bounces off another object refracts;
bends absorbs;
55. Where does radiation come from?
Answer: From sun etc
56. Can we see radiation?
Answer: No we cannot.
57. Is all radiation harmful?
Answer: Not all radiation is harmful, and whether or not it is harmful depends on the
type ofradiation in question and how much (the so-called 'dose') you are exposed to
58. What two large systems on earth are significantly impacted by radiation?
Answer:
59. What are the 7 continents?
Answer:The list of 7 continents of the world includes Asia, Africa, North America,
South America, Europe, Australia and Antarctica
60.What are the 5 oceans? Where on a map?

Answer: The five oceans, including the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern. The
Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth, covering more than one-third of the Earth's
surface and nearly half of Earth's water surface. The world's second largest ocean is the
Atlantic Ocean, which covers one-fifth of the total surface area of the Earth. The third
largest ocean in the world, the Indian Ocean, is surrounded by the Arabian Peninsula and
Southeast Asia in the north, Africa in west and Australia in the east. The Southern Ocean
has been defined relatively recently, in 2000, and consists of the waters around
Antarctica. Located around the Arctic Circle, the Arctic Ocean is the smallest and the
shallowest ocean in the world. South China Sea, one of the largest seas after the 5 largest
oceans of the world, surrounds hundreds and hundreds of islands.
61. Ocean features what is an abyssal plain? Whats it like?
Answer: Just like the Earth's landmasses, the oceans contain canyons, mountain ranges,
and other formations. An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor,
usually found at depths between 3000 and 6000 m. Lying generally between the foot of a
continental rise and a mid-ocean ridge, abyssal plains cover more than 50% of the Earth's
surface.
62. What is a mid ocean ridge? Whats it like?
Answer: A long, seismically active submarine ridge system situated in the middle of an
ocean basin and marking the site of the upwelling of magma associated with seafloor
spreading. An example is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
63. Whats a continental margin? Whats it like?
Answer: The continental margin is the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin
oceanic crust from thick continental crust. Together,
the continental shelf, continental slope, andcontinental rise are called continental
margin. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area.
64.What are the differences between continental and oceanic crust?
1.

Answer: Oceanic crust, found under the ocean floor, is made of dense rocks such
as basalt. It is about 7 kilometers (4 miles) thick. Continental crust, found under land
masses, is made of less dense rocks such as granite. Its thickness varies between 10 and
75 kilometers (6 to 47 miles).
65. What are the three ways to map the ocean floor we talked about? How does each one
work?
Answer: Satellite altimetry

uses satellites to measures subtle but permanent differences in sea-surface height

global coverage

low resolution: 2-5 km

vertical accuracy: 200-300 m

Multi-beam sonar

uses multiple echo-soundings to map narrow (2-10 km) sections of the ocean floor
collected using scientific ocean going vessels or AUVs which is more
expensive

limited coverage

good resolution:25-100 m (0.5

66.Which is flatter? The ocean floor or continents?

Answer: Plates can carry continents or parts of the ocean floor but not both.
67. Which hemisphere has more ocean?
Answer: Southern Hemisphere climates tend to be slightly milder than those at similar
latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, except in the Antarctic which is colder than the
Arctic. This is because the Southern Hemisphere has significantly more ocean and much
less land; water heats up and cools down more slowly than land.
68.What is the composition of seawater?
Answer: In addition to water (made up of hydrogen and oxygen atoms H2O), seawater
in the ocean has more than 70 elements dissolved in it but only six make up more than
99% of all the dissolved salts and all occur as ions that is, electrically charged atoms
or groups of atoms:Sodium (Na+), Chloride (Cl), Magnesium.
69.When talking about seawater, what does salts mean?
70. What is salinity?
Answer: Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water (see also
soil salinity).
71. Where do the salts in oceans come from?
Answer: Most of the ocean's salts were derived from gradual processes such the breaking
up of the cooled igneous rocks of the Earth's crust by weathering and erosion, the
wearing down of mountains, and the dissolving action of rains and streams which
transported their mineral washings to the sea.

72. Are the oceans getting more salty? Why or why not?
Answer: The saltiness of the ocean is the result of several natural influences and
processes; water from rivers entering the ocean is just one of these factors.
73. How does ocean salinity vary?
Answer: Salinity does change with depth, but the way it changes depends very much on
where one happens to be. That's because of another property of water, its density. Density
is how "heavy" a parcel of water is. And "heavier" water tends to sink and stay below
"lighter" water (have a look at this answer from our archives for a little more on how that
works). The density of seawater depends mostly on how much salt is dissolved in it
(more dissolved salt = "heavier" seawater), but temperature also has an effect
74. How does temperature vary in the oceans?
Answer: Ocean temperatures change on a seasonal basis, but there are other factors at
play which complicate when, and how, and by
75. How does density vary in the oceans?

Answer: You can see density increases with increasing depth. The pycnocline are layers
of water where the water density changes rapidly with depth.
76. What are the 3 layers of the ocean? What are the characteristics of each? 77. What is a
current?
Answer: A convenient method of visualizing the sea is to divide it into layers in much
the same way that we do the atmosphere. Using bathythermograph information
(temperature versus depth profiles), the oceans display a basic three-layered structure:
the mixed layer, main thermocline, and deep water layer. The latitudinal distribution of
these layers is shown in figure 1-2-1, while the typical thermal structure is shown in
figure 1-2-2. Both figures are representative of winter.
78. How doe currents form?

Answer: Ocean currents can be generated by wind, density differences in water masses
caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as
earthquakes. Currentsare cohesive streams of seawater that circulate through the ocean.
79. What is a gyre?

Answer: A gyre in oceanography is any large system of rotating ocean currents,

particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis
effect; planetary vorticity along with horizontal and vertical friction, which determine the
circulation patterns from the wind curl (torque).
80.What is an upwelling?
Answer: Upwelling is a process in which deep, cold water rises toward the surface.
81. Where is the highest density water in the world?
Answer: The Dead Sea water has a density of 1,240 kg/m3, Dead Sea water is almost
24% higher than regular water.
82. What drives ocean currents?
1.

Answer: Two major forces drive ocean currents: pressure gradients and wind
stress. Pressure gradients can be caused by differences in sea surface height, similar
to water piling up on one side of a bucket. Changes in height are caused by wind blowing
over water near a boundary.
83.What drives deep ocean currents?
Answer: Currents may also be generated by density differences in watermasses caused
by temperature and salinity variations. These currentsmove water masses through
the deep oceantaking nutrients, oxygen, and heat with them.