Wikibooks: FHSST Biology/Contents/Index/ES/Ecosystems/Resources/Energy flow within environments

2.3. Energy flow within the environment Energy on earth originates from the sun. What about undersea thermal vents? Energy on Earth allows life to exist. The sun facilitates the movements of air and water in the atmosphere. The sun also facilitated the formation of non renewable resources such as oi...

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Summary:2.3. Energy flow within the environment Energy on earth originates from the sun. What about undersea thermal vents? Energy on Earth allows life to exist. The sun facilitates the movements of air and water in the atmosphere. The sun also facilitated the formation of non renewable resources such as oil and coal. Green plants at most capture 1/20 of the suns energy that reaches Earth. Plants use most of that energy for metabolisms and therefore only 1% of energy is converted to plant tissue. Energy flow can be depicted in a food chain. Plant herbivores carnivores Decomposer Organisms Energy has allowed man to become more industrialised and even allowed man to travel to the moon! Because of energy loss biomass normally diminishes through the stages of secondary and tertiary production. top carnivores carnivores herbivores primary producers The biggest animals tend to be on top of the pyramid. The world’s biggest land and sea animals i.e. the elephant and Blue Whale have decided to cut out the middle man and instead of being top carnivores feed directly on plants. Look up an interesting article on the net. The term power is used for energy obtained for urban and industrial purposes measured by the rate of flow of useful energy that can be made to work. Some measures of power are the kilojoule (KJ) the megajoule (MJ) and the kilowatt (KW). Look up article on oil demand. Wold consumption of energy has been doubling every 14 years. The development of new technology may rapidly change energy consumption. Types of energy sources Diversion of current energy flows #olar flux (photosynthesis) #alling water wind geothermal energy tidal energy release of stored energy #fossil fuels – oil coal gas. All represent stored energy from photosynthesis from the geological past and which yield energy upon combustion. #uclear energy. Liberates energy contained in the nucleus of the atom. The advancement of societies followed the access and use of energy unter – gatherer societies. Used solar energy via food and fuel wood. ...