ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE – INTRODUCTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL

SCIENCE
Environmental Science - is the study of and the Earth’s atmosphere:
the interaction of humans with the natural meteorology, pollution, gas
environment. Is the systematic study of our emissions, and airborne
environment and our proper place in it? It is contaminants.
a fairly novel field of study that arose from
THE SEVEN ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLE
the contemporary concerns that the world is
facing today. 1. Everything is connected to everything
else.
COMPONENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
 Environmental science mainly deals
SCIENCE
with relationships, not only between
1. Ecology is the study of organisms different organisms, but also their
and the environment interacting with interaction with their physical
one another environment.
2. Geoscience concerns the study of
2. All forms of life are important
geology, soil science, volcanoes,
and Earth's crust as they relate to  Just as every person has a purpose,
the environment. The scientists who each organism fulfills a particular
take part in this field of study are the niche, or role, in the environment
soil scientists, physicists, biologists, that it is a part of. Even the flies that
and geomorphologists. annoy us have a valuable role in the
3. Atmospheric science is the study of environment! They act as prey for
the Earth’s atmosphere. It analyzes larger animals, pollinators for plants,
the relation of the Earth’s and decomposers for organic matter.
atmosphere to the its other systems.
3. Everything must go somewhere.
This encompasses a wide variety of
scientific studies relating to space,  As you probably have already
4. Environmental chemistry is the study learned, matter cannot be created
of the changes in the chemical make nor destroyed. Thus, everything that
up of the environment, such as we have on Earth, both natural and
contamination of the soil, pollution of manmade, has to go somewhere.
the water, degradation of chemicals, There's really no "away" in throwing
and the transport of chemicals upon away. This is an important principle
the plants and animals of the in environmental management,
immediate environment. astrology
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE – MATTER, ENERGY, AND LIFE
particularly for managing our waste the consequences and disruptions
products and where they ought to go that human activities might cause to
our planet.

6. Nature is beautiful and we are stewards

4. Ours is a finite Earth.
of God's creation.
 Many of the materials that we use
 Many religions, not only Christianity,
from the Earth is considered
impose a moral obligation to take
nonrenewable. When they are used
care of the environment. They
up, it would take another millions of
promote proper care of nature as
years for them to replenish
part of the values that allow a human
themselves. Environmental science
being to live a good life not only for
teaches us to use our resources
himself, but for all of the other
sustainably. We need to use them
organisms that we share our planet
efficiently, utilizing enough for us to
with.
keep on with our daily lives while
making sure that there is enough left 7. Everything changes.
for the future generations.
 Nothing is permanent in the world
5. Nature knows best. “Biomimicry” except change! Some changes are
linear as in the evolution of species.
Biomimicry is the science of designing our
Others are cyclical like the changing
modern technologies from nature's works.
of the seasons. Others still are
Engineers, random and unpredictable like

 Modern humans have been walking volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

on the planet since around 200,000 Humans have to continually adapt to

years ago, a tiny speck compared to these changes for our species to

the planet's 4.5 billion years of survive.

existence. Therefore, we, humans,

must respect the environment's
natural processes that kept the
planet alive for that long period of
time. We must always be aware of

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE – MATTER, ENERGY, AND LIFE
The Earth is made up of numerous Outer Core – It is composed of metals
pieces that interact with one another to such as iron and nickel. The outer core
surrounds the inner core.
form an interconnected system. Though
The inner core has pressures and
Even if each of these components is
temperatures so high that the metals are
distinct and quite different from the squeezed together and not able to move
others, they are nonetheless connected. like a liquid but are forced to vibrate
instead of solid.
Inner Core - It is the centre and the
The Lithosphere, also called hottest layer of the Earth. The inner core
is solid and made up of iron and nickel
geosphere, is composed of all the
with temperatures up to 5,500oC
planet's rock, soil, and minerals. It also
includes not only the solid part, but also
the molten rock in the Earth's interior Hydrosphere - The hydrosphere
contains all of Earth's water in all of its
phases - solid, liquid, and gaseous.
Thus, it is composed of Earth's
Crust - describes the outermost shell of saltwater, freshwater, glaciers, the
a terrestrial planet. It’s a solid rock layer permafrost, and the moisture in the
divided into two types: atmosphere. Water is essential to all
Continental crust covers the land and, living organisms.

