The Four Earth Systems
Summary
TLDRThis lesson introduces Earth's four interconnected systems: the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. It explains how these systems shape the planet's physical geography and sustain life. The atmosphere provides essential gases, like oxygen and carbon dioxide. The lithosphere includes Earth's rocky crust, contributing to mountain and volcano formation. The hydrosphere contains water in oceans, lakes, and glaciers, driving the water cycle. The biosphere encompasses all living organisms, interacting with the other spheres for survival. The lesson highlights the importance of understanding these systems' interdependencies and their impact on Earth's regions.
Takeaways
- 🌍 The Earth's physical geography consists of oceans, mountains, rivers, weather, climate, and vegetation.
- 🔄 The four Earth systems include the atmosphere (gases), lithosphere (rock), hydrosphere (water), and biosphere (life).
- 🌫️ The atmosphere is made up of layers: exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere (with 90% of the ozone), and troposphere (where we live).
- 🌱 The biosphere includes all life on Earth and interacts with the other systems, especially in cycles like the carbon and water cycles.
- ☁️ The atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases like argon and carbon dioxide.
- 🌍 The lithosphere includes all the Earth's rock and the processes of plate tectonics, creating mountains, volcanoes, and oceanic plates.
- 🌊 The hydrosphere consists of all water on Earth, including oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, and water vapor, all connected through the water cycle.
- 🍃 The carbon cycle transfers carbon between the atmosphere, animals, plants, rocks, and oceans, playing a vital role in life on Earth.
- 💧 Less than 1% of the Earth's water is usable freshwater, making water a highly valuable resource.
- ⚡ Human activities, such as pollution and fossil fuel burning, have significant impacts on all four Earth systems, affecting the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
Q & A
What are the four Earth systems mentioned in the script?
-The four Earth systems are the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
What is the atmosphere, and why is it important?
-The atmosphere is the envelope of gases surrounding the Earth. It is important because it provides the oxygen we need to live, absorbs ultraviolet radiation through the ozone layer, and plays a key role in regulating the Earth's temperature.
What layers make up the atmosphere, and which is closest to Earth?
-The layers of the atmosphere include the exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, and troposphere. The troposphere, which is closest to Earth, stretches from the ground to about 9 miles high.
Why is the stratosphere significant for life on Earth?
-The stratosphere contains 90% of the atmosphere's ozone, which absorbs and scatters ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, making life on Earth possible by protecting it from harmful radiation.
What is the carbon cycle, and how does it connect with Earth's systems?
-The carbon cycle is the transfer of carbon between the atmosphere, animals, plants, rocks, and oceans. It involves processes like breathing, photosynthesis, and decomposition, which interconnect Earth's systems by cycling carbon through them.
How do fossil fuels relate to the carbon cycle?
-Fossil fuels are formed from the remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. When burned, they release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, contributing to the carbon cycle and increasing atmospheric carbon levels.
What is the lithosphere, and what does it include?
-The lithosphere refers to the solid, rocky part of Earth, including the Earth's core, mantle, crust, and the soil from which plants grow. It also includes the tectonic plates that form continents and oceanic crust.
How do plate tectonics affect the lithosphere?
-Plate tectonics cause the movement of the Earth's crust, creating new crust through ocean floor spreading and volcanoes, while old crust is pushed back into the mantle. This process shapes and reshapes the Earth's surface.
What is the hydrosphere, and why is it crucial for life on Earth?
-The hydrosphere includes all of Earth's water, such as oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, and water vapor in the atmosphere. It is crucial because it supports life, regulates climate, and plays a central role in the water cycle.
What percentage of Earth's water is usable by humans, and why is this important?
-Less than 1% of Earth's water is usable by humans, as most freshwater is trapped in glaciers and polar ice caps. This limited availability makes water an extremely important and sometimes contested resource.
Outlines
🌍 Introduction to Earth's Physical Geography
This paragraph introduces the concept of Earth's physical geography, which includes various features like oceans, mountains, rivers, and climate. To explain these features, the 'four Earth systems' are introduced: atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. These systems are described as spheres, and though 'sphere' typically refers to a round shape, here it refers to different sections unified by specific characteristics. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing that these systems not only have subcomponents but also interconnect with each other.
