SCIENCE 2 (ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, ASTRONOMY, MOLECULAR AND

CELL BIOLOGY) NOTES

THE ATMOSPHERE
 Nitrogen (78% and not very reactive)
 Oxygen (21%, important for combustion and cellular respiration)
 Argon (0.9% and is unreactive)
 Carbon dioxide, water vapour, etc (0.1%, affects global climate)
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
 Processes that involve the formation, movement, and transformation of
the different of important substances on the surface of the earth
 Water cycle
o Evaporation (water  vapor  goes to atmosphere)
o Condensation (water vapor  droplets  forms clouds)
o Precipitation (clouds  rain or snow)
 Acid rain (emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide 
sulfuric acid and nitric acid)
o Transpiration (evaporation of water from plant’s leaves)
o Run-off (water from rain  travels along land  flows to sea)
 CO2 – O2 cycle
o Photosynthesis (CO2  food (with the help of sunlight, O 2 is also
released))
o Respiration (O2  metabolism  energy (CO2 is released))
o Combustion (uses O2 in the atmosphere to burn fuel, releases CO2)
 Nitrogen cycle
o Nitrogen fixation (atmospheric N2  ammonia  nitrates)
 nitrogen-fixing bacteria found in the roots of plants called
legumes
 nitrates are absorbed by the roots of plants
o Lightning
 Energetic electrical process that can cause a reaction between
N2 and O2 in the air to form nitrates
o Assimilation (nitrates  amino acids)
o Denitrification (reduction of nitrates back to atmospheric N 2 by
Denitrifying bacteria)
LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE (T-S-M-I-E)
 Troposphere (densest layer, 90% of all the gases in the atmosphere,
weather)
 Stratosphere (below freezing temperatures)
o Contains ozone layer which absorbs and scatters UV rays
o Ozone depletion
 Caused by ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs
 Mesosphere (-100oC, meteoroid  meteor  meteorite  meteor shower)
 Ionosphere/Thermosphere (hottest layer, aurora)
 Exosphere (boundary between the atmosphere and outer space)
MOVEMENT OF THE EARTH AND THE MOON
 Spherical earth model
 o Backed up by Ferdinand Magellan and Sebastian Elcano
 Ptolemy
o Geocentric model
 Sun, stars and the planets circled the Earth
 Copernicus
o Heliocentric theory
 Earth and the other planets revolve in circles around the sun
 Kepler
o Laws of Planetary Motion
 Orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at one of the
two foci
 Planet moves faster when closer to the sun and slower
when farther from the sun
 Square of the period of revolution (P2) is directly proportional
to the cube of the distance from the sun (R3)
 Orbit (path taken by an object revolving around another body of space)
 Aphelion and perihelion (farthest and nearest)
o Around the sun
 Apogee and perigee (farthest and nearest)
o Around the earth
 Time Zones
o Each 15o longitude has its own hourly time zone
o East of prime meridian (+ 1 hour for each time zone)
o West of prime meridian (- 1 hour for each time zone)
 International Date Line
o Baseline set at 180o
o West of IDL (+ 1 day)
o East of IDL (-1 day)
 Eclipses
o Astronomical object is temporarily obscured by another object
o Type of syzygy (straight line of three celestial bodies)
o Solar Eclipse (moon blocks the sun’s light)
 Total, Annular, Partial
 Tides
o Constant rise and fall of surface waters due to the interplay of
gravitational forces of the earth
o Spring tides
 Sun is in line with the moon
 High tides
o Neap tides
 Right angles with each other
 Little difference between high and low tides
THE UNIVERSE
 Planets of the solar system (MVEMJSUN)
o Mercury: smallest, closest to the sun, no atmosphere
o Venus: Earth’s twin planet, hottest planet, brightest from earth
 o Earth: has a moon
o Mars: red planet, 2 moons
o Jupiter: largest planet, has a ring, 67 moons
o Saturn: most prominent ring, 62 moons
o Uranus: ice giant, axis is tilted sideways
o Neptune: densest gas planet, twin of Uranus
 Dwarf Planet
o Does not clear the neighbourhood around its orbit
o Eris, Pluto, Ceres
 Asteroid Belt
o Found between Mars and Jupiter
o Includes the largest asteroid Ceres
 Kuiper Belt
o Found beyond Neptune
o Includes the dwarf planet Pluto
 Comet
o Icy objects
o Displays a coma when near the sun (fuzzy atmosphere) and a tail
o Short period comets are from the Kuiper belt
o Long period comets are from the Oort cloud
 Star’s Life Cycle
o Protostar
 Nebula collapses into a single mass
o Main-sequence Stars
 Nuclear fission in the star’s core
o Post main-sequence
 Hydrogen fuel  heavier elements
 Sun-like stars (red giant  planetary nebula  white dwarf 
black dwarf)
 Massive stars (red supergiant  supernova  neutron star,
black hole)
 Brightness and Luminosity of a star (younger = hotter, older = colder)
o Blue  bluish white  white  yellow  orange  red
 Constellation
o Internationally defined area of the celestial sphere
o Asterism
 A pattern of stars that may be part of a constellation
*Galaxy  Galaxy Group  Galaxy Cluster  Galaxy Supercluster
*Earth  Solar System  Milkyway Galaxy  Local Galactic Group  Virgo
Supercluster  Observable Universe

