Chapter 1

Plants
Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, plants were treated
as one of two kingdoms including all living things that were not animals, and all algae and fungi were treated as plants. However, all
current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes (the archaea and bacteria). By one
definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (Latin name for "green plants"), a group that includes the flowering plants, conifers and
other gymnosperms, ferns and their allies, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae, but excludes the red and brown
algae.
Green plants obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts that are derived
from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. Their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some
plants are parasitic or mycotrophic and have lost the ability to produce normal amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants
are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although asexual reproduction is also common.

Respiratory System
Out with the old and in with the new—that's what the respiratory system does, delivering air to the lungs,
bringing oxygen into the body, and expelling the carbon dioxide back into the air. Understanding the
structure and intricacies of the respiratory system is vital to human anatomy. The respiratory system is
made up of more than just the lungs; it also includes your nose, throat, larynx, windpipe, bronchi, alveolar
ducts, and respiratory membrane.

The function of the respiratory system is to deliver air to the lungs. Oxygen in the air diffuses out of the
lungs and into the blood, while carbon dioxide diffuses in the opposite direction, out of the blood and into
the lungs. Respiration includes the following processes:

 External respiration is the process of gas exchange between the atmosphere and the body
tissues. In order to accomplish this task, the following events occur:

1. Pulmonary ventilation is the process of breathing—inspiration (inhaling air) and expiration

(exhaling air).

2. Gas transport, carried out by the cardiovascular system, is the process of distributing the
oxygen throughout the body and collecting CO 2 and returning it to the lungs.

 Internal respiration is the process of gas exchange between the blood, the interstitial fluids (fluids
surrounding the cells), and the cells. Inside the cell, cellular respiration generates energy (ATP),
using O 2 and glucose and producing waste CO 2.

Human Respiratory System

The human gas-exchanging organ, the lung, is located in the thorax, where its delicate tissues are
protected by the bony and muscular thoracic cage. The lung provides the tissues of the human body with
a continuous flow of oxygen and clears the blood of the gaseous waste product, carbon dioxide.
Atmospheric air is pumped in and out regularly through a system of pipes, called conducting airways,
which join the gas-exchange region with the outside of the body. The airways can be divided into upper
and lower airway systems. The transition between the two systems is located where the pathways of the
respiratory and digestive systems cross, just at the top of the larynx.

The upper airway system comprises the nose and the paranasal cavities (or sinuses), the pharynx (or
throat), and partly also the oral cavity, since it may be used for breathing. The lower airway system
consists of the larynx, the trachea, the stem bronchi, and all the airways ramifying intensively within the
lungs, such as the intrapulmonary bronchi, the bronchioles, and the alveolar ducts. For respiration, the
collaboration of other organ systems is clearly essential. The diaphragm, as the main respiratory muscle,
and the intercostal muscles of the chest wall play an essential role by generating, under the control of the
central nervous system, the pumping action on the lung. The muscles expand and contract the internal
space of the thorax, the bony framework of which is formed by the ribs and the thoracic vertebrae. The
contribution of the lung and chest wall (ribs and muscles) to respiration is described below in The
mechanics of breathing. The blood, as a carrier for the gases, and the circulatory system are mandatory
elements of a working respiratory system.

Diseases And Disorders Of The Respiratory System

 Asthma
 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
 Chronic Bronchitis
 Emphysema
 Lung Cancer
 Cystic Fibrosis/Bronchiectasis
 Pneumonia
 Pleural Effusion

The Circulatory System

The circulatory system is a network consisting of blood, blood vessels, and the heart. This

network supplies tissues in the body with oxygen and other nutrients, transports hormones,

and removes unnecessary waste products.

The heart

The heart is made of specialized cardiac muscle tissue that allows it to act as a pump within

the circulatory system.

The human heart is divided into four chambers. There are one atrium and one ventricle on

each side of the heart. The atria receive blood and the ventricles pump blood.

The human circulatory system consists of several circuits:

 The pulmonary circuit provides blood flow between the heart and lungs.

 The systemic circuit allows blood to flow to and from the rest of the body.

