Exploring Environmental Science for AP®

1st Edition

Chapter 2
Science, Matter,
Energy, and Systems

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 Core Case Study: How Do Scientists Learn
about Nature?
• Experimenting with a forest
– Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire
 Compared the loss of water and nutrients from an uncut
forest (control site) with one that had been stripped
(experimental site)
– Stripped site
 30–40% more runoff
 More dissolved nutrients
 More soil erosion

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The Effects of Deforestation on the Loss
of Water and Soil Nutrients

Stepped Art
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 2.1 What Do Scientists Do?

• Scientists collect data and develop theories,

models, and laws about how nature works
• Tools of the scientist
– Observations
– Measurements
– Experimentation

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 Scientists Collect Evidence to Learn How
Nature Works (1 of 3)
• Steps in the scientific method
– Identify a problem
– Find out what is known about the problem
– Ask a question to investigate
– Perform an experiment, collect data, and analyze data to
answer the question
– Propose a scientific hypothesis to explain the data

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 Scientists Collect Evidence to Learn How
Nature Works (2 of 3)
• Steps in the scientific method (cont’d.)
– Use the hypothesis to make testable projections
– Perform an experiment to test projections
– Accept or revise the hypothesis
• Developing a model
– Another way to study nature
• Scientific theory
– Well-tested and widely accepted hypothesis

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Scientists Collect Evidence to Learn
How Nature Works (3 of 3)

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 Scientists Are Curious and Skeptical and
Demand Evidence
• Scientific knowledge advances through:
– Scientists publishing details of methods and results
– Peer review
• New data and analysis can lead to revised
hypotheses

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Critical Thinking and Creativity Are Important in
Science
• Thinking critically
– Have a skeptical outlook
– Evaluate evidence and hypotheses using inputs from a
variety of reliable sources
– Identify and evaluate personal assumptions, biases, and
beliefs to distinguish facts and opinions before coming to
a conclusion
• Imagination, creativity, and intuition also vital

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 Scientific Theories and Laws: The Most
Important and Certain Results of Science
• Scientific theory
– Widely tested and supported by evidence
• Scientific law or law of nature
– Well-tested, widely accepted description of what happens
repeatedly and in the same way in nature

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 Science Can Be Reliable, Unreliable, and
Tentative
• Reliable science
– Data, hypothesis, models, theories, and laws widely
accepted by experts
• Unreliable science
– Results presented as reliable without peer review or
having been discredited
• Tentative science
– Preliminary scientific results without adequate testing and
peer review

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 Science Has Limitations

• Scientists cannot prove or disprove anything

absolutely
– Science attempts to establish high probability
• Scientists not free of bias about their own
hypotheses and results
• Systems in the natural world involve a many
variables and complex interactions
– Mathematical models and statistical tools help deal with
these

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2.2 What Is Matter and What Happens When It
Undergoes Change?
• Matter has mass and takes up space
– Exists in three physical states: solid, liquid, or gas
– Two chemical forms: elements and compounds
• Elements
– Have unique properties
– Cannot be broken down chemically into other substances

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Matter Consists of Elements and Compounds

• Known elements arranged in a chart called periodic

table of the elements
• Compounds
– Two or more different elements held together in fixed
proportions

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Gold and Mercury Are Chemical Elements

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Elements and Compounds Are Made of Atoms,
Molecules, and Ions (1 of 7)
• Atomic theory
– All elements are made of atoms
• Subatomic particles
– Nucleus of the atom
 Protons have positive charge
 Neutrons have negative charge
– Negatively charged electrons orbit the nucleus

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Elements and Compounds Are Made of
Atoms, Molecules, and Ions (2 of 7)

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Elements and Compounds Are Made of Atoms,
Molecules, and Ions (3 of 7)
• Each element has a unique atomic number
– Same as number of protons in nucleus
• Mass number
– Number of protons plus neutrons in nucleus
• Isotope
– Form of an element with same atomic number but
different mass number

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Elements and Compounds Are Made of Atoms,
Molecules, and Ions (4 of 7)
• Molecule
– Combination of two or more atoms of same or different
elements
– Held together by chemical bonds
• Ions
– Atom or group of atoms with net positive or negative
electric charge
– Formed when electrons are gained or lost

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Elements and Compounds Are Made of Atoms,
Molecules, and Ions (5 of 7)
• Acidity
– Measure of comparative amounts of hydrogen ions (H+)
and hydroxide ions (OH–) in a volume of water solution
– Measured with pH
 Neutral solution has pH equal to 7
 Acidic solution has pH < 7
 Basic solution has pH > 7