Oceanic crust covers water

Atmosphere - The layer of gases that

Mantle - The mantle is the mostly-solid surround Earth is what makes up the
bulk of Earth's interior. The mantle lies atmosphere. One of the major functions
between Earth's dense, super-heated of the atmosphere is to absorb solar
core and its thin outer layer, the crust. radiation that is harmful to living
organisms and reflect it back to outer
space. It also contains several gases

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE – MATTER, ENERGY, AND LIFE
that are essential to life like carbon, the water from the hydrosphere, and the
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. nutrients and minerals from the
lithosphere.

 Matter and Energy in Ecosystems

Energy – Energy is what makes matter

moves or change

 Kinetic Energy – Energy of

motion
Energy comes from movement

 Mechanical Energy – Energy due

to motion of object
 Electrical Energy – Energy flow
from electrical charge
Exosphere – The exosphere is the  Thermal Energy – or heat energy,
outermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere is vibration or movement of
particles
Thermosphere – The thermosphere is a  Radiant Energy – or light energy,
layer of Earth’s atmosphere. The is electromagnetic energy that
thermosphere is located above the travels in transverse waves
mesosphere and below the exosphere.  Sound Energy – vibration
Mesosphere – The mesosphere is a transferred through an object to
layer of Earth’s atmosphere. The wave to produced sound
mesosphere is located above the  Potential Energy – Stored energy
stratosphere and below the Energy is stored for later use
thermosphere.
 Chemical Energy – Energy stored
Stratosphere - The stratosphere is a
in bond of atoms and molecules
layer of Earth’s atmosphere. The
 Nuclear Energy – Energy stored
stratosphere is located above the
in atoms nuclei
troposphere and below the mesosphere.
 Gravitational Energy – Energy
Troposphere - The troposphere is the stored in object height
innermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere.  Elastic Energy – Energy stored in
Elastic object
Biosphere - The biosphere harbors all
the living things in the planet. This
sphere is very much dependent on all
the other three systems. Organisms
need the gases from the atmosphere,

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE – MATTER, ENERGY, AND LIFE
LAW OF CONVERSATION OF that the entropy of a system approaches
MATTER a constant value as the temperature
approaches absolute zero.
 Matter is neither created nor
destroyed. It is only transformed
from one form to another.

FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS -

Energy is neither created nor destroyed.
It is only converted from one form to
another.
SECOND LAW OF
THERMODYNAMICS - In a system that
undergoes successive energy transfer
or transformation, some usable energy
is lost in every step.
The second law of thermodynamics
states that as energy is transferred or
transformed, more and more of it is ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEM
wasted.

Autotroph - An autotroph is an organism

that can produce its own food using
light, water, carbon dioxide, or other
chemicals

THIRD LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS -

The third law of thermodynamics states
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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE – MATTER, ENERGY, AND LIFE
Heterotroph - A heterotroph is an
organism that eats other plants or
animals for energy and nutrients.
Photoautotroph - a photosynthetic
organism (such as a green plant or a Food Web - A food web consists of all
cyanobacterium) that utilizes energy the food chains in a single ecosystem.
from light to synthesize organic Each living thing in an ecosystem is part
molecules of multiple food chains

Chemoautotroph - Chemoautotrophs are

organisms that obtain their energy from
a chemical reaction (chemotrophs) but
their source of carbon is the most
oxidized form of carbon, carbon dioxide
(CO2)
Food Chain - A food chain describes
how energy and nutrients move through
an ecosystem.