Water,Carbon,Climate

• what are essential for life

  the water and carbon stores
• Carbon is a what

  fundamental building block of life

  • all living things contain carbon
• Water is essential for what

  life

  • all living things need water to survive
• What do plants form the base of

  most food chains

  • when photosynthesis occurs they use energy from sunlight to photosynthesise
• What does photosynthesis require?

  Inputs of both water & carbon
• water is present in the atmosphere as what

  Water vapour (and water droplets)
• What does carbon exist in the atmosphere as

  Carbon dioxide and methane

  • both greenhouse gases
• Give details about CO2 and CH4?

  Both greenhouse gases

  • = cause a natural greenhouse effect that prevents some energy from escaping into space & reflects it back to Earth
  • = causes temps on Earth to be higher than they would be otherwise
  • without natural greenhouse effect earth = frozen , uninhabitable
• What would earth be like without the natural greenhouse effect?

  Frozen

  Uninhabitable
• GHGs - what are human activities doing?

  Increasing the conc of GHGs in the atmosphere

  • causing an enhanced greenhouse effect
• Describe enhanced greenhouse effect?

  = the additional greenhouse gases reflect MORE energy back to the Earth than in the natural greenhouse effect, so temp increases even further

  • thought to cause global warming & other changes to the climate