lazyheauxx

[lazyheauxx]

Environmental Science Lesson 2A

Laws of Thermodynamics and how they apply to Ecology

So we learned about the two laws of thermodynamics in the first lesson, let’s talk about how they apply to how organisms interact with there surroundings. Starting with:

Law 1: Energy Conservation: Energy is recycled throughout all of Earth. This is because we live in a closed system and cannot get our energy and resources from any other planet (at least not yet...). Other than the sun, the energy we use comes from the earthly resources at our disposal. 

Law 2: Entropy increases over cycles of energy usage: Non-renewable resources, such as oil, cannot be gained back. This doesn’t mean energy is destroyed, but it is no longer useful to us. Oil, when used, is converted into a different form of energy. Therefore, when oil itself is depleted, it’s gone for good, which is what makes it non-renewable. Quantity of energy is still there, but the quality of it is not useful to us anymore. 

What the laws of thermodynamics show us is that there are benefits to using resources, but also costs.

Four(Five) Laws of Ecology:

So we’re given Four (Lowkey Five) laws of ecology to work with in order to understand how the Earth Functions. Annnnddd... here they are: 

Everything is connected to everything else: Things that happen Buford, GA can affect Hong Kong, China. 

Everything must go somewhere: Where do you think your trash goes? Does it just disappear when the trash collector comes? I think not...

Nature knows best: After billions of years of sustaining itself (even before humans), I think we can safely assume that the Earth knows what it’s doing. We should probably stop questioning it.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch: Just like we explained before, there’s lots of benefits, but also some costs. 

Everything has limits: We discussed non-renewable resources earlier. At some point, those resources will be gone and nowhere to be found. 

This brings us back to...

Earth is a closed system....

but earth’s organism’s themselves are not. Can I, as a human, make my own air, food, or Shelter spontaneously from my own body? Actually not. My food comes from an animal or plant. The air comes from the atmosphere. The shelter comes from wood from a tree. Either way, in order to survive, I must look outside of my body to find resources. Organisms are what we call open systems: systems in which are influenced by the environment. We exchange energy and matter with the world around us. The environment includes two types of factors: 

Abiotic: Nonliving elements and aspects of the environment. This includes air, sunlight, soil, water, temperature...

Biotic: living elements and aspects of the environment, like other organisms of the same, or even different species. 

Levels of organization: 

Earth is a big place, and to make studying easier, experts have divided the earth into different parts to look at things more closely. The levels of organization are as follows: 

Biosphere: This is the most inclusive level of Earth. This includes everythanggg.

Individual: self explanatory 

Population: a group of organisms of the same species, live in the same area and interact with one another:

Community: populations of different species, live in the same area, and interact with one another

Ecosystem: consists of the biotic and abiotic factors in an area and how they interact with one another. *Can Vary in Size* 

While we’re thinking broad here, let’s look at some concepts associated with an Ecosystem: 

A niche is the actual role a species plays in an ecosystem, explaining all of the different ways a species interacts with the abiotic and biotic factors of an ecosystem. Two important aspects of a niche is the food a species eats and how it goes about obtaining the food. Here’s expamples of niches: 

A squirrel’s role is to gather acorns and store them for the winter. No other animal does this. 

A Bee’s role is to gather nectar from flowers to make honey. No other animal does this. 

A bird can live in the same tree a beehive does, but a bird cannot make honey from nectar like bees can. This is because making honey from nectar is a bee’s role, or niche. 

A habitat is another aspect of a species’s niche that deals with the physical environment that a species lives in. A habitat deals more with the abiotic factors of an environment, including temperature and rainfall. These abiotic factors also give information about the traits of the organisms that live there. 

So, an organism can live in the same habitat but cannot operate in the same niche. Why is that? Well think of this, if two species of animal were competing for the same roles, this wouldn’t be a good thing for them, right? They’d be doing a lot of competing, and eventually a species is going to lose to another, eventually being replaced by the winning species. This is called Competitive Exclusion Principle, stating that two species occupying the same niche can not be in the same place for very long.

Flow of Energy  

So the biotic factors include all of the living organisms within an environment. Let’s look at three classes of biotic factors: Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers. 

