(1) Explain what is meant by 'photosynthesis'. Write the chemical formulas for the photosynthesis reaction and the respiration and decay reactions. Other than being in opposing directions, what else about these two reactions is different?
(2) Explain how the biological pump in the oceans works. How does it affect the concentration of carbon dissolved in sea water at the ocean surface? How does it influence how limestone sediments on the sea floor are distributed with respect to the depth of the ocean?
(3) Describe the role of weathering in the carbonate-silicate cycle. What kind of chemical transformation is involved? What happens to the products of the reaction?
(4) Why do the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn contain so much more hydrogen (mostly in compounds like methane and ammonia) than the Earth's atmosphere?
(5) If all living biomass burned or decayed and all the carbon dioxide that was released remained in the atmosphere, by what fraction would the carbon dioxide concentration of the atmosphere rise relative to its present value? Explain your answer. [hint: look at Fig. 7-3 for the sizes of carbon reservoirs]
(6) How can information about the size of the reservoir of organic carbon buried in sedimentary rocks in the earth's crust be used to estimate the amount of oxygen produced by photosynthesis over the lifetime of the earth?
(7) In Clive Cussler's novel "Sahara", a bloom of algae* in the Gulf of Guinea begins drawing oxygen out of the atmosphere at such a rate that global oxygen levels begin dropping. It is estimated that in 23 days there will be no oxygen left. What's wrong with Cussler's plot line, from a scientific perspective? [* algae are a group of plants containing chlorophyll and having no true roots, stem or leaf]
(8) Where are the last remaining tropical
glaciers located? What's been happening to them during the past few decades?
Cite your source of information. [Hint: If you didn't attend Lonnie
Thompson's lecture, use www.google.com. Chose carefully the words
you ask it to search for.]