Unit 2 Vocabulary Pre-Assessment

all of Earth's air; divided into troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and ionosphere

all of Earth's life forms as distributed in biomes, such as tundra, boreal forest, deciduous forest, grassland, desert, savannah, rainforest, chaparral, freshwater, and marine

transfer of energy through matter by colliding particles (direct contact)

transfer of thermal energy, in a liquid or gas, in which the warmer substance rises and the cooler substance sinks; forms a current

places where water is in frozen form, as well as areas of permafrost

process of energy changing from one form to another

the enrichment of an ecosystem with chemical nutrients, typically compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus, or both

The energy of the universe is constant. Energy can be transferred and transformed, but it cannot be created or destroyed. Energy for the functioning of an ecosystem comes from the Sun. Solar energy is absorbed by plants where in it is converted to stored chemical energy. Plants act as energy transformers, converting light to chemical energy. Whenever energy is converted from one form into another, some of it is given off as heat, which is the most random form of energy.

the core, mantle, and crust of the Earth

all of the liquid, solid, and gaseous water on Earth

a tentative and testable statement that must be capable of being supported or not supported by evidence

an environmental factor that tends to limit population size

natural resources that are used up at a rate faster than they can be replaced

transfer of energy through the emission of electromagnetic waves

natural resources that are constantly being recycled