Name: ______
Welcome to AP Environmental Science!
This is an advanced science course that combines the disciplines of biology, chemistry, geology and physics to investigate global environmental issues. We will discover how the Earth’s systems function together and how humans have affected our planet. We will also examine our personal consumption habits and learn ways to be responsible global citizens in the face of serious environmental issues. Because this is a college level course, you will be responsible for learning a large amount of material on your own. I will help you as we go, but it will be your responsibility to take notes, study, and learn your vocabulary! This class requires that you have a general science background that includes biology, chemistry, and algebra. The purpose of this assignment is to help you prepare for the APES content by getting organized, reviewing some background information, and getting familiar with some of the basic concepts of environmental science and your own consumption habits.
General Guidelines:
Read the directions for each section carefully!
Each section of the assignment must be fully completed, neat and typed when specified.
All work is to be completed on your own. You may not work with other students to complete this assignment.
And finally, subscribe to my APES Remind by texting @ap-buisson to 81010
This assignment is due on the first day of class!
Math 101
Show all your work and draw a box around your final answer. For any conversions questions, be sure to use dimensional analysis!
Prefixes
You must be able to make simple conversions and know the following prefixes BY HEART!
APES Summer Assignment 2017-2018giga (G) : 109
mega (M) : 106
kilo (k) : 103
hecto (h) : 102
centi (c) : 10-2
milli (m) : 10-3
micro (μ) : 10-6
nano (n) : 10-9
APES Summer Assignment 2017-2018For example 1 mg (milligram) = 1/1000 g (gram)
1 km (kilometer) = 1000 m (meters)
Percentage
17% = 17/100 = .17
‐ Remember that “percent” literally means divided by 100.
‐ Percentage is a measure of the part of the whole: (part/whole) x 100
‐ 15 million is what percentage of the US population? 15 million/300 million = .05 or 5%
‐ What is 20 % of this $15 bill so that I can give a good tip? $15 x .20 = $15 x (20/100) = $3
Percent Change
Percent change = original number – new number x 100
original number
Environmental scientists often analyze trends. A popular approach to analyzing these trends is percentage increase/decrease over time.
1) A population of deer had 200 individuals. If the population grows by 15% in one year, how many deer will there be the next year?
2) One year I had 40 APES students and the next year I had 50. By what percentage did the population of APES students grow?
Rates
Rates will often be written using the word “per” followed by a unit of time, such as miles per hour, grams per minute. The word “per” means to divide, so miles per gallon is actually the number of miles driven divided by one gallon.
‐ Rates are calculating how much an amount changes in a given amount of time.
Scientific Notation
Thousand = 103 = 1,000
Million = 106 = 1,000,000
Billion = 109 = 1,000,000,000
‐When using very large numbers, scientific method is often easiest to manipulate.
For example, the US population is 300 million or 3 X 108
‐When adding or subtracting, exponents must be the same. Add the numbers in front of the ten and keep the exponent the same.
‐When multiplying or dividing, multiple or divide the number in front of the ten and add the exponents if multiplying or subtract the exponents if dividing.
Ex. 9 x 106/3 x 102 = (9/3) x 10(6-2) = 3 x 104
7) What is one million times one thousand? Show your work in scientific notation. Give the answer in scientific notation.
APES Summer Assignment 2017-20188) 5 x 102 * 3 x 104 = ______
9) 6.5 x 10-1 * 2.0 x 107 = ______
10) 8.0 x 109 ÷ 1.0 x 104 = ______
11) 7.0 x 10-5 ÷ 3.5 x 103 = ______
12) 2.0 x 10-2 - 7.8 x 10-3 = ______
13) 6.2 x 106 + 8.0 x 104 = ______
APES Summer Assignment 2017-2018Dimensional Analysis
You should be able to convert any unit into any other unit accurately. You will be expected to write all problems in this format. Please go to the following sites for online tutorials:
14) Electricity costs 6 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh). In one month one home uses one megawatt hour of electricity. How much will the bill be?
15) What is the cost of coal in dollars per ton if it costs $0.04 per kilogram? (1 ton = 1000 kg)
16) Your car gets 15 miles to the gallon and your friend’s car gets 25 miles to the gallon. You decide to go on a road trip to Washington, DC, which is 300 miles away. If gas costs $4 per gallon and you decide to split the gas money, how much money will you save in gas by driving your friend’s car?
17) The combustion of one gallon of automobile fuel produces about 5 pounds of carbon (in CO2).
Two autos are making a trip of 600 miles. The first auto gets 20 miles per gallon, and the second gets 30 miles per gallon. Approximately how much less carbon (in CO2) will be produced by the second auto on this trip?