 The coronary circuit strictly provides blood to the heart (not pictured in the figure below).

Diagram showing the flow of blood from the heart to the rest of the human body.

Blood and blood vessels

Blood from the heart is pumped throughout the body using blood vessels. Arteries carry

blood away from the heart and into capillaries, providing oxygen (and other nutrients) to

tissue and cells. Once oxygen is removed, the blood travels back to the lungs, where it is

reoxygenated and returned by veins to the heart.

The Pattern Of Circulation

Pattern of Circulation The circulatory system functions to deliver oxygen, nutrients, and hormones to all the cells of the body as well as

transport wastes. In mammals the circulatory system has two major circuits the blood follows: a systemic circuit and a pulmonary circuit. The

systemic circuit carries blood from the heart to all the major organs and returns to the heart. Thick walled arteries leave the heart and deliver

blood rich in oxygen to all the major regions of the body. They terminate in thin walled capillaries where materials enter and leave the system.

The capillaries are continuous with veins which carry blood low in oxygen back toward the heart. In your Rats most of the arteries contain red

latex and would transport highly oxygenated blood and most of the veins contain blue latex and transport poorly oxygenated blood. An

exception to this pattern is found in the pulmonary circuit. The pulmonary arteries (blue) carry blood low in oxygen from the heart to the lungs

where it is oxygenated. The pulmonary veins (uninjected or red) carry highly oxygenated blood back to the heart so it can enter the systemic
circulation. Make sure you understand the importance of this exception. The pattern from artery ý capillary bed ý vein is interrupted in portal

systems. Portal systems begin and end in capillary beds. The hepatic portal system functions to transport materials from the digestive system to

the liver where toxins are removed and nutrients are processed for storage.

Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is typically a measure of variation at the genetic, species,
and ecosystem level. Terrestrial biodiversity is usually greater near the equator which is the result of the warm climate and
high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, and is richest in the tropics. These tropical forest
ecosystems cover less than 10 percent of earth's surface, and contain about 90 percent of the world's species. Marine biodiversity is
usually highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest, and in the mid-latitudinal band in all
oceans. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been
increasing through time, but will be likely to slow in the future. Since life began on Earth, five major mass extinctions and several
minor events have led to large and sudden drops in biodiversity. The Phanerozoic eon (the last 540 million years) marked a rapid
growth in biodiversity via the a period during which the majority of multicellular phyla first appeared. The next 400 million years
included repeated, massive biodiversity losses classified as mass extinction events. In the Carboniferous, rainforest collapse led to
a great loss of plant and animal life. The Permian–Triassic extinction event, 251 million years ago, was the worst; vertebrate
recovery took 30 million years. The most recent, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, occurred 65 million years ago and has
often attracted more attention than others because it resulted in the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs.
The period since the emergence of humans has displayed an ongoing biodiversity reduction and an accompanying loss of genetic
diversity. Named the Holocene extinction, the reduction is caused primarily by human impacts, particularly habitat destruction.

Ecosystems
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as
a system. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the
system through photosynthesis and is incorporated into plant tissue. By feeding on plants and on one-another, animals play an
important role in the movement of matter and energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant
and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and
facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and other
microbes.
Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors. External factors such as climate, parent material which forms the soil
and topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem. Unlike external
factors, internal factors are controlled, for example, decomposition, root competition, shading, disturbance, succession, and the
types of species present.
Ecosystems are dynamic entities—they are subject to periodic disturbances and are in the process of recovering from some past
disturbance. Ecosystems in similar environments that are located in different parts of the world can end up doing things very
differently simply because they have different pools of species present. Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are
also controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops.
Resource inputs are generally controlled by external processes like climate and parent material. Resource availability within the
ecosystem is controlled by internal factors like decomposition, root competition or shading. Although humans operate within
ecosystems, their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like climate.
 Chapter 2
Chemical Bonding
A chemical bond is a lasting attraction between atoms, ions or molecules that enables the formation of chemical compounds. The
bond may result from the electrostatic force of attraction between oppositely charged ions as in ionic bonds or through the sharing of
electrons as in covalent bonds. The strength of chemical bonds varies considerably; there are "strong bonds" or "primary bonds"
such as covalent, ionic and metallic bonds, and "weak bonds" or "secondary bonds" such as dipole–dipole interactions, the London
dispersion force and hydrogen bonding.
Since opposite charges attract via a simple electromagnetic force, the negatively charged electrons that are orbiting the nucleus and
the positively charged protons in the nucleus attract each other. An electron positioned between two nuclei will be attracted to both
of them, and the nuclei will be attracted toward electrons in this position. This attraction constitutes the chemical bond. Due to
the matter wave nature of electrons and their smaller mass, they must occupy a much larger amount of volume compared with the
nuclei, and this volume occupied by the electrons keeps the atomic nuclei in a bond relatively far apart, as compared with the size of
the nuclei themselves.
In general, strong chemical bonding is associated with the sharing or transfer of electrons between the participating atoms. The
atoms in molecules, crystals, metals and diatomic gases—indeed most of the physical environment around us—are held together by
chemical bonds, which dictate the structure and the bulk properties of matter.

