Ch 19 Vocabulary
Resources & The Environment
Terms
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- Photovoltaic (PV) Cells
- Device made of silicon that turns sunlight directly into electrical current
- Ground Water
- Water contained in soil or trapped in underground pockets formed by nonpourous rock; comes from rainfall & runoff that soaks through the soil
- Renewable Resource
- Natural resource that is recycle or replaced by onging natural processes
- Global Warming
- Increase in the average yearly temperature of Earth
- Extinction
- Dying out of an entire species either naturally or through the actions of humans
- Endangered Species
- Species that is in danger of becoming extinct unless action is taken to protect it
- Geothermal Energy
- Heat energy from below the surface of the Earth
- Smog
- Air pollution that forms when sunlight reacts with pollutant chemicals produced by burning fossil fuels
- Fossil Fuels
- Nonrewable energy source, such as gas, that formed from bodies of organisms that died hundreds of years of millions of years ago
- Hazardous Waste
- Waste materials, such as pesticides & nuclear waste, that are harmful to human health or poisonous to living organisms & that must be properly disposed
- Greenhouse Effect
- Warming of Earth due to a blanket of gases in the atmosphere that prevents heat from radiating back into space
- Soil Management
- Use of plowing methods to prevent or reduce soil depletion & erosion
- Nonrenewable Resource
- Natural Resource that is available only in limited amounts & is not quickly replaced by natural processes
- Nuclear Energy
- Energy produced when the nuclei of uranium atoms split apart in a nuclear fission reaction
- Erosion
- Wearing away of soil by wind & water
- Acid Rain
- Rain or Snow with pH below 5.6; results from the mixture of water vapor & air pollutants in the atmosphere
- Soil Depletion
- Removal of soil nutrients from land used for agriculture due to the replacement of native plants with crops that do not decay & replenish the soil
- Pollutant
- Any substance that contaminates the environment & causes pollution
- Hydroelectric Power
- Electrically produced by the energy of flowing water
- Ozone Depletion
- Thinning of Earth's protective ozone layer, primarily from chloroflourocarbons reacting with & destroying ozone molecules
- Recycling
- Process that reduces the use of natural resources by reusing an item after it has been changed or reprocessed
- Natural Resource
- Materials found in nature that are useful or necessary for living things