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Homework Set 1: Chapters 1-3

Homework Chapter 1:
Environmental Problems: Causes and Sustainability

1. Exponential Growth
a. Remains constant
b. starts out slowly and remains slow
c. starts out slowly then becomes very rapid
d. starts rapidly and remains rapid
e. starts rapidly and then slows

2. Which of the following areas of study are NOT important in the study of environmental science?
a.Biology
b. Chemistry
c.Geology
d. Economics
e.All of these are important in Environmental Science

3. Which of the following is a social movement dedicated to the protection of the Earth’s natural capital?

a. Ecology
b. Environmental science
c.Environmentalism
d. Natural science
e.Sustainability

4. Which of the following terms encompasses all of the others?

a.Natural capital
b. Natural resources
c.Natural services
d. nutrient cycling
e.photosynthesis

5. Which of the following is a form of Natural capital gained directly or indirectly as a result of solar
capital?
a. Photosynthesis
b. Flowing water
c. Wind energy
d. Biofuels
e. All the above
6. Most of the environmental problems we face are
a. increasing linearly
b. decreasing linearly
c. increasing exponentially
d. decreasing exponentially
e. not increasing or decreasing

7. A sustainable society
a. manages its economy and population size without doing irreparable environmental h
b. satisfies the needs of its people without depleting Earth capital
c. protects the prospects of future generations of humans and other species
d. all of these answers
e. none of these answers

8. The annual market value of all goods and services produced by all firms and organizations operating
within a country use during a year is the
a. gross national product
b. purchasing power parity per capita PPP
c. per capita GDP
d. gross domestic product

9. Which of the following statements about developing countries is true?

a. They are highly industrialized
b. They have high average per capita GDP
c. They include the United States, Germany, and Japan.
d. They have about 15% of the world’s wealth and income.
e. They have about 85% of the world’s wealth and income.

10. About ___ of the world’s human population lives in the developing countries.
a. 20%
b. 40%
c. 60%
d. 80%
e. 90%

11. Which of the following would best be categorized as a perpetual resource?

a. oil reserves
b. Fisheries
c. Solar energy
d. Forests
e. Coal reserves
12. Which of the following best describes the concept of environmental degradation?
a. using solar power at a rapid rate
b. using oil
c. cutting trees for wood products
d. letting agricultural runoff cause oxygen depletion and fish kills downstream
e. Growing crops for food

13. Which of the following is an example of recycling?

a. collecting and remelting aluminum beer cans
b. cleaning and refilling soft-drink bottles
c. selling used clothing at a garage sale
d. saving leftovers in a peanut butter jar
e. using household water to water a garden

14. Point sources of pollution

a. enter ecosystems from dispersed and often hard-to-identify sources
b. include runoff of fertilizers and pesticides from farmlands and suburban lawns
c. are cheaper and easier to identify than nonpoint sources
d. are more difficult to control than nonpoint sources
e. are always found in rural areas

15. Root causes of unsustainability include all of the following except

a. wasteful use of resources
b. an urge to manage and dominate nature
c. rapid population growth
d. inclusion of environmental and social costs in market prices
e. greed

16. Which of the following is a major factor contributing to the degradation of natural capital associated
with the pricing of consumable goods?
a. They are priced in such a way that they do not reflect the environmental damage caused by their
production.
b. They are priced in such a way as to allow even those in poverty in developing nations to acquire
them.
c. They are priced in such a way that only the most affluent purchaser is able to acquire them
d. Consumers are typically aware of the kinds of environmental damage that resulted from the
production of the item
e. None of these

17. Which of the following is NOT among the four scientific principles of sustainability?
a. Economic growth
b. Reliance on Solar Energy
c. Biodiversity
d. Nutrient Cycling
e. Population Control
 Homework Chapter 2:
Science, Matter, and Energy

18. Science
a. is a study of the history of the natural world
b. attempts to discover order in nature to interpret the past
c. is best described as a random collection of facts
d. is supported by small amounts of evidence
e. is an endeavor to discover how nature works

19. When scientists are testing ideas to determine facts, they

a. Follow a specific set of logical steps
b. Report observations to the scientific community without data collection
c. Use different steps that are unique to each scientist
d. Use only mathematical modeling
e. All but use only mathematical modeling

20. When carrying out investigations, the best scientists use

a. Reasoning and critical thinking
b. Intuition, imagination, and creativity
c. Advice from experts outside of science
d. All of these
e. Reasoning, critical thinking, intuition, imagination, and creativity

21. Matter is anything that

a. has mass and occupies space
b. has the capacity to do work
c. can be changed in form
d. can produce change
e. moves mass

22. Protons, neutrons, and electrons are all

a. forms of energy
b. equal in mass
c. subatomic particles
d. negative ions
e. charged particles

23. An element
a. Is identical to a compound
b. Is made up of compounds
c. Can combine with one or more other elements to make a compound
d. Exists only in a pure form as a single element
 e. More than one of the above are correct

24. An acidic solution would have

a. More hydroxide ions than hydrogen ions
b. More hydrogen ions than hydroxide ions
c. A pH less than 7.
d. A pH greater than 7.
e. More hydrogen ions than hydroxide ions and a pH less than 7