Examples of Lewis dot-style representations of chemical bonds between carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O). Lewis dot

diagrams were an early attempt to describe chemical bonding and are still widely used today.

All bonds can be explained by quantum theory, but, in practice, simplification rules allow chemists to predict the strength,
directionality, and polarity of bonds. The octet rule and VSEPR theory are two examples. More sophisticated theories are valence
bond theory, which includes orbital hybridization and resonance, and molecular orbital theory which includes linear combination of
atomic orbitals and ligand field theory. Electrostatics are used to describe bond polarities and the effects they have on chemical
substances.

The Variety Of Carbon Compounds

Organic Compounds
Organic compounds were once defined as any carbon compound formed exclusively by a living organism. Now
many of these compounds can be synthesized in a lab or have been found distinct from organisms, so the
definition has been revised (although not agreed upon). An organic compound must contain at least carbon. Most
chemists agree hydrogen must also be present. Even so, the classification of some compounds is disputed. Major
classes of organic compounds include (but are not limited to) carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
Examples of organic compounds include benzene, toluene, sucrose, and heptane.
Inorganic Compounds
Inorganic compounds may be found in minerals and other natural sources or may be made in the lab. Examples
include carbon oxides (CO and CO2), carbonates (e.g., CaCO3), oxalates (e.g., BaC2O4), carbon sulfides (e.g.,
carbon disulfide, CS2), carbon-nitrogen compounds (e.g., hydrogen cyanide, HCN), carbon halides, and
carboranes.
Names of Carbon Compounds

Certain classes of compounds have names that indicate their composition:

 Carbides: Carbides are binary compounds formed by carbon and another element with a lower
electronegativity. Examples include Al4C3, CaC2, SiC, TiC, WC.
 Carbon Halides: Carbon halides consist of carbon bonded to a halogen. Examples include carbon
tetrachloride (CCl4) and carbon tetraiodide (CI4).
 Carboranes: Carboranes are molecular clusters that contain both carbon and boron atoms. An example
is H2C2B10H10.

Properties of Carbon Compounds

Carbon compounds share certain common characteristics:

1. Most carbon compounds have low reactivity at ordinary temperature but may react vigorously when heat
is applied. For example, cellulose in wood is stable at room temperature, yet burns when heated.
2. As a consequence, organic carbon compounds are considered combustible and may be used as fuels.
Examples include tar, plant matter, natural gas, oil, and coal. Following combustion, the residue is
primarily elemental carbon.
3. Many carbon compounds are nonpolar and exhibit low solubility in water. For this reason, water alone is
not sufficient to remove oil or grease.
4. Compounds of carbon and nitrogen often make good explosives. The bonds between the atoms may be
unstable and likely to release considerable energy when broken.
 5. Compounds containing carbon and nitrogen typically have a distinct and unpleasant odor as liquids. The
solid form may be odorless. An example is nylon, which smells until it polymerizes.