Producers do just that, Produce. They are not only able to provide food for themselves, but often provide food for organisms that cannot make their own. Producers are able to use energy and inorganic molecules to create organic molecules, which make them an essential part of the environment. There are two types of producers.

Chemoautotrophs:

We know producers use sunlight to kickstart photosynthesis, but the sun don’t shine everywhere. What about dark places, like deep in the ocean? These organisms are able to use a process called Chemosynthesis. Instead of using sunlight, chemoautotrophs get their energy from the oxidation of inorganic compounds to convert carbon dioxide and water into organic compounds. Chemoautotrophs such as archaea (microorganisms that resemble bacteria) live in harsh environments and are able to turn toxic chemicals from deep-sea vents to produce organic compounds for other organisms to use, such as tube worms (archaea often live inside of tube worms.) 

Photoautotrophs: 

These producers use photosynthesis! Using sunlight energy, photoautotrophs convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen during photosynthesis. The glucose can be stored inside of the photoautotroph, or made useful by other organisms. Plants are the most important photoautotroph on land, using chloroplasts as “machinery” to aid in photosynthesis. Phytoplankton like algae and cyanobacteria are important photoautotrphs in aquatic ecosystems, also containing chloroplasts.

Consumers:

Consumers do just that, consume! These organisms cannot make their own nutrients, so they must obtain them from organisms like producers. These organisms take in organic compounds by simply eating other things. There are three classes of consumers: 

Herbivores: consume producers (plants or algae) Carnivores: consume animals; carnivores that cannot digest plants are called obligate carnivores, but carnivores that can ingest plants typically opt for meat anyway. Omnivores: normally consume both plants and animals. (Humans fall in this category)

Decomposers: 

Decomposers do just that, decompose! When animals die, decomposers come and break down remains and waste, releasing simple inorganic compounds back to the environment. There are three classes of decomposers:

Scavengers: consume soft tissues of dead animals (vultures, raccoons, etc...) Detritivores: consumes detritus, dead leaves, animal feces, and other things found on the soil or at the bottom of a body of water (worms, bottom-feeders, etc.)  Saprotrophs: feed on the remaining matter after all the other decomposers have done their duty (fungi... etc.) 

Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration

These are two processes that really help form the basis of life on earth. Let’s explore photosynthesis, shall we? 

Photosynthesis:

This is a process that occurs within autotrophs, especially in plants that contain chloroplasts. In photosynthesis, sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide go through several chemical reactions inside the chloroplasts to yield organic molecules such as glucose, in which would be used for energy storage. A byproduct of this process is oxygen. This process includes two steps called the Light-Dependent reactions and the Light-Independent reactions (Calvin cycle) 

Cellular Respiration:

Cellular respiration is a process that compliments Photosynthesis as the process is often referred to photosynthesis backwards, in the sense that the products of photosynthesis are now the reactants in cellular respiration, and the products of cellular respiration will become the reactants of photosynthesis. Both processes depend on each other as autotrophs need carbon dioxide and animals and other organisms need oxygen. In cellular respiration, sugar (glucose) is broken down by oxygen into carbon dioxide and water. 

More on Respiration: 

About two or three billion years ago, many organisms relied on anaerobic respiration, or the respiration that occurs without oxygen. This was simply because of the fact that oxygen just did not occur in the atmosphere as prominently as it does now. Over time, oxygen levels increased, which allowed organisms to partake in aerobic respiration, respiration that includes the presence of oxygen. Some organisms still use the anaerobic counterpart, however. 

Fermentation is an important form of anaerobic respiration. Two types of fermentation that exist are lactic acid fermentation and alcoholic fermentation. Fermentation may occur when there is simply not enough time for oxygen to travel to take part in respiration. Lactic Acid fermentation is common during increased physical activity in the body (explains why muscles can be sore after working out at the gym) and alcoholic fermentation often occurs when creating wines or baking bread. 

Food Chains and Food Webs:

Food chains and Food webs are diagrams that help us understand feeding relationships. Food chains often show us a single pathway of a feeding relationship among organisms, while Food webs often give us a more broad perspective on feeding relationships inside of an ecosystem, including several different relationships at once. 