25. All organic compounds are characterized by the presence of

a. Carbon
b. Hydrogen
c. Oxygen
d. Nitrogen
e. Phosphorous

26. The law of conservation of matter states that

a. Atoms can be created
b. Atoms can be destroyed
c. Atoms cannot be created or destroyed
d. Atoms can be destroyed if we compost them
e. Atoms can be created through nuclear fission

27. Energy can be formally defined as

a. the velocity of any moving object
b. the heat generated by atoms losing electrons
c. the ability to do work or produce heat transfer
d. the displacement of heat from the Sun to the Earth
e. None of these

28. What percentage of useful energy in the United States is unnecessarily wasted?
a. 16%
b. 43%
c. 35%
d. 10%
e. Energy in the United States is not wasted

29. Scientists Bormann and Likens demonstrated in their experiment on a clear-cut forest that
a. A cleared forest is more sustainable than an uncleared forest
b. An uncleared forest is more sustainable than a cleared forest
c. Cleared and uncleared forests have the same sustainability
d. Clearing a forest violates the second law of thermodynamics.
e. At least two of the above are correct
30. Which of the following energy forms is low quality?
a. Coal
b. Propane gas
c. Electricity
d. Food
e. Heat in an office building

31. High-throughput (high-waste) economies are characteristic of

a. advanced industrialized countries
b. agricultural based countries
c. countries in transition from agricultural to industrialized status
d. neither agricultural or industrialized countries
e. both agricultural and industrialized countries

32. Shifting to a low-throughput (low waste) economy requires

a. using and wasting less matter
b. using and wasting less energy
c. recycling and reusing most matter resources
d. controlling human population
e. All of these

33. Which of the following is the best description of the first law of thermodynamics?
a. Atoms cannot be created or destroyed
b. Energy input always equals energy output
c. Heat is a form of kinetic energy
d. Solar energy is converted into chemical energy in living systems
e. All of these apply to the first law of thermodynamics.

34. An example of potential energy is

a. electricity flowing through a wire
b. the chemical energy in a candy bar
c. a bullet fired at high velocity
d. a leaf falling from a tree
e. water flowing

Homework Chapter 2:
Science, Matter, and Energy

35. Which of the following is the smallest unit?

a. Cell
b. Chromosome
c. Gene
d. Nucleus
e. Species
36. Which of the following can be the result of genetic variation in a population ?
a. differences in physical appearance
b. differences in physiology
c. differences in behavior
d. differences in sensitivity to various chemicals
e. all the above

37. Ecology is the study of how

a. Atoms make up the environment
b. Humans affect the environment
c. Organisms interact with each other and their nonliving environment
d. Energy runs the environment
e. Evolution affects nature

38. The basic unit of life is the

a. Nucleotide
b. Mitochondrion
c. Cell
d. Tissue
e. DNA

39. Large geographic regions with distinct climatic conditions that are inhabited by predictable groups of
plants and animals are best described as which of the following?
a. aquatic life zones
b. biomes
c. greenhouse gases
d. hydrospheres
e. biospheres

40. Which of the following is true of the greenhouse effect?

a. It is a phenomenon that humans are completely responsible for
b. It results in increased levels of damaging UV radiation hitting the planet
c. It prevents damaging UV radiation from hitting the planet
d. It is an important natural process that is essential to life on the planet
e. Humans do not have the ability to enhance the greenhouse effect

41. Which of the following is an abiotic factor that would impact a population of Monarch butterflies?
a. predators
b. Bacterial diseases
c. Temperature
d. Wildflowers
e. Other species of butterflies
42. Bacteria and fungi are typically categorized as which of the following ecosystem components?
a. autotrophs
b. Producers
c. Primary consumers
d. tertiary consumers
e. Decomposers

43. Photosynthesis
a. converts glucose into energy and water
b. requires the combustion of carbon
c. produces carbon dioxide and oxygen gas
d. yields glucose and oxygen gas as products
e. yields glucose and carbon dioxide as products

44. The shorter the food chain, the

a. smaller the loss of usable energy
b. fewer the number of organisms supported
c. lower the net primary productivity
d. smaller the gross primary productivity
e. all of these answers

45. Soil is a complex mixture of

a. mineral nutrients
b. eroded rock
c. air and water
d. decaying organic matter
e. all of these answers

46. Complex arrangements of feeding patterns in ecosystems are best described as

a. food webs
b. food chains
c. trophic levels
d. pyramids of energy
e. trophic chains

47. The amount of energy transferred from an organism on one trophic level to the next trophic level is
about _____.
a. 1%
b. 10%
c. 25%
d. 50%
e. 90%
48. The portion of the planet that is responsible for the vast majority of the Earth’s annual biomass
production is/are
a. swamps and marshes
b. temperate forests
c. estuaries
d. lakes and streams
e. open oceans

49. Which statement describes field research least?

a. It has been used to develop most of our knowledge about ecosystems
b. It is comparatively easy to set up controlled experiments.
c. It is relatively time consuming
d. It is relatively expensive
e. None of these answers

50. Which statement least characterizes laboratory research?

a. It allows measurement of model ecosystems and populations under controlled conditions
b. It is faster than similar field research
c. It is cheaper than similar field research
d. It has been used to develop most of our knowledge about ecosystems
e. None of these answers