🌫️ The Atmosphere: Earth's Protective Gas Layer
This section explores the atmosphere, the envelope of gases surrounding the Earth, starting with its various layers. The exosphere is the highest layer, followed by the thermosphere, mesosphere, and stratosphere, where most ozone is located. The ozone layer protects life on Earth by absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation. The lowest layer, the troposphere, contains 75% of the atmosphere’s mass and is where we live. The paragraph also covers the composition of the atmosphere, noting that while 21% is oxygen, 78% is nitrogen. The significance of nitrogen in causing decompression sickness for divers is also explained, and carbon dioxide’s role in the carbon cycle is introduced.
🌱 The Carbon Cycle and Its Importance
This paragraph details the carbon cycle, highlighting the importance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It describes how carbon dioxide is exchanged between the atmosphere, animals, plants, and oceans. Carbon is taken in by plants during photosynthesis and is reintroduced into the environment through respiration, decay, and fossilization. Over millions of years, decayed plants and animals become fossil fuels like oil and coal. The paragraph also touches on how the burning of fossil fuels releases carbon back into the atmosphere, potentially contributing to climate change.
🪨 The Lithosphere: Earth's Rocky Layer
This section discusses the lithosphere, which includes all the Earth's rock, from its core to the surface crust. The lithosphere consists of the Earth's mantle, core, and the rocky crust on which we live. It also includes soil, essential for plant growth. The paragraph explains plate tectonics, describing how Earth's crust is constantly being created and destroyed through processes like ocean floor spreading and convergent subduction, which shape the Earth’s surface by creating mountains and volcanoes.
💧 The Hydrosphere: Earth's Water Cycle
This part covers the hydrosphere, which encompasses all water on Earth, including oceans, lakes, glaciers, and water vapor in the atmosphere. It describes the water cycle, where water evaporates, condenses, and falls as precipitation, eventually returning to oceans or percolating into the soil. The text highlights the limited availability of freshwater, noting that less than 1% of Earth’s water is usable by humans, and the rest is either saltwater or frozen in glaciers. This makes water a crucial and sometimes contested resource.
🌱 The Biosphere: Earth's Living Organisms
This paragraph defines the biosphere, the Earth system that includes all life forms, from microbes to whales. It explains how the biosphere is interconnected with the other Earth systems through cycles such as the carbon and water cycles. The paragraph also discusses the life cycle of organisms and how the biosphere contributes to soil fertility through organic material decomposition. Importantly, it emphasizes how the biosphere depends on the other systems for survival, while human activities can impact these systems, especially through pollution and resource depletion.
🔗 Integration of the Four Earth Systems
The concluding paragraph underscores the interconnectedness of the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. It highlights how each system influences the others and how human activities can have profound impacts on these systems. For example, overuse of water and pollution can affect the atmosphere and hydrosphere. The text concludes by emphasizing that understanding the interaction of these Earth systems is crucial for comprehending regional impacts around the world.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Atmosphere
💡Lithosphere
💡Hydrosphere
💡Biosphere
💡Carbon Cycle
💡Ozone Layer
💡Water Cycle
💡Plate Tectonics
💡Fossil Fuels
💡Photosynthesis
Highlights
Introduction to Earth's physical geography, covering oceans, mountains, rivers, weather, climate, and vegetation.
Explanation of the four Earth systems: atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
The atmosphere is described as an envelope of gases around the Earth, consisting of different layers including the exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, and troposphere.
The stratosphere contains 90% of the ozone, which is crucial for absorbing and scattering ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.
The troposphere is the thinnest layer of the atmosphere but contains 75% of the atmosphere’s mass.
Explanation of nitrogen’s prevalence in the atmosphere, making up 78%, and its role in decompression sickness for divers.
The carbon cycle is described as the transfer of carbon between the atmosphere, animals, trees, rocks, and oceans.
Fossil fuels such as oil and coal are formed over millions of years from decaying plants and animals.
Lithosphere includes Earth's core, mantle, and crust, and the concept of plate tectonics which creates mountains and volcanoes.