18) What is the cost to drive to Los Angeles from San Francisco a distance of 400 miles if the cost of gasoline is $2.90 a gallon and the car gets 25 miles per gallon of gas?
19) If you dig a hole through the earth to China, how many years would it be before you got there if you could dig at a rate of 5 km per week and the diameter of the earth is 13,000 km?
20) How many years old are you if you have lived 1 billion seconds?
21) Your electric bill shows that you use 600 kWh of electricity each month. You know that old refrigerators are not very energy efficient and can make a large portion of your electric bill. Your refrigerator uses 500 watts when the motor is running. The motor runs for about 30 minutes per hour (or a total of 12 hours per day).
- How much energy does your refrigerator use in kWh per year?
- The best new models of refrigerators only use 690 kWh per year. What is the difference in energy use compared to your refrigerator?
- Assume that you are paying, on average, $0.10 per kilowatt-hour for electricity. A new refrigerator would cost you $500 including a $50 rebate from your electric company for purchasing an energy efficient appliance. How long will to take to recover the cost of the new energy efficient appliance?
Chemistry 101
* define terms with arrows, fill in charts, and answer questions*
Atom
Element
Below are symbols for elements that are frequently mentioned in environmental science.
Write the name of the element beside the symbol.
N - / Cl -Hg - / C -
O - / U -
F - / P -
Br - / Pb -
H - / As -
Pu - / Ba -
Compound
Below are formulas for compounds that are frequently mentioned in environmental science.
Write the name of the compound beside the symbol.
N2O - / NO -CO2 - / H2SO4 -
SO2 - / HNO3 -
CH4 - / C6H12O6
C14H9Cl5 - / CO -
NH3 - / H2S -
Molecule
Below are formulas for molecules that are frequently mentioned in environmental science.
Write the name of the molecule beside the symbol.
H2O - / O3 -O2 - / N2 -
Isotope
Ion
Below are formulas for ions that are frequently mentioned in environmental science.
Write the name of the ion beside the symbol.
H+ - / NH4+ -SO42- - / NO3- -
PO43- - / Ca2+ -
pH
What is the pH range for normal rainwater? Seawater?
Organic compounds
* hydrocarbons -
ex. CH4
* chlorinated hydrocarbons -
ex. DDT , PCBs
* chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) -
ex. Freon-12
* polymers -
ex. carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids
Inorganic compounds
Energy
Radiation
Electromagnetic radiation
* ionizing radiation -
ex.
* nonionizing radiation -
ex.
Which type can be dangerous to your health?
Would Earth be considered a closed or an open system for energy? Why?
Heat
Heat can be transferred from one place to another by three methods. After reading
about each method, which are we most like to talk about in APES and why?
High-quality energy
ex.
Low-quality energy
ex.
Law of conservation of matter
Would Earth be considered a closed or an open system for matter? Why?
Why is there no real ”away” for pollutants?
1st law of thermodynamics
2nd law of thermodynamics
Below are diagrams showing examples of the laws of thermodynamics. Identify which law matches each diagram.
Current Event Analysis
In environmental science, it is important to know about current issues. One of my goals is to familiarize you with environmental issues that are important to our community, country and world. Over the course of the summer, find 2recent articles related to environmental science. Both articles should be current (during the past 1 year and taken from a reliable source). The sources may be scientific publications, popular magazines, newspapers etc. Try the NY times (especially Tuesday), Washington Post, National Geographic, Discover Magazine, Natural History Magazine, Treehugger.com, etc. I do not care if you use a paper or online copy of your article as long as it is property cited. Each article should relate to a different topic chosen from the following list. As the year progresses you will be able to cover all of the topics!
Environmental Law / Ecosystems / Climate / Evolution / Preserving Our BiodiversityWater Pollution / Population Growth / Cities and Waste / Geology / Renewable Energy
Nonrenewable Energy / Food/Agriculture / Air Pollution / Human Health / Forest or Rangeland
Article Analysis Directions: Include all of the following components and clearly identify each component with headings. Each analysis should be either typed or neatly written in blue or black ink. Each article should be on its own paper.
Title of the article
Summary: brief(no more than 5-8 sentences)summary that tells me what the article is about.
Analysis:
a. Points of view – does the article have more than one side/POV? If so what are they?
b. Bias – Is this article biased in any way? In your opinion, does the author give a positive, negative, or neutral view of the environmental science topic?
c. Controversy: Is there any controversy surrounding this article? If so briefly explain it.
d. Your perspective: State your perspective on this news article based on your personal knowledge of the topic and your reading of the article.
e. Effect on you: How does this topic relate to you or your affect you?
Attach a physical copy of the article