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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Pollutants
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Substances with which ecosystems have had no prior evolutionary experience, so adaptive mechanisms to deal with them are not in place.
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Thermal Inversion
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When a layer of cool, dense air is trapped under war air.
Winds cannot dispense pollutants --> accumulate. |
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Industrial Smog
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Industrial pollutants (dust, smoke, etc…) accumulate over cities as a gray haze in cold, wet winters; can become lethal.
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Photochemical Smog
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Nitrogen dioxide accumulates from oxygen reacting with nitric oxide and reacts with hydrocarbons to form a brown haze over land basins in warm climates.
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Dry Acid Deposition
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When sulfur and nitrogen oxides fall in dry weather.
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Acid Rain
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When dry acid deposition falls as rain or snow (pH can be 10-100x lower).
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CFCs
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Chlororfluorocarbons; used as coolants in many household items; reacts with oxygen, ultimately releases chlorine atom that breaks down over 10,000 ozone molecules.
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Green Revolution
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Research towards improving the genetic character of crop plants and exporting modern resources and practices to developing countries.
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Animal-Assisted Agriculture
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Relies on energy from draft animals.
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Mechanized Agriculture
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Yields are much higher, but requires many resources and much more energy.
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Deforestation
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The removal of all trees from large tracts of land for logging, agriculture, and grazing operations.
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Shifting Cultivation
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The practice of cutting and burning trees, then tilling the ashes into soil, which can then sustain crops for at least one season.
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Desertification
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Conversion of large grasslands to new desert-like conditions.
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Desalinization
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The removal of salt from seawater.
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Salinization
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A build up of salt in soil; result of evaporation in soil that drains poorly.
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Water Table
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The upper limit at which the ground is fully saturated.
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Primary Wastewater Treatment
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Screens and settling tanks used to remove sludge disposed; chlorine is used, doesn’t kill all germs.
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Secondary Wastewater Treatment
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Microbial populations break down organic matter.
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Tertiary Wastewater Treatment
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Reduces pollution (expensive and experimental).
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Net Energy
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Energy left after process of delivering energy to consumers.
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Nuclear Meltdown
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Water is overheated --> steam reacts with other chemicals --> could release radioactive material.
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Solar-Hydration Energy
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– Sunlight-created energy in “photovoltaic cells” can split water molecules --> oxygen and hydrogen gas (can be used a fuel).
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Wind Farms
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Arrays of turbines that exploit wind patterns and convert sunlight and wind into mechanical energy.
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Fusion Power
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The sun’s gravitational force’s ability to compress atomic nuclei into high densities and temperatures high enough to force atomic nuclei to fuse.
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