Food Webs and Food Chains are often organized in trophic levels, or different feeding positions on the food chain or web. For example: 

1st trophic level: often the producer

2nd trophic level: primary consumer

3rd trophic level: secondary consumer

and so on...: and so on... 

*Fun fact: Humans (and honestly other omnivores if you think about it...) can find itself on any trophic level at any given moment. For example, we can be a primary consumer if we eat a plant, or a secondary secondary consumer if we eat a hamburger (by eating beef, we are eating the primary consumer of the producer as cows graze on grass)*

As trophic levels increase, only about 10% of the energy at one trophic level is actually passed on to the next one. This is because most of the energy gained on one trophic level is used for metabolic processes or is lost to heat. 

Notices that as the trophic levels increase not only does energy passage decrease, but the amount of organisms to take part in each trophic level decreases as well. This shows how biomass also decreases upon the increase of each tropic level. Animals in higher trophic levels tend to be larger, but are definitely fewer in numbers. There’s definitely more mass at a producer level than there is at... like.... the third trophic level.. lol think about all of the trees, plants, and vegetation in an ecosystem up against a few lions... it all adds up. 

[lazyheauxx]

Environmental Science: Lesson 1

Factoids: 

1. Environmental Science is the study of the relationship between organisms (humans) and their environment. 

2. Earth is a closed system, meaning it recycles resources that is necessary for life. It also means that we do not (at least not yet) go outside of Earth to get any resources, it provides everything we need. 

3. The Earth System is the climatic, physical, chemical, biological, and human interactions that transform and transport materials and energy. 

Research Methods

Things to keep in mind when researching:

Is this a credible source?

Make sure you are using sources that are giving factual information as non-biased as possible, 

Look for internet resources that end with .edu, .org, or .gov. 

Research the Author’s credibility (Make sure there actually is an author and determine if the author has the substantial education or experience to be speaking on a subject.)

Consider the purpose of the writing: If the information given was intended to sell a product, you may have a bias here. Also, if any research was funded by certain companies... and the information seems to swing in their favor.... you might have another bias. 

Make sure information isn’t outdated... not all information in the past applies today. 

Scientific Method: 

A hypothesis isn’t an “educated guess...” it’s a statement that could potentially explain a phenomenon and is open for testing. A hypothesis MUST be able to be tested, if not, then the statement is not a hypothesis. Hypotheses can be tested by observation or experimentation. A hypotheses can be confirmed or rejected. 

Scientific Methods aren’t always used to prove something right or wrong, they can also expound upon prior knowledge or something that is already supported. This is called Inference Theory. 

Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning: 

Deductive reasoning is determining a fact from a general statement. If the statement is true, then the fact must be true. Ex: 

“All Humans are Mortal, Albert Einstein is a human, therefore, He is a Mortal.” 

The combination of the first statement and second statement must lead to Albert Einstien being a mortal. If Einstein was classified as a human, then he must also be classified as a mortal. If he were classified as a human but couldn’t be a mortal, then our original statement could’t be true. 

Inductive Reasoning provides a statement that is likely to be true, although does’t quite mean that it will be. For Ex:

“We’ve had a test every Tuesday for the past three months, so I will prepare to take a test next Tuesday.” 

Because for the past three months, the student has had a test each Tuesday, it would be smart for the student to go ahead and study for a potential test next Tuesday, right? However, take note of the word “Potential.” It wasn’t defined in our statement that there is absolutely going to be a test each Tuesday; our statement only outlines an extremely consistent pattern. In all reality, anything could happen next Tuesday to offset the pattern: the teacher could forget the test, decide to spend some extra time on a particular lesson which would put the test back, or the teacher could be sick that day and decide to give it on Wednesday instead. Our pattern makes it extremely likely that a test will occur next Tuesday, but it will not be 100% confirmed.

Energy! 

Energy is the ability to do work, which is done when a force is applied to an object over distance. Moving objects have Kinetic Energy, or energy of motion. Sometimes energy can be stored to use at a later time. This is called Potential Energy, as it has the potential to do work. 

There are six main forms of energy:

Mechanical Energy: Energy that puts something into motion. The mechanical energy in a system is the sum of Kinetic and Potential Energy. 

Chemical Energy:  Energy stored in chemical compounds and molecules

Electrical Energy: Energy that is created by the electronic current caused by unbalancedness of protons and electrons in an atom. 

