Unit 4: Earth Systems & Resources
Env. Science · Unit 4 · Paper 1

Earth Systems & Resources unit test

A test on this unit alone, marked as a percentage and a letter grade — for the test your class is actually sitting, rather than for May. Answer everything, then submit once: seeing the answer to question 3 before attempting question 4 makes the final percentage meaningless.

Paper 1Paper 2Paper 3
Each paper is built from this unit’s 34 terms and is the same for everyone, so a teacher can assign “Unit 4, Paper 1” and every student sits the identical test. Multiple choice is marked objectively; the written sections you mark yourself against the model answer and rubric.
Suggested time 37 min 34 points0/17 attempted
1

Recharge zone

2

Soil texture triangle

3

Monsoon

4

Thermohaline circulation

5

Albedo

6

Aquifer and water table

7

Saltwater intrusion

8

Insolation and the seasons

9

Soil pH and nutrient availability

10

Soil formation factors

11

La Niña conditions

12

Confined vs unconfined aquifer

Short answer 1. Define or explain: Upwelling

3 pts

Short answer 2. Define or explain: El Niño and La Niña

3 pts

Short answer 3. Define or explain: Why the troposphere cools with height and the stratosphere warms

3 pts

Short answer 4. Define or explain: Soil erosion causes

3 pts

Free response

10 pts

This course has no free-response prompt tagged to this unit, so one from elsewhere in the course is used. It is still worth writing — the skill transfers.

ANALYZE AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM USING CALCULATIONS. A coal-fired power plant generates 500 megawatts of electricity and operates continuously. The plant burns coal with an energy content of 25,000 kilojoules per kilogram, and the overall efficiency of converting the chemical energy in the coal to electricity is 40 percent. The coal contains 2.0 percent sulfur by mass. Assume the plant operates 8,000 hours per year. Show all work and include units in your answers.

A. Calculate the rate, in kilojoules per second, at which the plant must consume energy from coal to produce 500 megawatts of electricity.

B. Calculate the mass of coal, in kilograms, that the plant burns per second.

C. Calculate the mass of coal, in kilograms, that the plant burns per year.

D. Calculate the mass of sulfur, in kilograms, released per year if no pollution controls are used.

E. Describe one air pollution control technology that would reduce sulfur emissions from this plant, and explain how it works.

F. Describe one environmental consequence of sulfur emissions from coal combustion, and explain the mechanism.