General Science Flash Card Set 753584

Cards 10
Topics Central & Peripheral Nervous Systems, Classification of Life, Decomposers, Liquid, Power, Pulmonary Artery & Vein, Scavengers, Species Groups, Thermosphere

Study Guide

Central & Peripheral Nervous Systems

The nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system) and the peripheral nervous system which is the network of nerve cells (neurons) that collect and distribute signals from the central nervous system throughout the body.

Classification of Life

Classifications of life are too numerous to enumerate, here's an overview of the classifications from broadest to narrowist:

Classification Contains Related
Kingdom phyla
Phylum classes
Class orders
Order families
Family genera
Genus species
Species organisms

Decomposers

Decomposers (saprotrophs) are organisms such as bacteria and fungi that break down the organic matter in the dead bodies of plants and animals into simple nutrients.

Liquid

In the liquid state, molecules flow freely around each other and exist at a higher temperature range than the same substance in a solid state. Liquids maintain a constant volume but their shape depends upon the shape of their container.

Power

Power is the rate at which work is performed or work per unit time: \(P = {w \over t}\) and is measured in watts (W).

Pulmonary Artery & Vein

The two largest veins in the body, the venae cavae, pass blood to the right ventricle which pumps the blood to the lungs through the pulmonary artery. Blood picks up oxygen in the lungs and returns it to the left atrium via the pulmonary vein.

Scavengers

Like decomposers, scavengers also break down the dead bodies of plants and animals into simple nutrients. The difference is that scavengers operate on much larger refuse and dead animals (carrion). Decomposers then consume the much smaller particles left over by the scavengers.

Species Groups

A population is a group of organisms of the same species who live in the same area at the same time. A community is a group of populations living and interacting with each other in an area.

Thermosphere

Temperatures again increase with altitude in the thermosphere which is the hottest (4,530 °F / 2,500 °C) atmospheric layer due to direct exposure to the Sun's radiation. However, the gas in this layer is highly diluted so even though the atoms of gas may be very high in temperature, there are too few of them to effectively transfer much heat.