Radiant Energy: energy transmitted in waves

Thermal Energy: Energy given off by heat. When heat flows into a substance, it increases the kinetic energy of the particles, causing them to move/vibrate. 

Nuclear Energy: Energy in relationship to the binding of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom. There are two types of Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Fusion (when protons and neutrons fuse together to make a nucleus) and Nuclear Fission (when a nucleus splits, or fizzes, apart.) 

Laws of Thermodynamics: Energy Conservation

1st Law (Conservation of Energy Principle): “Energy can neither be created or destroyed... blah blah blah...” Basically, energy can either change from one form to another, but the total amount of energy will always remain constant! It is always being recycled.  

2nd Law: As energy continues to be used, entropy (or disorder) will always increase. WTF does this mean? 

Think about these scenarios. 

A frying pan will cool down when taken off of the stove. 

Ice cube melts in a warm room.

Iron rusts in the air.

In all three scenarios, energy of some kind goes from being all localized in one area to being dispersed in another area.. or going from order to disorder. When the energy is in disorder(dispersing out) it would be really difficult to try to contain it all back to recreate it’s original form, right? It’s like the energy is running away. KEEP IN MIND, the energy isn’t being destroyed, it just simply cannot be used anymore. When energy is being used and therefore dispersed (and lost), there is a decrease in the amount of energy that actually can be used, and therfore, the quality of the energy is degraded. So let’s redefine that second law: 

As energy continues to be used, parts of it will disperse, causing disorder. When disorder happens, the energy is no longer usable. As the usage of energy repeats, disorder increases, therefore downgrading the quality of energy each time. 

The first law is about quantity, and the second law is about quality. 

Matter and Organic Compounds

So... matter makes all things, but what makes up matter? 

The answer is... chemical substances! But wtf is that? 

Well... a chemical substance is matter that has a definite composition.. meaning that it is the same throughout. A chemical substance can either be an element or a compound. 

So let’s get some facts out of the way. 

1. An element is the purest substance (purer than Greg Universe) and cannot be broken down any further into other types of substances. 

Each element is made up of one type of atom. 

There’s like a shit-ton of elements (120 known elements). You can find them on the periodic table. 

The majority of elements are actually metals. 

2. A compound is a substance containing two or more elements, so these bad boys can be broken down into other substances. 

The smallest instance (if you will) of a compound is called a molecule. For example. Water is a compound, but a molecule of water consist of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. And of course.... fifty trillion kajillion of those molecules end up in your bottle available for you to ingest :) 

These molecules don’t just stick together randomly. They are held together by a chemical bond. That’s when the electrons decide to share each other and blah blah blah... 

So there’s this special compound called the organic compound, which will more than likely be found in living things rather than non-living entities. And guess what? Carbon is the main element found in organic compounds.. making carbon pretty important when it comes to sustaining life on Earth. There are millions of carbon-based compounds, but they can easily be grouped into four different categories: Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and Nucleic Acids. 

Carbohydrates are organic compounds that are used to store energy (sugars and starches). Carbohydrates are made up of small, repeating units called monosaccharides that are used to bond with each other to create larger substances. 

Lipids are also used for energy storage, but are also used to make things like cell membranes too. They are made of fatty acids. There are two types of fatty acids, saturated and unsaturated. 

Proteins are great for keeping the structure of cells and muscles, used to speed up chemical reactions, and carry messages. Proteins are made up of amino acids.

Nucleic Acids are made up of small units called nucleotides. Nucleotides build upon each other to make chains called polynucleotides. DNA is made of two polynucleotides, while RNA is made of one. Nucleic acids carry instructions for proteins and also helps make them. Also carries instructions from parent to offspring...

Biochemical Reactions

Let’s get out of biology and back into chemistry, shall we? 

Chemical reactions are events where some substances change into others. Reactants are substances that start the reaction. What we get at the end of the reaction are the products. 

When talking about chemical reactions, we have to remember that the conservation of matter laws apply. When a chemical reaction occurs, we must remember that the amount of each element does not change when reactants turn into products, because matter is always conserved. It’s just simply arranged differently. 

