ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

. Introduction

 Environmental Science Definition

 Measurements

 Standard Units

 Conversion Factors

II. A glimpse to the solar system

 Sun

 Planets and Other celestial bodies

 Nature and organization of matter (Basic Chemical Laws; Newton’s, Charle’s and Boyle’s Law)

III. The Units of Ecology

 Biotic Components

 Abiotic Components

IV. Pathways of Energy

 Feeding Relationship

 Energy Flow

 Nitrogen and Phosphorous Cycle

*****MIDTERM EXAM

V. Population and Community

 Dynamics and Population

 The Population Problem

 Organization of Community

VI. Man and Its Environment

 Human Intervention Nature

 Energy and Environment

 The Population Problem

 Environmental Concerns

 Prospects of the Future

******FINAL EXAM

Reference:
 1. Steck-Vaughn Pre-GED High School Study 2007 Revised Edition

2. Guido, Ryan Manuel et.al., Fundamentals of Environmental Science

3. Tayo, Gilma T. et.al., Fundamentals of Environmental Science

4. Santiago, Florenda et.al., Environmental Science: Shared Responsibility Towards the Earth

5. Baguio, Saranay “Sol” M. and Butanan, Rose Mary B., Breaking Through Chemistry.

6. Zumandal, Steven S. and DeCoste, Donald J., Basic Chemistry 7th Edition.

Midterm Grade (MG)

Tentative Final Grade (TFG)

Recitation = 30%

Quizzes = 30%

Major Exam = 40%

__________________

100 %

Final Grade

FG = [MG + 2XTFG]

_____________

A basic ecology course investigating the interaction between organisms and their biotic and abiotic environment,
focusing on human populations and their effects on the natural environment.

Other definition

Concerned with the changes brought by human activities and their immediate and long term implication for the
welfare of living organisms, including humans.

Interaction between the environmental system and the human system.

I. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

Definition of Measurement

Latin word mēnsūra which means the action of measuring something: accurate measurement is essential.

Measurement may be defined as follows:

  Measurements act as labels which make those values more useful in terms of details Values made
meaningful by quantifying into specific units.

 Measurement is an act or a process that involves the assignment of a numerical index to whatever is being
assessed.

 Measurement is collection of quantitative data. A measurement is made by comparing a quantity with a

standard unit.

 In education, the numerical value of scholastics ability, aptitude, achievement etc can be measured and
obtained using instruments such as paper and pencil test. It means that the values of the attribute are
translated into numbers by measurement.

 Measurement, beyond its general definition, refers to the set of procedures and the principles for how to
use the procedures in educational tests and assessments. Some of the basic principles of measurement in
educational evaluations would be raw scores, percentile ranks, derived scores, standard scores, etc.

 The process of obtaining a numerical description of the degree to which an individual possesses a particular
characteristic.

PARTS OF MEASUREMENT

1. Number
2. Unit

There are only two international systems of measurements used:

1. The English System (England)

2. The Metric System (France

Fundamental Quantities are measurable directly using standard measurements.

1. Length

2. Mass and

3. Time

Derived Quantities are quantities which cannot be measured directly, or derived from fundamental quantities by
mathematical calculations like volume, area, density and etc.

International System of Units (SI) (1960 established by 11th General Conference on Weights and Measurements.
SCIENTIFIC NOTATIONS

 Simply expresses a number as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and the appropriate power of 10.
For example, the number 93,000,000 can be expressed as

 93,000,000 = 9.3 X 10,000,000 = 9.3 X 107

Remember:

Whenever a decimal point is moved to the left, the exponent of 10 is positive

 Ex. 12,000,000,000 = 1.2 X 10, 000, 000, 000 = 1.2 X 1010

Whenever a decimal point is moved to the right, the exponent of 10 is negative.

 Ex. 0.0000012 = 1.2 X 10-6

CONVERSION FACTORS
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

ROUNDING OFF

RULES

1. If the digit to be removed

a. Is less than 5, the preceding digit stays the same. For example, 1.33 rounds to 1.3.

b. Is equal to or greater than 5, the preceding digit is increased by 1. For example, 1.36 rounds to 1.4 and 3.15
rounds to 3.2.

2. In a series of calculations, carry the extra digits through the final result and then round off. This means that you
should carry all the digits that show on your calculator until you arrive at the final number (answer) and then round
off, using the procedures in rule 1.

RECAP: Whenever you work problems, remember the following points:

1. 1. Always include the units (a measurement always has two parts; a number and a unit).

