Ap Environmental Science Math Prep Part 1

1.

2-1.3= .7

The net change in growth rate between 1980 and 2008 is .7 ppm/year. The slope of the trendline is smaller than the actual net change in growth between 1980 and 2008 because it is a line of best fit. This line represents long-term variations, as opposed to the individual carbon dioxide growth every year.

2. The mean growth rate for 2050 is likely to be 3.77 ppm/year. One likely consequence would be a loss of biodiversity. when carbon dioxide levels are high, the leaf pores shrink. This causes less water to be released, diminishing the plant's cooling power. This consequently can severely damage the health of plants and cause them to die, resulting a loss of biodiversity. Another likely consequence is climate change. Carbon dioxide, CO2, is an important heat-trapping (greenhouse) gas, which is released through human activities such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels, as well as natural processes such as respiration and volcanic eruptions. As more carbon dioxide is present in the atmosphere, more heat is trapped. This in turn results in the melting of polar ice caps, rises of temperature, and other consequences.

3.One factor that likely added CO2 to the global atmosphere i the burning of fossil fuels. As the human population rose, there was an increase in energy consumption. A natural factor is decomposition. Living things on Earth are carbon-based life forms. These living things need carbon to grow and reproduce. Decomposers use the carbon dioxide in the bodies of dead organisms for food or fuel. This feeding process releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through cellular respiration.

One factor that likely removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is the use of more renewable sources of energy. A natural factor is the photosynthesis. Green plants photosynthesize, which is the process by which carbon dioxide is converted to glucose and oxygen.

4. The Clean Air Act sets standards for these pollutants called the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. As a guiding framework for work in air quality, the Clean Air Act brings together federal, state, and local agencies to control levels of these pollutants from cars, factories, and other sources. It happens often that the state and local authorities enforce the federal limits on pollutants set by the Clean Air Act. The first passage of the Clean Air Act occurred in 1963, and a significantly stronger act was passed in 1970 followed by a large revision in 1990. Since the stronger Clean Air Act passage in 1970, which set emissions standards for automobiles and new industries and set air quality standards, several positive changes have occurred. The six most common pollutants have decreased by more than 50 percent, air pollution from large industrial sources has been reduced almost 70 percent, and the ozone-depleting materials have almost ceased to be produced.

Coal

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