The Earth and its Atmosphere

Key Issues

Titles

Chapters

• Carbon Dioxide
• Composition of the atmosphere
• Convection currents within the Earth's mantle, driven by heat released by natural radioactive processes, cause the plates to move at relative speeds of a few centimetres per year
• describe the effects of hard water on soap and detergents
• describe the physical properties of carbon dioxide, the causes and effects of carbon dioxide pollution (green house effect), its reactions with water and sodium hydroxide
• describe the physical properties of water, its use as a common solvent, the use of anhydrous copper(II) sulphate to test for the presence of water and understand the term 'water of crystallisation' and its removal by action of heat
• During the first billion years of the Earth's existence there was intense volcanic activity
• Earthquakes and Volcanoes
• Earthquakes and/or volcanic eruptions occur at the boundaries between tectonic plates
• Evidence from fossils in rocks
• EVOLUTION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE ATMOSPHERE
• explain how the impact of human activity on the Earth is related to economic factors and industrial requirements and recognise pollution control as a national and international responsibility
• explain in terms of ions the causes and effects of water hardness
• explain precipitation in terms of ions and relate this to processes of separation and purification, e.g. use of washing soda to soften water
• explain the differences between temporary and permanent hardness
• explain the origin of the words organic and inorganic
• explain why fossil fuels are a source of organic substances
• For 200 million years, the proportions of different gases in the atmosphere have been much the same as they are today: (80% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, small proportions of other gases including carbon dioxide, water vapour and noble gases
• Formation of oceans
• Gases in the Atmosphere Today
• GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES
• give examples of advantages and disadvantages associated with hard water
• give examples of fossil fuels: natural gas, LPG, petrol, diesel, paraffin, candle wax, peat, lignite, coal, coke
• identify a sample of water as being hard or soft
• Igneous rocks - formation and composition
• Metamorphic rocks - formation and composition
• Most of the carbon from the carbon dioxide in the air gradually became locked up in sedimentary rocks as carbonates and fossil fuels
• Nowadays the release of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels increases the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
• outline methods of softening water
• Plants produced the oxygen that is now in the atmosphere
• Present composition of the atmosphere
• recall that fossil fuels and biological substances are carbon-based compounds
• Recall that oil is the major source of organic chemicals and that chemicals obtained from oil are hydrocarbons
• recall that there are many useful substances that contain carbon atoms (for example petroleum products and polymers)
• recall the names of some chemicals that do not contain the element carbon (for example metals, ceramics and fertilizers)
• recognise characteristics of a hard water region including advantages associated with hard water
• recognise inorganic and organic substances
• recognise methods of water softening, i.e. by boiling, addition of washing soda and by ion exchange
• Recognise that fossil fuels are non-renewable resources and describe the combustion of fossil fuel as: fossil fuel + oxygen -> carbon dioxide + water + heat energy
• recognise the pollution of water by detergents (phosphates)and fertilizers (nitrates and phosphates). Describe the role of filtration and chlorination in water treatment
• Role of carbon cycle in maintaining atmospheric composition
• Sedimentary rocks - formation and composition
• Some theories suggest that during this period, the Earth's atmosphere was mainly carbon dioxide and there would have been little or no oxygen or gas (like the atmospheres of Mars and Venus today)
• state that organic chemicals are very important in our lives and most are derived from crude oil
• Tectonic Plates
• The approximate balance in our present atmosphere
• The Earth's early atmosphere
• The Earth's crust and the upper part of the mantle are cracked into a number of large pieces (tectonic plates)
• The Earth's Early Atmosphere
• The effect of plants on the early atmosphere
• The effect of primitive plants on the early atmosphere
• The movements can be sudden and disastrous
• The origins of the oceans
• The Role of Plants
• There may also have been water vapour and small proportions of methane and ammonia
• This activity released the gases that formed the early atmosphere and water vapour that condensed to form the oceans
• use chemical formulae to recognise a substance as organic or inorganic
• use the word inorganic to describe most compounds that do not usually contain the element carbon
• use the word organic to describe most compounds containing the element carbon
• WATER