Components of the Earth

Components of the Earth

1. Hydrosphere

2. Lithosphere

3. Atmosphere

4. Biosphere

Introduction

• Imagine you are a first-class passenger on a spaceship hurling through space at 100,000 km/h

• Poisonous gases are leaking into certain sections of the craft and several passengers are dying from the fumes.

• The water supply has been contaminated due to a breakdown in the ship's waste expulsion system.

• Food supplies are running out.

Introduction

• Many passengers crowded into the economy section of the craft are seriously ill, and only a few of them are getting proper medical attention.

• The spaceship has an overall destruct system and increasing numbers of technologists - some mentally unstable - have gained access to the controls of the destruct system.

• What would you do?

Introduction

• List your 5 top priorities in order of importance1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Components of the Earth

Atmosphere is the mixture of gases surrounding the Earth and other planets.

Components of the Earth

Components of the Earth

• Hydrosphere is the part of the Earth composed of water, including:

• Approximately 71% of the Earth is covered by water.– 97% of this water is in the oceans (salt water)– 3% is freshwater

• 77% of freshwater is locked in ice• 22% of freshwater is in the ground• <1% of freshwater is in lakes, rivers, and wetlands

Hydrosphere

Components of the Earth

• Lithosphere is the solid outer crust of the earth, while the mantle and core comprise the interior of the earth.

Components of the Earth

• Lithosphere is the outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

Components of the Earth

• Biosphere is the life zone of the Earth and includes all living organisms, including man, and all organic matter that has not yet decomposed.

• The biosphere is structured into a hierarchy known as the food chain whereby all life is dependent upon the first tier (i.e. mainly the primary producers that are capable of photosynthesis).

• Energy and mass is transferred from one level of the food chain to the next with an efficiency of about 10%.

Components of the Earth

Biosphere

Biotic

Abiotic

Components of the Earth

• Biosphere is the combination of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere that can support life.

Components of the Earth

Problem solve: How have the 4 spheres interacted to cause a forest fire and what effects does the event have on them?

Earth System Science

Fire - Hydrosphere

A lack of moisture in the soil and in vegetation may have provided a dry environment in which the fires, once burning, could continue to burn.

Heat from the fire may have further removed moisture from the air, soil, and vegetation through the process of evaporation.

Fire - Atmosphere

A lightning strike from the air may have started the fires by igniting the dry vegetation.

Gaseous pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2) may have been produced during the burning of the vegetation and carried into the air by the wind.

Fire - Lithosphere

The intense heat from the fires may have caused some rocks to break apart.

Fire - Biosphere

Dead branches and pine needles on the ground may have provided fuel for the fires.

The seeds of some plants may have required that their outer shells be burned before they could germinate; therefore they benefited from the forest fires.