Hydrosphere covers all water on Earth, including oceans, lakes, glaciers, and water vapor, and is tied to the water cycle.
Less than 1% of the Earth's water is usable by humans, making water an extremely valuable resource.
Biosphere includes all life forms on Earth, from microbes to large animals, and is interconnected with the other three systems.
Humans' dependence on the atmosphere for oxygen, the hydrosphere for water, and the lithosphere for resources is emphasized.
Human activity, such as overuse of resources and pollution, has significant impacts on the Earth’s systems.
The four Earth systems—atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere—are all interconnected and impact one another.
Transcripts
[Music]
Hey mr. Rochelle again alright so in
this lesson we're going to start looking
at the physical geography
of the earth and when we begin to look
at physical characteristics we find
there is a lot to it there are oceans
there's mountains those rivers or as
weather and climate vegetation and so
much more to help explain these physical
characteristics we can use something
known as the for earth systems the for
earth systems our atmosphere lithosphere
higher sphere and the biosphere now just
by looking at these terms we can see
they have all one thing in common they
are described as spheres now normally we
think about a sphere is being shaped
like a ball but the word sphere here
means a section of the world that is
unified by a particular characteristic
however if you want to think about it
it's just basically a ball or a circle
that we're putting all these
characteristics into that would work too
and we're also going to see that not
only does each sphere have its own sub
components but all of these spheres
interconnect with each other
so let's begin by looking at the
atmosphere the atmosphere describes the
envelope of gases around the earth and
the very word Atlas actually means
vapour or a gas so if you look at this
footage from the International Space
Station you can actually see that
atmosphere of surrounding the earth and
you can also see that the atmosphere has
different layers now the highest layer
is the exosphere which is anywhere
between 600 to 6000 miles above the
earth now as we go down from the
exosphere we go to the thermosphere the
mesosphere and then we get down to the
stratosphere that is anywhere between 9
and 30 miles above us but in the
stratosphere is incredibly important
because 90% of all the ozone gases in
the atmosphere is found in the
stratosphere and why this is important
because it is ozone which actually
absorbs and scatters the ultraviolet
radiation from the Sun and without this
ozone layer there would be no life on
Earth then there is the troposphere
which is what we lived in stretching
from the ground to about 9 miles high
now while this is the thinnest layer it
also contains 75% of all the atmospheres
mass now altogether all the gases of the
atmosphere actually weighs an incredible
five million billion tons but it's
distributed around the entire Earth
now the average weight actually pressing
down on you is 15 pounds for every
square inch of your body but you don't
notice it because well it's normal for
us we've always had that around us now
the atmosphere is important this is
pretty easy to understand has each
breath you take you're inhaling and
exhaling this atmosphere and without the
atmosphere we would not have the oxygen
we need to live but only 21% of the
atmosphere is actually oxygen 78% is
nitrogen this is why scuba divers may
get something called decompression
sickness or what is normally known as
the bends see as a diver descents the
nitrogen they breathe dissolves into the
muscle tissue as the water pressure
increases but unlike oxygen the body
doesn't use up this nitrogen so the
diver comes back up to the surface these
nitrogen bubbles will expand kind of
like a soda pop when you open it this
can cause pain brain damage and even
death while well-trained divers know how
to avoid this from happening it points
to the fact that most of our atmosphere
is actually made up of nitrogen now the
remaining 1% of the atmosphere is made
up of other gases such as argon helium
methane and carbon dioxide carbon
dioxide is the reason there is about 720
Giga tons of carbon in our atmosphere
even though it represents only one for
one hundreds of a percent of the
atmospheres gases it is this carbon from
the atmosphere that is the backbone of
all life on Earth through something
known as the carbon cycle now the carbon
cycle is this transfer of carbon between
the atmosphere animals trees rocks in
the oceans when we breathe we exhale
carbon dioxide about one kilogram a day
trees and plants will pull in carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere through
photosynthesis and then they will use
this carbon to be able to create glucose
in order to grow the oceans also absorb
carbon dioxide were marine plants such
as phytoplankton will turn this carbon
into organic matter no people and
animals may eat the plants which
reintroduces carbon into our bodies also
when trees and plants die they will
slowly begin to decay and decompose
returning carbon to the soil now this
gives fertility through the soil which