2. Cancel units as you carry out the calculations.

3. Check that your final answer has the correct units. If it doesn’t , you have done something wrong.
 4. Check that your final answer has the correct number of significant figures.

5. Think about whether your answer makes sense.

Precision and Accuracy

1. Precision- is one way of checking measurements. It tells how close several measurements are to the same
value. When this happens, measurement is said to be precise, but not necessarily accurate.

2. Accuracy- is another way of checking measurements. It tells how close measurement is to the true or
accepted value. A measurement is accurate or has a high accuracy is one that is close to the value.

II. A Glimpse to the Solar System

1. The center of the group of bodies that revolve around it at distances of millions of kilometers.
2. A huge ball of incandescent matter.
3. The core is believed to be a mass off white-hot semi-liquid material.
4. Surrounding is a layer of glowing gasses which make up the sun’s atmosphere.
5. It was more than 99% of hydrogen and helium, and less than 1% heavier elements.

In August 2006, according to the new definition of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a full pledge planet is:

1. An object that orbits the sun.

2. Large enough to have become round due to the force of its own gravity.

3. Has to dominate the neighborhood around its orbit.

8 Planets

1. MERCURY is the smallest and fastest moving of all the planets and the closest planet to the sun.

2. VENUS, the planet nearest the earth, is the brightest of all heavenly bodies except the sun and the moon.

3. EARTH is the only planetary body in solar system that has conditions suitable for life, at least known to
modern science.

4. MARS has a reddish-orange color, and can thus be easily identified by the naked eye. Observations reveal
that Mars has water and atmosphere.\
 5. JUPITER, the largest of the planets, has diameter more than 10 times the earth. In brightest, it is only next to
Venus.

6. SATURN is the most unusual of the planets in appearance, for it has three rings revolving around its center.

7. URANUS has 27 moons.

8. NEPTUNE is visible only by the aid of a telescope. Its orbit is so large that a single year on that planet is twice
as long as the average human lifetime.

Motions of the Earth

1. ROTATION- The earth turns or rotates on its own axis once every 24 hours, thus causing day and night.

2. REVOLUTION- The travels or revolves around the sun in an elliptical orbit, making a complete circuit in
approximately 365 ¼ days, or one year.

1. Dwarf Planets- Pluto did not meet the all the requirements to become a full pledge planet; Ceres, a former
asteroid also classified as dwarf planet; Eris, discovered in 2003, is the largest known dwarf planet, slightly
larger than Pluto.

2. Planetoids- Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter lies a group of several hundreds of small bodies of matter,
sometimes called as asteroids.

3. Comets- heavenly bodies having small mass but a very great volume, it has head and a tail that is extremely
thin material and its tail always points away from the sun.

4. Meteors- popularly but inaccurately called a “shooting star”, is a small fragment of matter which has entered
the earth’s atmosphere from interplanetary space.

5. The Moon is a spherical mass of rocky material revolving around the earth as a material. The moon makes
one complete revolution around the earth in 27 1/3 days.

6. The Stars- the stars that dot the heavens on a clear night are huge suns. Many of them are hundred times
larger, and very much hotter than our own sun.

7. The Milky Way- On a clear, moonless night one can observe a narrow, cloud-like band of light stretching
across the heavens, known to the astronomers as Galaxy.

8. Other Universe- Millions of light years beyond our stellar system are other star clusters or galaxies that have
been discovered with the aid of modern telescopes and cameras. Some of these universe are so far from the
earth that they appear to us as hazy clouds that are frequently called Nebulae. The word nebula means
literally “mist” or “cloud”.

III. MATTER

Matter is the material that makes up things in the Universe; it is anything that occupies space and has mass.

States of Matter

1. SOLID - Has a definite shape and definite volume. Ex. Books.

 2. LIQUID- No definite shape, it takes the shape of its container, has definite volume, particles are free to move
over each other, but are still attracted to each other. Ex. Water.

3. GAS- No definite shape and volume, particles move in random motion with little or no attraction to each
other. Ex. Air in the balloon.

Structure of Matter
Properties of Matter

1. Physical Properties- are tangible property that shows what the substance of matter is, without changing into
or interacting with another substance. Ex. Color, odor, melting and boiling point.

2. Chemical Properties- include chemical activity, or reactivity with other materials, such as whether how
material burns, or how it reacts with air, water, acids or bases.

Changes in matter

1. Physical change occurs when a substance change its physical form, not its composition. Ex. Cutting of paper.

2. Chemical change (chemical reaction) occurs when a substance (or a substances) is altered into different
substance (substance). Ex. Burning of paper.