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Elements and Compounds Are Made of
Atoms, Molecules, and Ions (6 of 7)

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Elements and Compounds Are Made of
Atoms, Molecules, and Ions (7 of 7)

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 Chemical Formula (1 of 3)

• Shows number of each type of atom or ion in a

compound
• Ionic compounds
– Example: Sodium chloride (NaCl)
– Tend to dissolve in water and break into ions
• Covalent compounds
– Example: water (H2O)

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 Chemical Formula (2 of 3)

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 Chemical Formula (3 of 3)

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 Organic Compounds Are the
Chemicals of Life
• Organic compounds
– Contain at least two carbon atoms
 Exception: methane (CH4)
– Types
 Hydrocarbons
 Simple carbohydrates
– Macromolecules: complex organic molecules
 Complex carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids

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Matter Comes to Life through Cells, Genes, and
Chromosomes (1 of 3)
• Cells
– Fundamental units of life
– All organisms have one or more cells
• Genes
– Sequences of nucleotides within DNA
– Instructions called genetic information
– Create inheritable traits
• Chromosomes: composed of many genes

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Matter Comes to Life through Cells, Genes,
and Chromosomes (2 of 3)

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Matter Comes to Life through Cells, Genes,
and Chromosomes (3 of 3)

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 Matter Can Change
• Physical change
– No change in chemical composition
• Chemical change
– Change in chemical composition

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 Law of Conservation of Matter

• We can change elements and compounds from one

physical or chemical form to another
• We cannot create or destroy atoms

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2.3 What is Energy and What Happens When It
Undergoes Change?
• Whenever energy is converted from one form to
another in a physical or chemical change:
– No energy is created or destroyed (first law of
thermodynamics)
– We end up with lower quality or less-usable energy than
we started with (second law of thermodynamics)

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 Energy Comes in Many Forms (1 of 4)

• Energy: ability to do work

• Kinetic energy
– Energy of movement
– Heat
– Electromagnetic radiation
• Potential energy
– Stored energy
– Can be changed into kinetic energy

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Energy Comes in Many Forms (2 of 4)

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Energy Comes in Many Forms (3 of 4)

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Energy Comes in Many Forms (4 of 4)

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Energy Is Renewable and Nonrenewable (1 of
2)
• Renewable energy
– Gained from resources that are replenished by natural
processes in a relatively short time
• Nonrenewable energy
– Gained from resources that can be depleted and are not
replenished by natural processes within human time scale

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Energy Is Renewable and Nonrenewable (2 of
2)
• Solar energy
– 99% of the energy that keeps us warm and supports
plants and other organisms
• Commercial energy
– Energy sold in the marketplace
– Supplements sun’s energy
– 90% comes from burning fossil fuels
 Oil, coal, and natural gas

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 Energy Varies in Its Quality

• High-quality energy
– Concentrated energy with high capacity to do useful work
 Examples: high-temperature heat, strong winds, and energy
released by burning fossil fuels
• Low-quality energy
– Dispersed energy with low capacity to do useful work
 Example: low-temperature moving molecules

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Energy Changes Obey Two Scientific Laws (1 of 2)

• First law of thermodynamics

– Also called law of conservation of energy
– Energy is neither created nor destroyed in physical and
chemical changes
• Second law of thermodynamics
– Energy always goes from a more useful to a less useful
form when it changes from one form to another

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Energy Changes Obey Two Scientific Laws (2 of 2)

• Energy efficiency
– Measure of how much work results from a unit of energy
put into a system
– Improving efficiency reduces waste
• Estimate: 84% of energy used in the U.S. is wasted
– Unavoidably because of second law of thermodynamics
(41%)
– Unnecessarily (43%)

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 2.4 What Are Systems and How Do They
Respond to Change? (1 of 2)
• System
– Set of components that interact in a regular way
– Examples: human body, a cell, a TV set, and an economy
• Systems have inputs, flows, and outputs of matter,
energy, and information
– Feedback can affect their behavior

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2.4 What Are Systems and How Do They
Respond to Change? (2 of 2)

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 Systems and Feedback Loops (1 of 4)

• Feedback
– Any process that increases or decreases a change to a
system
• Positive feedback loop
– Causes system to change further in the same direction
• Negative, or corrective, feedback loop
– Causes system to change in opposite directions

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Systems and Feedback Loops (2 of 4)

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Systems and Feedback Loops (3 of 4)

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 Systems and Feedback Loops (4 of 4)

• Most systems in nature use negative feedback to

enhance long-term stability
• Ecological tipping point
– Natural system stuck in positive feedback loop can reach
this point
– Beyond this point, system changes so drastically it suffers
from severe degradation or collapse

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