Photosynthesis and Respiration can probably balance out ...

Photosynthesis and Respiration can probably balance out the gases

necessary for life even in a small, sealed glass

container floating in outer space*.

*as long as it is kept from freezing.

Humans are falible. ^l

Biosphere 2

z Biosphere 2 was our attempt to design an ecosystem completely independent of Earth and live in it.

z It failed because the people ran low on breathable oxygen. z This proves that Biosphere 1 (Earth) is a complex system that we cannot yet

duplicate perfectly. z Let's attempt to understand why.

First some background info: Chemystery.

Elements of Life: (Earth, Air, Water)

H - Hydrogen

O - Oxygen C - Carbon N - Nitrogen P - Phosphorus

"Organic" elements form covalent bonds.

S - Sulfur

Ca - Calcium

Na - Sodium

K - Potassium Cl ? Chloride Mg ? Magnesium

Charged Ions or salts

Fe - Iron

and other trace elements...

z The greeks believed all matter is composed of 4 elements: earth, air, water and fire.

z They weren't too far off, but the first three elements are composed of ~92 chemical elements from stardust.

Energy for life: (Fire) Sunshine measured in joules or calories.

z The fire element represents the energy contained in the bonds between the elements.

Atoms have two different strategies to

deal with an incomplete set of electrons.

z Atoms may give or take an electron or two and become positive (electron poor) or negative (electron rich) ions.

z Atoms may share electrons in covalent bonds.

z Polar bonds are covalent bonds that have some characteristics of ionic bonds.

z Biochemicals are composed of covalent bonds.

What is a Calorie?

z 1000 calories = 1 food Calorie (kilocalorie)

z 1 calorie = 4.18 joules z A 100 watt light bulb uses 100

joules per second, or ___ Calories per second.

? Calories/ second ?

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download