glossary definitiu

6
A •Ammonia: A colourless, intensely pungent gas which dissolves in water to give a strongly alkaline solution [NH 3 ]. The ammonia is a gas which can be found in the atmosphere. •Avalanches: Masses of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside. Four avalanches were reported Sunday afternoon at the Pyrinees. B •Biodiversity: The variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat. The forest’s biodiversity is much higher than the city’s biodiversity. C Coal: A combustible black rock consisting mainly of carbonized plant matter which is used as fuel. In the past, a lot of trains used coal as fuel. •Cryosphere: Term which collectively describes the portions of the Earth’s surface where water is in solid form, that’s to say: sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includes permafrost). Almost all the cryosphere can be found at the poles of the Earth. D •Desertification: The process by which fertile land becomes desert. The desertification isn’t good for the plants, the environmental and human being.

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Page 1: Glossary definitiu

A

•Ammonia: A colourless, intensely pungent gas which dissolves in water to give a strongly alkaline solution [NH3].

The ammonia is a gas which can be found in the atmosphere.

•Avalanches: Masses of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.

Four avalanches were reported Sunday afternoon at the Pyrinees.

B

•Biodiversity: The variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat.

The forest’s biodiversity is much higher than the city’s biodiversity.

C

•Coal: A combustible black rock consisting mainly of carbonized plant matter which is used as fuel.

In the past, a lot of trains used coal as fuel.

•Cryosphere: Term which collectively describes the portions of the Earth’s surface where water is in solid form, that’s to say: sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includes permafrost).

Almost all the cryosphere can be found at the poles of the Earth.

D

•Desertification: The process by which fertile land becomes desert. The desertification isn’t good for the plants, the environmental and human being.

•Dump: A site for depositing rubbish or waste.

Several lorries carry the trash to the dump every day.

E

•Electricity: A form of energy resulting from the existence of charged particles (such as electrons or protons), either statically as an accumulation of charge or dynamically as a current.

Do not touch this plug, the electricity that it contains could be dangerous.

Page 2: Glossary definitiu

F

•Fossil fuel: A natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.

Nuclear power stations use fossil fuel to make energy.

G

•Geothermal energy: Produced by the internal heat of the earth.

Geothermal energy is clean and a renewable energy but people don’t use it very often.

H

•Hail: Pellets of frozen rain falling in showers from cumulonimbus clouds.

Hail looks like rain but with ice, and when it falls the temperature is always 0 degrees.

•Hydropower: A power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes.

Using hydropower energy we help the earth a lot.I

•Ice: Frozen water, a brittle transparent crystalline solid.

The Coca-Cola usually is took with ice cubes and a piece of lemon.

M

•Melt: A physical process that results in the change of a substance from a solid to a liquid.

If you burn an ice cube, it melts and you get liquid water.

N

•Non-renewable energy: Energy which comes from natural resources that we use too fast for nature to replace them.

Coal, oil and natural gas are non-renewable energies.

P

•Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants use sunlight to synthesize nutrients from carbon dioxide and water.

Page 3: Glossary definitiu

The plants only do the photosynthesis if they have water, mineral salts and CO2.

•Pollution: the result of contaminate (water, the air, etc.) with harmful or poisonous substances.

Some factories send a lot of pollution to the air.

R

•Radiation: Physical energy emitted as electromagnetic waves or subatomic particles.

Radiation can be found around the world and the entire Universe.

•Recycling: Converting (waste) into reusable materials.

We should recycle paper and cans to try to save the planet.

•Reforestation: Replant with trees; cover again with forest.

We must replant more trees and other plants in order to reforestate our lands, especially if a fire has taken place.

•Respiration: The processes in living organisms involving the production of energy, typically with the intake of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide, from the oxidation of organic substances.

Respiration is essential for plants to carry out their photosynthesis.

S

•Sink: Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

A sink absorbs more carbon than it gives off, while a source emits more than it absorbs.

•Solar radiation: Physics energy emitted as electromagnetic waves or subatomic particles by the sun.

Last summer the emissions of solar radiation had a higher concentration.

•Sulfur dioxide: The chemical element of atomic number 16, a combustible non-metal which typically occurs as yellow crystals.

Sulfur dioxide contributes to climate change.

Page 4: Glossary definitiu

T

•Troposphere: The lowest region of the atmosphere, extending from the Earth’s surface to a height of about 6–10 km (the lower boundary of the stratosphere).

The troposphere is a layer between the Earth and the stratosphere.

U

•Ultraviolet radiation: A specific physical energy emitted as electromagnetic waves or subatomic particles by the sun, which causes mutations in DNA.

Ultraviolet radiation is not very good for your organism because it can cause cellular damages.

W

•Wastewater: Any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It includes liquid waste discharged by residences, commercial properties, industry and/or agriculture and can have a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations.

Some parts of Africa only have wastewater for drink.

•Water vapor: The gas phase of water. It is one of the states of water within the hydrosphere.

The troposphere contains almost all of the water vapor.

•Weather: The state of the atmosphere in a place and time as regards temperature, wind, rain, etc.

The weather in Spain is normally warm and sunny.

•Wind energy: The energy that we get from air movements to provide light and heat or make machines work.

Wind energy on its own can´t provide our country with the power we need.