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Chemistry and our environment - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Forms when carbon compounds in fossil fuels burn in a limited supply of air.
    - - Forms when sulfur compounds in the fossil fuels burn. Power stations are the main source of this pollutant.
    - - Forms when Nitrogen and oxygen in air react together, inside car engines and furnaces.
    - - A specifc compound called tetra - ethyl is added to petrol in some countries, to help it burn smoothly in engines. On burning, it produces particles of other lead compounds.
- - - - Human activities have a vast impact on the carbon cycle. Burning fossil fuels, changing land use and limestone use for concrete all transfer significant quantities of carbon into the atmosphere.
        The ocean absorbs much of the carbon released from burning fossil fuels. This extra carbon is lowering the oceans pH, through a process of ocean acidification. This interferes with the ability of marine organisms to build their shells and skeletons.
    - - In the ocean, the remains of dead organisms sink, and are buried. Over millions of years the soft parts turn into oil and natural gas. The vegetation gets buried in warm swamps, turning to coal. In this way, carbon dioxide from the air ends up in as fossil fuels, and when burned, released once again.
    - - Utilizing the process of dissolving, some of the carbon dioxide from the air dissolves into the ocean, and a balance is reached between it’s concentration in the air and ocean.
      - Instead, using the process of photosynthesis, plants use glucose to make other carbon compounds needed. The animals then eat the plants and carbon compounds get passed along the food chain.
    - - This is the process taking place in ours and animals body, to live we need oxygen, and carbon dioxide is a part of that process. When we inhale oxygen we exhale carbon dioxide which goes to the atmosphere continuing the cycle. Also plants inhales carbon dioxide and releases oxygen.
    - - Carbon (C) moves between compounds, in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2), through the atmosphere, living things, the soil and ocean, in a permanent journey called the carbon cycle.
  - - - The Nitrogen cycle is the repeating cycle in which nitrogen is converted into different living and non living chemical forms to travel around the atmosphere and the environment.
        There are 4 vital steps of the nitrogen cycle, nitrogen fixation, mineralization, nitrification and denitrification.
    - - Nitrogen fixation is the process by which nitrogen is taken from its relatively inert molecular form (N2) in the atmosphere and converted into nitrogen compounds useful for other chemical processes (such as, ammonia, nitrate and nitrogen dioxide).
    - - Mineralization is the process by which microbes
        decompose organic nitrogen from organic matter
        and crop residues to ammonium. Because it is a
        biological process, rates of mineralization vary with
        soil temperature, moisture and the amount of
        oxygen in the soil.
    - - Nitrification is the process by which microorganisms convert ammonium to nitrate to obtain energy. Nitrate is the most plant available form of N, but is also highly susceptible to leaching losses.
    - - Denitrification occurs when nitrogen is lost through the conversion of nitrate to gaseous forms of nitrogen, such as nitric oxide, nitrous oxide and dinitrogen gas. This occurs when the soil is saturated and the bacteria use nitrate as an oxygen source.
  - - - The water cycle shows the continuous movement of water within the Earth and Atmosphere. It is a complex system that includes many different processes. Liquid water evaporates into water vapor, condenses to form clouds, and precipitates back to earth in the form of rain and snow.
    - - Evaporation occurs when the physical state of water is changed from a liquid state to a gaseous state. Evaporation can occur on raindrops, and on free water surfaces such as seas and lakes. It can even occur from water settled on vegetation, soil, rocks and snow. Evaporated moisture is lifted into the atmosphere from the ocean, land surfaces, and waterbodies as water vapor.
    - - The transition process from the vapour state to the liquid state is called condensation. Condensation may take place as soon as the air contains more water vapour than it can receive from a free water surface through evaporation at the prevailing temperature. This condition occurs as the consequence of either cooling or the mixing of air masses of different temperatures. By condensation, water vapour in the atmosphere is released to form precipitation.
    - - Precipitation is any liquid or frozen water that forms in the atmosphere and falls back to the Earth. It comes in many forms, like rain and snow. Precipitation forms in the clouds when water vapor condenses into big droplets of water. When the drops are heavy enough, they fall to the Earth. If the temperature is colder, the water droplets may freeze to form ice.
    - - Sublimation is a process where ice directly converts into water vapors without converting into liquid water. This phenomenon accelerates when the temperature is low or pressure is high. The main sources of water from sublimation are the ice sheets of the North Pole and the South Pole and the ice caps on the mountains.
    - - Transpiration is a process similar to evaporation where liquid water is turned into water vapor by the plants. The roots of the plants absorb the water and push it toward leaves where it is used for photosynthesis. The extra water is moved out of leaves through stomata as water vapor.
    - - Runoff is the process where water runs over the surface of earth. When snow melts into water it also leads to runoff. As water runs over the ground it displaces the top soil with it and moves the minerals along with the stream. This runoff combines to form channels, rivers and ends up into lakes, seas and oceans.
    - - Some of the water that precipitates does not runoff into the rivers and is absorbed by the plants or gets evaporated. It moves deep into the soil. This is called infiltration. The water seeps down and increases the level of ground water. It is called pure water and is drinkable.