ENSC Exam Graded A+|Q&A’s Verified
Three physical states - which ones are they and how do their densities compare? - ✔✔Most
dense- liquid
Least dense- gas
Solid
universal solvent - which property of water makes this possible and what is the significance of
this to living organisms? - ✔✔Nutrients get dissolved in blood and transported around the
body
cohesion, adhesion, and surface tension - what does each one refer to and what are some
benefits of this to living organisms? - ✔✔Cohesion- equal things attaching to one another
Adhesion- water molecules attaching to other surfaces
global distribution of water - ✔✔97% oceans, 2% ice caps and glaciers, < 1% in groundwater,
surface waters, atmosphere
Majority of the water on the planet is.. - ✔✔saline (oceans)
majority of the planets freshwater is - ✔✔icecaps and glaciers
majority of usable water is stored where - ✔✔groundwater
the most widely used source is - ✔✔rivers?
transportation
Does the amount of water on the planet increase or decrease? Why? - ✔✔Constantly
recycled - continuous cycle
,three sectors of water - ✔✔industrial, agricultural, residential
taking out of water for use and returning it to a different reservoir - ✔✔Consumptive use of
water
when you are done using the water it goes back where you found it - ✔✔Non-consumptive
Which sector is the largest user of all water withdrawn in the US? - ✔✔industrial
Largest consumptive user in the US - ✔✔agriculture
Continuous global cycling of water from one reservoir to another - ✔✔hydrologic cycle
Two major forces "power" hydrologic cycle? - ✔✔Heat energy -- coming from the sun --
important for evaporation
Earth's gravity -- allowing water to fall back as precipitation
oceans/ glaciers/ice, groundwater, lakes, soil/land, atmosphere (water vapor, clouds), rivers,
plants, animals - ✔✔reservoirs
evaporation, precipitation, condensation, melting, runoff, consumption, extraction, infiltration,
percolation, transpiration, sublimation, excretion, perspiration, respiration - ✔✔fluxes
liquid → gas - ✔✔Evaporation-
solid --> gas - ✔✔sublimation
, gas (water vapor) → liquid (clouds) - ✔✔condensation
clouds → earth's surface - ✔✔precipitation
runoff - ✔✔water that flows over the ground surface rather than soaking into the ground
water moving down into ground and eventually making way down through gravity-- endpoint-
=groundwater (lowest point water can go thats not on surface)
--Can infiltrate from lakes, rivers, and land to groundwater - ✔✔infiltration
water moving from the soil into plants and eventually into atmosphere - ✔✔transpiration
what major water cycle processes take place in atmosphere - ✔✔evaporation, condensation,
precipitation;
Evaporation: moves water from surface into atmosphere
Condensation: converts back to liquid ^
Precipitation: released back down onto earth ^
Snow, rain, sleet, hail
Rain- falls back as liquid, snow, hail- falls back solid
precipitation in liquid form - ✔✔rainfall
three main kinds of precipitation - ✔✔frontal, convective, orographic
-- what kind of precipitation?
meeting of two air masses and forces conditions to change-- cools down and loses ability to
hold onto moisture