Question 1

What is the phosphorus cycle?

Accepted Answer

The biogeochemical cycle that describes the movement of phosphorus through biotic and abiotic components of earth

Question 2

How does weathering affect the phosphorus cycle?

Accepted Answer

Most phosphorus is found in rocks; weathering these rocks releases phosphorus

Question 3

How is phosphorus absorbed by living organisms in the phosphorus cycle?

Accepted Answer

Plants absorb phosphorus dissolved in soil water and animals eat plants containing phosphorus

Question 4

Why is the phosphorus cycle so slow?

Accepted Answer

Phosphorus is released from rocks, which can take thousands of years to break down due to weathering

There is no gaseous phase

Question 5

How does phosphorus in organisms return to the ecosystem?

Accepted Answer

Decomposers break down dead organisms, converting the phosphorus back to an inorganic form

Question 6

What happens after phosphorus enters the ocean?

Accepted Answer

It is deposited into sediments at the bottom of the ocean and is eventually returned to mountains through geological uplift

Question 7

What is the hydrologic cycle?

(the water cycle)

Accepted Answer

The biogeochemical cycle that describes how water moves through earth

Question 8

What is evaporation?

Accepted Answer

The process of liquid water turning to gas and entering the atmosphere

Question 9

What is transpiration?

Accepted Answer

Water exiting a leaf's stomata and entering the atmosphere

Question 10

What is condensation?

Accepted Answer

The process of water vapor in the air turning to liquid (clouds)

Question 11

What is precipitation?

Accepted Answer

The fall of rain/snow that brings liquid water from clouds back to the ground

Question 12

What is infiltration? (water)

Accepted Answer

Water entering the soil through the earth's surface

Question 13

What is groundwater flow?

Accepted Answer

The flow of water within the earth's soil

(occurs after infiltration)

Question 14

What is runoff?

Accepted Answer

Water pulled across the surface by gravity; leads towards lakes, rivers, and eventually the ocean

(occurs when there is excess precipitation, and the ground cannot absorb any more water)

1.6 The Phosphorus Cycle, AP Environmental Science Flashcards