THE EARTH AND ITS SYSTEMS

Terrarium – enclosed area for keeping and raising animals or plants Earth System Science
for research
- Studies earth as a system composed of numerous parts or
Weight – amount of gravitational pull of the earth subsytems
- Air (atmosphere), water (hydrosphere), land (geosphere), life
Mass – amount of matter in an object
(biosphere)
Matter and Energy – components of systems that can/can’t enter or - System interaction: atmo –> bio, atmo –> geo, atmo –>
leave hydro

Surrounding – the rest of the place that interacts with the system

The Earth System

- Complex system of interacting physical, chemical and biological process.
- Provides natural laboratory whose experiments have been running since the beginning of time
- Isolated (no matter or energy enter or leave), Closed (energy enters and leaves, matter does not), Open (energy and matter enter and
leave)
- Earth is a closed system (exchange of mass; negligible exchange of mass with surroundings)
-
Atmosphere - Composed of N (78), O (21)
- Composed of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapor
- Consists of four layers (tropo, strato, meso, thermo)

Distance Function Altitude Temp Descript

Troposphere 0-10 km Constitute climate system ↑ ↓ Mostly heated (energy transfer)
Stratosphere 10-50 km Contains ozone layer ↑ ↑ Highest aircrafts can go
Mesosphere 50-80 km Diffuses atmospheric components ↑ ↓ Most meteors burn up
Thermosphere 80-500 km Diffuses atmospheric components ↑ ↑ Aurora borealis occur
Exosphere 500-10k km Contains most satellites Doesn’t behave like gas

Biosphere
- Structured into hierarchy known as the food chain Geosphere
- Energy and mass are transferred from one level of food chain
- Solid earth that includes continental/oceanic crust and other
to the next (all life is dependent on the first tier, the ones
interior layers
capable of photosynthesis)
- It’s is not static, the surface/crust is in a constant state of
- Biosphere, biome, ecosystem, community, population,
motion
organism
- Crust (primarily silica; lithosphere – brittle solid)
Hydrosphere - Mantel (primarily silica; asthenosphere – solid but nearly
liquid; mesosphere – solid)
- 97 saltwater, 3 freshwater
- Core (primarily iron and nickel; outercore – liquid;
- 70 of freshwater is frozen (cryonosphere)
innercore – solid)
- Water cycle (transfer of water from one state to
another/hydrological cycle)
o Precipitation, runoff, percolation, evaporation,
condensation, vapor transport