QUCK! Two types of reactions: 

Exothermic reactions end up releasing energy (as heat) as a product. Reactant ---> Product + Heat

Endothermic reactions absorb heat as a reactant to create a product. Reactant + Heat ---> Product

So, how do chemical reactions start? Simple, each chemical reaction needs some type of energy to fuel itself. Why? Well, in order for a reaction to start, the reactant molecules need to be bumping into each other to interact and get things going. Energy puts the molecules in motion, right? This energy is called activation energy. 

So now that we know what a chemical reaction is, what is a Biochemical reaction?

I’m glad you asked :) A biochemical reaction is a chemical reaction that occurs inside the cells of living things. Let’s look at some biochemical reactions: 

Catabolic reactions are exothermic reactions that happen inside organisms. They break down molecules into smaller substances and release energy. Ex: Glucose breaks down to supply energy to the cells. 

Anabolic reactions are endothermic reactions that happen inside of organisms. They absorb energy to build up larger molecules from smaller ones. Ex: Amino acids join together to form a protein

So, for most biochemical reactions to take place, they may need a little assistance. Why? Well, sometimes, temperatures may be too low for biochemical reactions to take place in a timely manner, OR, there may not be a decent concentration of reactants available. So... who’s gonna help? Our friend, the enzyme. Enzymes do the following:

Decrease the amount of activation energy required for a biochemical reaction, and therefore...

Speeds up the reaction process, allowing for biochemical reactions to take place quicker and thus aiding in survival. 

Water, Acids, and Bases

The water molecule is a pretty important molecule in environmental science. Liquid water is a necessity for all organisms.

Here’s a fact! Water is polar. 

We know that a water molecule consists of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. Each hydrogen atom forms a covalent bond with the oxygen atom, thus creating the molecule. Another fact about the water molecule is that the oxygen atom in a water molecule is highly electronegative. Electronegative elements tend to pull electrons closer to them, and with oxygen being the second most electronegative element, likes to snuggle up with any electrons it can bond with. In relation to the water molecule as a whole, this makes the oxygen side more negative, and the hydrogen side of the molecule more positive. Meaning that a water molecule establishes polarity. 

Because of the polar nature of water, different water molecules can form weak bonds with each other, i.e. the oxygen side of a water molecule bonds with a hydrogen side of another water molecule because, well, you know the rule: opposites attract! These bonds between molecules are called hydrogen bonds. This explains why water molecules stick together so easily. 

Water, as the main ingredient in many solutions, often possesses a tiny amount of molecules that will break down to form ions, or electrically charged atoms or molecules. A hydroxide ion forms whenever a water molecule gives up a positively charged hydrogen atom, and a hydronium ion forms whenever a water molecule accepts that positively charged hydrogen atom. 

The amount of hydronium in a solution can contribute to the acidity in a solution. Solutions with more hydronium atoms than pure water are called acids, where as solutions with less hydronium atoms are called bases. Acids have a pH scale that resides anywhere below 7, whereas Bases have pH scales above 7. The pH of pure water, 7, is what we call a neutral pH.

Acids and Bases are pretty important when it comes to maintaining life on Earth. Did you know that certain enzymes can only perform in acidic or basic environments? With the absence of such, enzymes cannot speed up reaction processes fast enough... *see enzymes*

[lazyheauxx]

The Ancient Greeks and Music

Ancient Greece is probably the earliest civilization to provide us with enough surviving evidence to study the history of music. There are few musical works that actually ended up surviving, but we do get a lot of information from descriptions and images found via painting and sculptures. Lots of these descriptions and images were found on tombs, vases, buildings, etc. This lowkey suggests that maybe the people of this society used music in similar ways music has been used in Western Society, such as for funerals, weddings, religious services, entertainment, etc. 

1. Music was Powerful af! 

Like... super powerful. Mostly because music, as the Greeks were concerned, stemmed from divine origins (invented by the likes of Apollo, Amphion, and Orpheus). Therefore, people of Ancient Greek society felt that music possessed some pretty impressive attributes, such as healing, purifying, and miracle-working powers. Examples:

1 Samuel 16:14-23

Joshua 6:12-20

2. Facts about Greek Music

Greek Music was mostly monophonic and did not include harmony or counterpoint*. However, it was normal for music to include bouts of heterophony** here and there, where the soloist would sing a melody, and an instrument would play an embellished form of the melody. 

