ESCI 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Geochemistry, Dominate, Chemotroph

• School: University of Windsor
• Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Course: ESCI 1100
• Professor: Gagnon, Fisk, Weisener

Document Summary

Thermodynamic laws: 1st law: energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transformed, 2nd law: amount of energy available to do work in the universe is decreasing with time (energy conversions but not 100% efficient) Thermodynamic systems: closed; no exchange of matter or energy with surroundings (experimental systems are not real systems, open: exchange of matter and energy with surroundings; non ideal and complicated (natural systems such as an ecosystem) Earth as a system: open: exchanges energy and matter with our surroundings, non ideal: hard to constrain, quantitatively model. Example: ecosystems: metabolism: processes organisms use to converts inputs to outputs, example: photosynthesis (simple molecules converted to complex ones, provides chemical energy source for life and growth. Stores chemical energy: solar energy converts h2o and co2 into carbohydrates and o2. Respiration: releases chemical energyl o2 is used to burn carbohydrates to produce energy and do work, results in decreased weight (biomass loss)