allows it to be able to absorb moisture
and provides the minerals that plants
need to be able to grow now some of the
carbon from the decaying plants and
animals on the land on the oceans will
come covered by more and more more soil
now speed forward several million years
and this process might find the carbon
be hundreds if not thousands of feet
below the surface now together with
chemical reactions pressure and heat
this carbon now becomes fossil fuels
such as oil and coal
today's oil comes from 300 million years
ago and the result of the deposition of
marine animals such as the final
cleaning that we talked about earlier
now when we burn these fuels we releases
carbon into the atmosphere and the
carbons continues in fact it is the
burning of fossil fuels that most
scientists believe is the reason why
carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere
have increased since the Industrial
Revolution and may be a contributing
factor to the warming of the earth now
the atmosphere describes the gases above
the earth but what about the ground
itself litho in the term lithosphere
comes to the word which means rock so
when we talk about the lithosphere in
terms of the four earth systems we're
talking about all the rock in the world
this includes the Earth's core the
mantle and the rocky crust that we live
on it also includes the soil from which
trees and plants grow the crust and
upper mantle create continents and
oceanic plates which move around and
create the world's mountains and
volcanoes through something known as
plate tectonics in which we see both new
crust being created and old crust being
forced down below the earth's surface
the new crust is created by the
spreading of the ocean floors and by
volcanoes in fact an estimated 1 billion
tons of new crusts are created each and
every year but about the same amount of
crust is forced back down to the mantle
by a process known as convergent
subduction this is a process that is
shaped and reshaped the Earth's surface
for 3.2 million years then there are the
oceans and all the Earth's water in what
is described as the hydrosphere with
hydro meaning water but the hydrosphere
doesn't just describe the water we find
in oceans and lakes it also describes
the water we find frozen in the glaciers
and the water vapor we find in the
atmosphere in fact this exchange of
water with G the hydrosphere and
atmosphere forms the water cycle C the
water evaporates from the oceans of
lakes and lifts into the atmosphere as
water vapour does water vapour will
condense and fall to the ground as rain
or snow rain water either flows off into
rivers flowing back into the lakes and
oceans or it percolates into the soul
or provides the moisture for plants to
grow no plants grow and give off water
vapor through transpiration and along
with the water vapor that is a factory
from oceans and lakes the cycle
continues the water cycle now of the
Earth's over 300 million cubic miles of
water there is less than 3% that is
actually freshwater and of that
freshwater nearly 70% is trapped into
glaciers in the polar icecaps
so of all the water in the world less
than 1% is actually usable by us which
has made water an extremely important
resource which countries and nations
have actually fought over before last is
the biosphere which comes from the Greek
word bio which means life this includes
all the life in the world to include the
Tyus the microbes - the largest whales
in the ocean it also includes us in the
three previous systems I described how
each has a cycle well within the
biosphere we have the
[Music]
actually there's something called a life
cycle which biologists define as a Serie
of changes of life of organism think
about the cycle of a caterpillar turning
into a butterfly this is an example of a
life cycle but just as we see in other
Earth's systems the biosphere is
interconnected with the other three
systems animals are part of the carbon
cycle through the exhaling of carbon
dioxide and plant photosynthesis plants
give off a water vapor as part of
transpiration and the water cycle and
while the bio store does not play a part
in either the creation or end of the
Earth's crust it does play a vital part
in the creation of soil through the
deposition of organic material we give
soil as fertility but probably the most
important thing to understand is the
biosphere is depend upon these three
other systems for is survival without
oxygen or ozone in our atmosphere we
would not be able to survive we are
dependent upon water for the drink given
for agriculture the lithosphere not only
gives us the soils we need to be able to
grow our crops but we - resources out of
the ground to be able to build our
societies and as humans we also have a
profound impact upon each of these other
systems we can overuse and deplete these
resources such as water and through the
pollution we can have long-lasting
impacts to both the atmosphere in the
hydrosphere together the four systems
are integrated and impact each other in
major ways and in this course we'll talk
about how the interaction of these earth
systems have all had an impact upon the
regions of the world so until next time
keep on learning
[Music]
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