Ap Environmental Science

Front 1

Deductive Reasoning

Back 1

using logic to arrive at a specific conclusion based on a generalization

Front 2

Developed Country

Back 2

based on degree of industrialization and GDP, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and most countries of Europe

Front 3

Developing country

Back 3

all other nations, most of them in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Front 4

Ecological Footprint

Back 4

the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply the people in a particular country or area with resources and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use

Front 5

Ecology

Back 5

A key subfield of environmental science is ecology, the biological science that studies how organisms, or living things, interact with their environment and with each other

Front 6

Economic Development

Back 6

has the goal of using economic growth to improve living standards

Front 7

Electromagnetic Radiation

Back 7

kinetic energy that travels in the form of a wave as a result of changes in electric and magnetic fields

Front 8

Energy

Back 8

the capacity to do work or transfer heat

Front 9

Energy Efficiency

Back 9

a measure of how much useful work is accomplished by a particular input of energy into a system

Front 10

Energy Productivity

Back 10

a measure of how much useful work is accomplished by a particular input of energy into a system

Front 11

Energy Quality

Back 11

a measure of an energy sources capacity to do useful work

Front 12

Environment

Back 12

everything around us, it includes all of the living and the nonliving things with which we interact, and it includes a complex web of relationships that connect us with one another and with the world we live in

Front 13

Environmental Degradation

Back 13

When we exceed a renewable resource’s natural replacement rate, the available supply begins to shrink

Front 14

Environmental Ethics

Back 14

Our beliefs about what is right and wrong with how we treat the environment

Front 15

Environmentally Sustainable Society

Back 15

One that meets the current and future basic resource needs of its people in a just and equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their basic needs

Front 16

Exponential Growth

Back 16

A quantity increases at a fixed percentage per unit of time, such as 2% per year. Exponential growth is deceptive. It starts off slowly, but after only a few doublings, it grows to enormous numbers because each doubling is more than the total of all earlier growth.

Front 17

First Law of Thermodynamics

Back 17

when energy is converted to one form to another in a physical or chemical change, no energy is created nor destroyed

Front 18

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Back 18

The annual market value of all goods and services produced by all firms and organizations, foreign and domestic, operating within a country

Front 19

Heat

Back 19

form of kinetic energy that is the total kinetic energy of all moving atoms, ions or molecules within a given system

Front 20

High-Quality Energy

Back 20

concentrated and has a high capacity to do work

Front 21

High-Quality Matter

Back 21

highly concentrated typically found near the Earth's surface, and has a great potential for use as a resource

Front 22

Inductive Reasoning

Back 22

involves using specific observations and measurements to arrive at a general conclusion or hypothesis

Front 23

Inorganic Compounds

Back 23

all other compounds

Front 24

Isotope

Back 24

forms of elements having the same atomic number but have different mass numbers

Front 25

Kinetic Energy

Back 25

moving energy that has mass and velocity

Front 26

Law of Conservation of Energy

Back 26

when energy changes from one form to another in a physical or chemical change, no energy is created or destroyed

Front 27

Law of Conservation of Matter

Back 27

when a physical or chemical change occurs no atoms were created nor destroyed

Front 28

Low-Quality Energy

Back 28

dispersed and has little capacity to do useful work

Front 29

Natural Capital

Back 29

The natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms of life alive and support our economies

Front 30

Negative Feedback Loop

Back 30

causes a system to change in the opposite direction from which its moving

Front 31

Nonpoint Sources

Back 31

Dispersed and often difficult to identify

Front 32

Nonrenewable Resources

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Exist in a fixed quantity, or stock, in the earth’s crust

Front 33

Nuclear Fission

Back 33

nuclear change in which the nuclei of certain isotopes with large mass numbers are split apart into lighter nuclei when struck by neutrons; each fission releases 2 or 3 neutrons plus energy

Front 34

Nuclear Fusion

Back 34

nuclear change in which 2 isotopes of light elements, such as hydrogen, are forced together at extremely high temperatures until they fuse to form a heavier nucleus

Front 35

Organic Compounds

Back 35

contain at least 2 carbon atoms combined with atoms or one or more other elements

Front 36

Paradigm Shift

Back 36

new discoveries and new ideas can overthrow a well accepted scientific theory or law

Front 37

Per Capita Ecological Footprint

Back 37

The average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area

Front 38

Per Capita GDP

Back 38

The GDP divided by the total population at midyear

Front 39

Perpetual Resource

Back 39

Solar energy is called a perpetual resource because it is renewed continuously and is expected to last at least 6 billion years as the sun completes its life cycle

Front 40

pH

Back 40

a measure of acidity, based on the amount of hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions contained in a particular volume of a solution

Front 41

Point Sources

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The pollutants we produce come from two types of sources. Point sources are single, identifiable sources

Front 42

Pollution

Back 42

Any in the environment that is harmful to the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms

Front 43

Positive Feedback Loop

Back 43

causes a system to change further in the same direction

Front 44

Potential Energy

Back 44

stored and potential available for use

Front 45

Poverty

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Occurs when people are unable to meet their basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health, and education

Front 46

Radioactive Isotopes (Radioisotopes)

Back 46

unstable isotopes

Front 47

Recycling

Back 47

Involves collecting waste materials and processing them into new materials

Front 48

Renewable Resource

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A renewable resource can be replenished fairly quickly (from hours to hundreds of years) through natural processes as long as it is not used up faster than it is renewed

Front 49

Resource

Back 49

Anything obtained from the environment to meet our needs and wants

Front 50

Reuse

Back 50

Is using a resource over and over in the same form

Front 51

Scientific (natural) Law

Back 51

a well tested widely accepted description of what we find happening over and over again in the same way in nature

Front 52

Scientific Hypothesis

Back 52

a possible and testable explanation of what the observer observes in nature or the results of their experiments

Front 53

Scientific Theory

Back 53

a well tested and widely accepted scientific hypothesis or a group of related hypotheses

Front 54

Second Law of Thermodynamics

Back 54

when energy changes from one form to another we always end up with lower quality or less usable energy than we started with

Front 55

Social Capital

Back 55

Making the shift to more sustainable societies and economies involves building what sociologists call social capital

Front 56

Solar Capital

Back 56

Natural capital is supported by solar capital: energy from the sun

Front 57

Sustainability (durability)

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The ability of the earth’s various natural systems and human cultural systems and economies to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely

Front 58

Sustainable Yield

Back 58

The highest rate at which a renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply is called its sustainable yield

Front 59

Synergistic Interaction

Back 59

occurs when 2 or more processes interact so that the combined effect is greater than the sum of the separate effects

Front 60

System

Back 60

a set of components that function and interact in some regular way