Earth’s Energy Cycle

Paragraph 1：To understand most of the processes at work on Earth, it is useful to envisage interactions within the Earth system as a series of interrelated cycles. One of these is the energy cycle, which encompasses the great “engines” — the external and internal energy sources—that drive the Earth system and all its cycles. We can think of Earth’s energy cycle as a “budget”: energy may be added to or subtracted from the budget and may be transferred from one storage place to another, but overall the additions and subtractions and transfers must balance each other. If a balance did not exist, Earth would either heat up or cool down until a balance was reached.?

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1. In paragraph 1, the author introduces the concept of a budget in order to??

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O indicate how different cycles in the Earth system relate to each other?

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O illustrate how Earth’s energy cycle must maintain an overall balance

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O show that Earth gains energy from both external and internal sources?

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O explain how energy is transferred from one storage place to another?

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Paragraph 2：The total amount of energy flowing into Earth’s energy budget is more than 174,000 terawatts (or 174,000 ×1012 watts). This quantity completely dwarfs the 10 terawatts of energy that humans use per year. There are three main sources from which energy flows into the Earth system.?

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2. Why does the author include information about the “energy that humans use per year” in the discussion??

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O To call into question the idea that humans can use up all the energy available in Earth’s energy budget?

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O To provide a comparison that established how huge the amount of energy flowing into Earth’s energy budget is

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O To explain why there must be more than one source of energy for the Earth system??

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O To argue that the use of energy by humans amounts to such a small part of Earth’s energy budget that it cannot have significant effects?

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Paragraph 3：Incoming short-wavelength solar radiation overwhelmingly dominates the flow of energy in Earth’s energy budget, accounting for about 99.986 percent of the total. An estimated 174,000 terawatts of solar radiation is intercepted by Earth.?Some of this vast influx powers the winds, rainfall, ocean currents, waves, and other processes in the hydrologic (or water) cycle. Some is used for photosynthesis and is temporarily stored in the biosphere in the form of plant and animal life. When plants die and are buried, some of the solar energy is stored in rocks; when we burn coal, oil, or natural gas, we release stored solar energy.?

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3. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways of leave out essential information.?

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O Almost all of the short-wavelength energy in Earth’s energy budget comes from solar radiation.?

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O Short-wavelength radiation is by far the largest part of the total energy that the Sun radiates to Earth.?

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O The amount of short-wavelength radiation received from the Sun is huge by comparison to Earth’s own energy production.?

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O Almost the entire amount of energy that flows into Earth’s energy budget is short-wavelength radiation from the Sun.

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4. According to paragraph 3, solar radiation powers all of the following EXCEPT??

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O photosynthesis in plants?

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O winds?

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O formation of rocks

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O processes in the hydrologic cycle?

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Paragraph 4：The second most powerful source of energy, at 23 terawatts or 0.013 percent of the total, is geothermal energy, Earth’s internal heat energy. Geothermal energy eventually finds its way to Earth’s surface, primarily via volcanic pathways. It drives the rock cycle and is therefore the source of the energy that uplifts mountains, causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and generally shapes the face of the Earth.?

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5. According to paragraph 4, all of the following statements about geothermal energy are true EXCEPT?

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O It is the main source of heat for the surface of the Earth.

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O It is responsible for earthquakes.?

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O It causes the eruptions of volcanoes.?

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O It causes mountains to rise high above the rest of Earth’s surface.?

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Paragraph 5：The smallest source of energy for Earth is the kinetic (motion) energy of Earth’s rotation. The Moon’s gravitational pull lifts a tidal bulge in the ocean; as Earth spins on its axis, this bulge remains essentially stationary. As Earth rotates, the tidal bulge runs into the coastlines of continents and islands, causing high tides. The force of the tidal bulge *piling up* against land masses acts as a very slow brake, actually causing Earth’s rate of rotation to decrease slightly. The transfer of tidal energy accounts for approximately 3 terawatts, or 0.002 percent of the tidal energy budget.?

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6. Paragraph 5 mentions which of the following as an effect of the Moon’s gravitation on Earth??