THE STUDY OF LIFE

CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE
 Order and Organization
o Unicellular organisms
 o Multicellular organisms (cells  tissues  organ  organ system 
organism)
 Metabolism
o Chemical processes in an organism
o Involves usage or production of energy in the form of ATP
o Anabolism
 Building of complex substances from simpler ones using
energy
o Catabolism
 Breakdown of complex substances to release energy
 Homeostasis
o Organism’s ability to regulate its internal environment to
maintain constant state
 Growth
o Increase in size of an organism or its parts
o Development
 Maturation of differentiation of an organism’s cells and tissues to
be able to perform a new function
 Responsiveness
o Ability of an organism to respond to external changes or stimuli
o Animals (nervous system)
o Plants (tropisms: direct the growth or movement towards or away
from stimulus)
 Reproduction
o Perpetuation of the species
o New individuals are produced from parents
o Asexual: involves a single individual producing offspring that are
identical to its parent
o Sexual: two individuals producing a new organism by combining
genetic materials (genetically different)
 Adaptation
o Organism’s ability to adjust to changes in the environment in order to
survive and persist
o Driven by the long and gradual process of evolution
BIOCHEMISTRY
 Biomolecules
o Molecules found in living organisms
o Carbohydrates
 Composed of C, H, and O
 Provide and store energy, and provide structure and
support
 Monosaccharides (basic unit of Carbohydrates)
 Glucose, fructose, ribose, galactose
 Disaccharides (formed from two monosaccharide units)
 Sucrose (glucose + fructose)
 Maltose (glucose + glucose)
  Lactose (galactose + glucose)
 Polysaccharides (molecules formed by long chains of
monosaccharide units)
 Starch
 Glycogen
 Cellulose (for cell walls and paper)
 Chitin (for hard structure)
o Lipids
 Compounds with the basic fatty-acid glycerol and are
functioned to store energy, provide insulation
 Main components of most hormones and vitamins
 Fatty acids (simple unit of lipids and are bound by glycerol)
 Fats (lipids that are solid in room temperature and obtained
from animal sources)
 Oils (lipids that are liquid in room temperature and obtained
from plant sources)
o Proteins
 Long chains of amino acids that function for support,
storage, transport, movement
 Also function as enzymes
 Can initiate, speed up, or inhibit a specific metabolic process
o Nucleic Acids
 Made up of nucleotides (nitrogenous bases, sugar, phosphate
backbone)
 DNA and RNA
 Nitrogenous bases
 Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Thymine and Uracil
 DNA
 double-stranded nucleic acid that carries the genetic
instructions used in development and function
 A,T,C,G (A-T, C-G)
 Has a double helix configuration
 RNA
 Single-stranded nucleic acid that has various roles in
the conversion of genetic information
 A,U,C,G (A-U,C-G)