Unit 4: Earth Systems & Resources
Env. Science · Unit 4 · Paper 3

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 18 terms and is the same for everyone, so a teacher can assign “Unit 4, Paper 3” 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

Coriolis effect

2

Soil permeability and porosity

3

Earth's atmospheric layers

4

Rain shadow effect

5

El Niño and La Niña

6

Aquifer and water table

7

Hadley, Ferrel and Polar cells

8

Watershed

9

Albedo

10

Soil horizons

11

Cone of depression

12

Upwelling

Short answer 1. Define or explain: Soil texture triangle

3 pts

Short answer 2. Define or explain: Cation exchange capacity

3 pts

Short answer 3. Define or explain: Soil pH and nutrient availability

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.

A 600-MW coal-fired power plant operates at 35% thermal efficiency with a capacity factor of 0.80. The coal it burns releases 30 MJ of energy per kilogram.

Calculate the plant's average power output, using the capacity factor.

Calculate the plant's annual electricity output in kWh.

Convert that annual output to megajoules.

Calculate the thermal energy input required, using the plant's efficiency.

Calculate the mass of coal burned per year, in kilograms.

Convert that mass to metric tons.

Describe ONE environmental consequence of operating this plant, including its mechanism.

Describe a SECOND, different consequence, including its mechanism.

Identify a specific technology or policy that would reduce one of those consequences.

Explain the mechanism by which that measure reduces it.