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O It causes high tides that reshape the coastlines of continents and islands.

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O It causes Earth to rotate on its axis at a somewhat faster speed than it would otherwise.?

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O It pulls ocean water into a bulge that runs into land masses as Earth rotates on its axis.

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O It reduces the force with which the tidal bulge would otherwise pile up against continents.?

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Prague 6：Earth loses energy from the cycle in two main ways: reflection, and degradation and reradiation. About 40 percent of incoming solar radiation is simply reflected, unchanged, back into space by the clouds, the sea, and other surfaces. For any planetary body, the percentage of incoming radiation that is reflected is called the “albedo”. Each different material has a characteristic reflectivity. For example, ice is more reflectant than rocks or pavement; water is more highly reflectant than vegetation; and forested land reflects light differently than agricultural land. Thus, if large expanses of land are converted from forest to plowed land, or from forest to city, the actual reflectivity of Earth’s surface, and hence its albedo, may be altered. Any change in albedo will, of course, have an effect on Earth’s energy budget.?

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7. What can be inferred from paragraph 6 about what would likely occur if cloud cover increased worldwide??

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O Different materials would become more similar to each other in their reflectivity.?

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O It would become a greater necessity to convert forests into plowed land and cities.?

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O A large percentage of incoming solar radiation would be reflected back into space.

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O The reflectivity of ice and water would change and become greater over time.?

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Paragraph 7：The portion of incoming solar energy that is not reflected back into space, along with tidal and geothermal energy, is absorbed by materials at Earth’s surface, in particular the atmosphere and hydrosphere. This energy undergoes a series of irreversible degradations in which it is transferred from one reservoir to another and converted from one form to another. The energy that is absorbed, utilized, transferred, and degraded eventually ends up as heat, in which form it is reradiated back into space as long-wavelength (infrared) radiation. Weather patterns are a manifestation of energy transfer and degradation.?

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8. According to paragraph 7, weather patterns are produced as part of the cycle in which?

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O incoming solar energy becomes reflected back into space?

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O solar energy is converted into geothermal and tidal energy?

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O the atmosphere and hydrosphere absorb long-wavelength radiation?

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O energy that has been absorbed near Earth’s surface undergoes transfer and conversion of form

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Prague 6：Earth loses energy from the cycle in two main ways: reflection, and degradation and reradiation. About 40 percent of incoming solar radiation is simply reflected, unchanged, back into space by the clouds, the sea, and other surfaces. ■For any planetary body, the percentage of incoming radiation that is reflected is called the “albedo”. ■Each different material has a characteristic reflectivity. ■For example, ice is more reflectant than rocks or pavement; water is more highly reflectant than vegetation; and forested land reflects light differently than agricultural land. ■Thus, if large expanses of land are converted from forest to plowed land, or from forest to city, the actual reflectivity of Earth’s surface, and hence its albedo, may be altered. Any change in albedo will, of course, have an effect on Earth’s energy budget.?

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9. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage.?

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How reflective a material is depends on how light or dark it is, among other things.

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Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage.?

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10. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points. Drag your choices to the spaces where they belong. To review the passage, click on View Text.?

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Earth’s energy cycle consists of all the energy inputs, outputs, and conversions within the Earth system, which must maintain an overall balance.

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Answer Choices?

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O Incoming short-wavelength solar radiation provides Earth with nearly all its energy and powers the hydrologic cycle as well as biological processes.?

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O Heat energy from Earth’s interior, which powers the rock cycle, and the kinetic energy of Earth’s rotation provide small additions to solar energy.?

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O Some of the incoming solar radiation is reflected, and the rest, after being absorbed, undergoes a series of conversions until it is reradiated into space as heat.

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O Humans use only a small amount of the available solar energy for heat, satisfying most of their energy needs by burning coal, oil, and natural gas.?

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O Solar energy stored in rocks on Earth’s surface is the primary source of geothermal energy and tidal energy.?

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O Earth’s atmosphere and hydrosphere absorb most of the incoming solar radiation, using up much of the energy to power weather patterns, with only the remainder radiated out as heat.?