Greek music was almost entirely improvised. 

Melody and Rhythm were closely dependent on the sound and meter of Greek Poetry the text derived from (Hmm... we will see this a lot throughout history, won’t we?)  

3. Music and Ethos

Drawing on the idea of music being super powerful, Ancient Greek Philosophers believed that music possessed the power to affect human behavior. In line with the Pythagorean principle and how it relates to music, according to these philosophers, music had the ability to penetrate the soul to have various effects on its inner harmony, being that the human soul was in fact a system of parts that were kept in harmony by numerical relationships. 

Aristotle pioneered the theory of imitation, and often used it to explain how music affected ethos, or human ethics and behavior. Aristotle believed that music was a reflection of and imitated the feelings, passions, and or desires of the human soul. Music not only imitated a certain passion, but conversely had the capability of arousing similar passion(s) in the listener(s)... and therefore, influencing one’s ethos. For example, people who listen to music that imitated less desirable characteristics were susceptible to negative alterations in character.  Aristotle even took this theory a step further, explaining that people in certain positions should listen to music that imitated and encouraged emotions and qualities they may need to perform certain duties. For example, those in governing offices should listen to music that imitated feelings of courage and similar virtues, rather than music that expressed softness and indolence. 

The relationship between music and ethos in Ancient Greet Society was a heavy influence on the creation of Modes! Greek Philosophers developed a complex system of modes in efforts to “categorize” sounds in relation to the certain emotions and characteristic such sounds could elicit. The modes were named after certain areas, tribes, and peoples and the characteristics that were thought to be respective to them (Basically, the names were given based off of stereotype) 

4. Music and it’s impact on Education

Greek Philosophers Aristotle and Plato believed that a balance between gymnastics (for the body) and music (for the mind) would create an ideal citizen. Too much gymnastics could make a person uncivilized, violent and ignorant, whereas too much music could make a person neurotic. 

The relationship between music and ethos also had a huge influence on scholarly situations. Philosophers like Aristotle and Plato believed that music was powerful enough to arouse certain emotions that could either prove to be productive or dangerous for society. For example, Plato often advocated for the use of Dorian and Phrygian modes, because they elicited characteristics of temperance and courage. Also, Plato and Aristotle advocated against the acceptance and utilizing of the changing conventions of music over time, as too much lawlessness and less consistency could contribute to an unruly society (Don’t give the people too much power, right? We’re going to definitely see exuded levels of caution towards certain musical ideas by influential society members throughout music history; Lutheran church vs super musical services, church vs music in general lol, people in my great-grandparent’s generation vs Elvis...) 

5. Music Theory

The Ancient Greek civilization gave us the very beginnings of what we know of as music theory. Greek theorists, such as Pythagoras, worked to uncover the numerical relationships between different pitches. Pythagoras and his following believed that everything was ruled by numbers (and music was not exempt from this rule). This principle was responsible for creating the foundation of notes, scales, and intervals. Examples include:

Vibrating String on an instrument and the different lengths in comparison the notes they produced

the creation of the intervals, such as tones, semitons, diatones (thirds), and consonants fourth, and fifth, and octave

tetrachord: scale of four notes, with the first and last note forming an interval of a fourth

6. Instrumentation 

Popular instruments (the few occasions they were used) were the lyre, it’s larger cousin the kithara, and the aulos. 

Lyre: Associated with Apollo, god of light, prophecy, and the arts! Lyre and Kithara were used to accompany dancing, singing, recitation of epic poetry, weddings, and recreation. These were stringed instruments (about 5-7 strings originally, later 11) that were plucked to produce sound. 

Aulos: used primarily for the purposes of worshiping the god Dionysus, god of fertility and wine. Can be either a single or double reed instrument and often appears as twin pipes (also often mistaken for a flute) 

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*counterpoint: parts that are written in contrast to melody (not to be confused by harmony, which is parts that are written in sync with melody) 

**heterophony: a texture that displays simultaneous variation of the main line or melody. Ex: Epitaph of Seikilos, Singer: Melody, Instrument: Slight Variation of Melody