Respiration notes :)

Respiration

1.       Describe the process of respiration in your own words

All living things must respire to get the energy to stay alive. If they do not do this, they will die. Respiration involves breaking down food, often in the form of glucose, to release energy which is used in living processes. It is the process in which organisms break down carbohydrates for energy. Every organism on earth needs some way to access stored energy which will be used for:

Movement

Reproduction

Sensitivity

Growth

Respiration

Excretion

Nutrition

To complete respiration, this usually takes place:

Oxygen + glucoseà carbon dioxide + water + energy

C6H12O6 + 6O2 à 6 H2O + 6 CO2

 2.

 

Photosynthesis

Aerobic respiration

Function (why?)

How energy enters an ecosystem into an organism to build carbohydrates which can be turned into energy

How animals/ organisms takes energy into the body to complete the life processes of MRS GREN

Reactants (inputs?)

Water, carbon dioxide, sunlight, water

Oxygen, glucose

Productions (outputs)

Oxygen, glucose, energy

Carbon dioxide, water, energy

Equation

6 H2O + 6 CO2 à C6H12O6 + 6O2 + energy

 

C6H12O6 + 6O2 à 6 H2O + 6 CO2 + energy

 

 

Explain how the first and second laws of thermodynamics relate to food chains and trophic levels.

According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy is neither created nor destroyed. Energy is constant and forms of energy can change. For example, energy enters the system as light energy; during photosynthesis is converted to stored chemical energy (glucose).  In the stored chemical energy that is passed along as food. No new energy is created; it is just passed long the food chain and transformed from one form to another (light to chemical).

The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time. Energy conversions are never 100% efficient! When energy is transformed into work, some energy is always loss as waste heat. Entropy refers to the spreading out or dispersal of energy. As energy is dispersed to the environment, there will always be a reduction in the amount of energy passed on the next trophic level.

Energy = work + heat (and other wasted energy)

 

The Carbon Cycle

 A carbon cycle is a cycle which shows how carbon circulates through living (biotic) and non- living (abiotic) systems which occurs in the ecosphere. Most carbon are locked up/ fixed into a solid form as sedimentary rocks and fossil fuels (limestone and coal) and the four main carbon storage include:

·         Soil

·         Living things (biomass)

·         Ocean

·         Atmosphere (carbon dioxide)

The carbons are exchanged and moved around randomly through each process as shown in the diagram below:

 http://www.google.co.th/imgres?imgurl=http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/images/carboncycle.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/9r.html&h=442&w=681&sz=57&tbnid=73ZYyQxcB6S9RM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=120&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcarbon%2Bcycle%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=carbon+cycle&docid=n8iKRbktUjT_lM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zrF4TrvoOc6urAfYmcCXCw&sqi=2&ved=0CE0Q9QEwBA&dur=32 

Living creatures such as human, plants and other animals go through the process of respiration and photosynthesis to exchange carbon (dioxide) with the atmosphere. Therefore carbon is really important to us and other organisms to complete the process of breathing.

The game today had shown that the process in which carbon moves is really random which means it may exchange from the deep ocean into the atmosphere or into fossil fuels or can just stay there forever in the deep ocean. In my case, in the “pre 1700” I was moving more between the atmosphere and the surface ocean than “post 1700” which I only stayed within the deep ocean and the marine life (only in the ocean). The process in which the carbon goes into the atmosphere from the ocean surface is due to evaporation.

Global Warming

This is an article on how to use car wisely to reduce the global issue of global warming:

http://globalwarming-articles.org/uncategorized/car-wisely/

However, some believe that this cannot be stopped:

http://caps.fool.com/blogs/we-cant-stop-global-warming/177621

Although most people in the world believe that global warming can be reduce but it is true that it cannot be "stopped" right away. Ofcourse this affects how each people live on earth. Creating less or more pollution to the environment.

ENVIRONMENTAL WORLD VIEW:

As for me, my environmental world view is seen as an ecosentric. I believe that all species on earth should have equal rights and human should not be interfereing with the ecosystem and the nature of other animals. We must work with the earth and not against it because we need the earth more than it needs us.

ESS introduction

 Hi :) I'm Jenny

I have chosen ESS (environmental systems and societies) because I am interested in both biology and geography :) As well as i this, I think it would be pretty interesting to learn about the global issues in the present and the future. There has been alot of problems on flooding in Thailand. This made me realise that the world's problem is getting more serious.