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UConn GEOG 2300 - Final Exam Study Guide

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GEOG 2300 1st EditionFinal Exam Study Guide Lectures: 1 - 37Introduction and SystemsLecture 3 (January 26), Lecture 4 (January 28), Lecture 5 (January 30)1. Introducing Geography and Sciencea. Geography: study of the evolving character and organization of the earth’s surface; Geography is interdisciplinary because it places humans in their environments (technical, physical, cultural, etc.)b. Science: a particular discipline or branch of learning, especially one dealing with measurable or systematic principles rather than intuition or natural ability; Science involves observations of natural phenomena or results of experiments; Empiricism: a pursuit of knowledge purely through experience, especially by means of observation and sometimes by experimentation; Systematic principles involve following an agreed upon set of steps to learn about the world in a way that is replicable and therefore provides the capacity for prediction – scientific method; Scientific method provides these systematic principles so that the resulting knowledge can be applicable to similar situations; Scientific Method: observations, hypothesis, experimentation, observation, new hypothesis, after a hypothesis stands up to all of the experiments, then there is a conclusion or theory; Hypotheses can only be refuted or not refuted; Creating hypotheses is reductionist, the scientist takes a big idea and breaks it into supporting ideas and tries to disprove the small ideas in order to see if the big idea stands – analyzing2. Earth Spheres, Scale, Systems, Thermodynamicsa. Earth Spheres/ Realms: Atmosphere: layer of gases surrounding the earth; Lithosphere :outermost solid layer of the earth; Hydrosphere: the earth’s water (oceans, rivers, ice, water vapor); Biosphere: all living organismsb. Scale and Process: Describes spatial and temporal scales (space and time); There are global, continental, regional, local, and individual spatial scales; there are seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, seasons, years, decades, centuries, and millennia time scalesc. System: a set of related or organized objects; Flow Systems: energy or matterflows in and between the realms; Open: energy or matter flows in and out of the system (ex: river); Closed: energy or matter is contained in the system (ex:water cycle); Matter and energy can flow in (input) and/or out (output);Systems are structured by the way matter and energy flow along pathways; Positive Feedback: reinforce or accentuate change, an example is the albedo effect (more sunlight is reflected because of snow and then the surface gets warmer because of less sunlight absorption then it snows more and so on); Negative Feedback: compensate or reduce change; tends to regulate, an example is plants and carbon dioxide (CO2 increases and then plants grow and then they absorb more CO2); Equilibrium: achieved when flow rates in different pathways remain the same, there is no net change between input and output, this is usually done by negative feedbacksd. Thermodynamics and the Energy of Life: conservation of energy (1st law): energy can change forms, but it’s not created or destroyed; deals with quantity of energy; entropy (2nd law): amount of usable energy decreases as energy changes form; deals with quality of energye. Time Cycles: Matter and energy can flow at different rates, an example is the amount of water coming in to a lake from tributaries vs. runoff; These rates are also subject to change; Can be cyclical, an example is seasons3. The Shape of the Eartha. Mostly round, close to a sphere; an oblate ellipsoid: slightly flattened like a hamburger (prolate ellipsoid is like a hot dog); More flattened at the poles, bulges at the equator due to Earth’s rotation; The difference in the dimensions is small – 3/10ths of 1%; We know the Earth is round by how ships at the horizon look partially submerged4. Earth Rotationa. Rotation: spinning of an object around an axis; Axis: imaginary line through both poles; Rotates on this axis once every solar day; Solar Day: average timerequired for the earth to complete one rotation with respect to the sun, time elapsed between one solar noon and the next, averaged over the period of one year; Rotates counter-clockwise or eastwards looking down at the North Pole5. The Geographic Grida. Parallel: divides the Earth into crosswise rings; Equator: parallel of latitude occupying a position midway between the earth’s poles of rotation, the largest of the parallels, latitude 0 degrees; Meridian: divides the Earth from pole to pole; Geographic Grid: a universal grid to identify locations on the earth’s surface; Great Circle: circle formed by passing a plane through the exact center of a perfect sphere, the largest circle that can be drawn on the surface of a sphere; Small Circle: circle formed by passing a plane through a sphere without going through the exact center; Poles: points at which the earth’s axis of rotation intersects the earth’s surfaceb. Latitude: the angle between a point on a parallel and the center of the Earth and a point on the equator; Longitude: the angular distance east or west of the Prime Meridian, meridians connect lines of equal longitude; longitude and latitude are measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds6. Map Projectionsa. Cartography: science and art of making maps; Projections: are used to distort the curved surface of the earth onto a flat map; Scale Fraction: used to distort size onto a smaller map, for example 1:50,000 means that 1 unit of distance represents 50,000 units in actuality7. The Earth’s Revolution Around the Suna. Tilt of the earth’s axis: Plane of the Ecliptic: imaginary plane on which the earth’s orbit liesb. Seasons and what determines them: Earth’s tilt causes the seasons, the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun from June-September and the southern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun from December-March; Tilt: earth is tilted 66.5 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic or 23.5 degrees from the perpendicular; Revolution: one revolution is the time it takes the Earth tocircle around the sun; Aphelion: the Earth is furthest from the sun on July 4; Perihelion: the Earth is closest to the sun on January 3c. Winter Solstice: southern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun with the max tilt on December 21; Summer Solstice: northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun with the max tilt on June 21d. Equinox: between solstices and occur when the sun’s noontime rays strike


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