Uses of Carbon Compounds

The uses of carbon compounds are limitless. Life as we know it relies on carbon. Most products contain carbon,
including plastics, alloys, and pigments. Fuels and foods are based on carbon.
 Chapter 3
Volcanoes
A volcano on Earth is a vent or fissure in the planet's crust through which lava, ash, rock and gases erupt. A volcano is also a
mountain formed by the accumulation of these eruptive products.

Volcanoes have existed for a long time on Earth, likely causing disasters such as the Permian mass extinction about 250 million
years ago, the greatest mass extinction in Earth's history, according to a 2015 paper. Volcanoes can and have existed on other
worlds as well: although volcanoes on the moon and Mars have long been dormant, volcanoes are still very active on
Jupiter's moon Io. Researchers are currently striving to find ways to predict when volcanic eruptions might happen on Earth by
analyzing clues such as crystals and gases linked with volcanoes.
Let's take a look at how volcanoes form on Earth:

Earth's crust is 3 to 37 miles (5 to 60 kilometers) thick, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It is broken up into seven
major and 152 smaller pieces called tectonic plates, according to a 2016 paper by Christopher Harrison at the University of Miami.
These plates float on a layer of magma — semi-liquid rock and dissolved gases. At the boundaries of these plates — where they
move past, are pushed under, or move away from each other — magma, which is lighter than the surrounding solid rock, is often
able to force its way up through cracks and fissures. Magma can explode from the vent, or it can flow out of the volcano like an
overflowing cup. Magma that has erupted is called lava. [Related: 50 Amazing Volcano Facts]

Types of volcanoes
Cinder cone volcanoes (also called scoria cones) are the most common type of volcano, according to San Diego State
University, and are the symmetrical cone-shaped volcanoes we typically think of. They may occur as single volcanoes or as
secondary volcanoes known as "parasitic cones" on the sides of stratovolcanoes or shield volcanoes. Airborne fragments of lava,
called tephra, are ejected from a single vent. The lava cools rapidly and fall as cinders that build up around the vent, forming a
crater at the summit, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Cinder cone volcanoes are fairly small, generally only about 300 feet
(91 meters) tall and not rising more than 1,200 feet (366 meters). They can build up over short periods of a few months or years.
Stratovolcanoes are also called composite volcanoes because they are built of layers of alternating lava flow, ash and blocks of
unmelted stone, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. They are larger than cinder cones, rising up to 8,000 feet (2,438 meters).
Stratovolcanoes result from a conduit system of vents leading from a magma reservoir beneath the surface. When dormant, they
typically have steep concave sides that sweep together at the top around a relatively small crater.
Stratovolcanoes can erupt with great violence. Pressure builds in the magma chamber as gases, under immense heat and
pressure, are dissolved in the liquid rock. When the magma reaches the conduits the pressure is released and the gases explode,
like soda spewing out of a soda can that you shook up and opened suddenly, according to San Diego State University. Because
they form in a system of underground conduits, stratovolcanoes may blow out the sides of the cone as well as the summit crater.
Stratovolcanoes are considered the most violent. Mount St. Helens, in Washington state, is a stratovolcano that erupted on May
18, 1980. Approximately 230 square miles (596 square kilometers) of forest was completely obliterated and 57 people were killed.
Over the course of the day, winds blew 520 million tons of ash eastward across the United States and caused complete darkness in
Spokane, Washington, 250 miles (402 kilometers) from the volcano, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Shield volcanoes are huge, gently sloping volcanoes built of very thin lava spreading out in all directions from a central vent. They
have wide bases several miles in diameter with steeper middle slopes and a flatter summit. The gentle convex slopes give them an
outline like a medieval knight’s shield. Eruptions of these volcanoes are not generally explosive, but are more like liquid
overflowing around the edges of a container. The world's largest volcano, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, is a shield volcano, according to
the U.S. Geological Survey. Mauna Loa is about 55,770 feet (17,000 meters) from its base beneath the ocean to the summit, which
is 13,681 feet (4,170 meters) above sea level. It is also one of the Earth's most active volcanoes and is carefully monitored. The
most recent eruption was in 1984.
Lava domes are built up when the lava is too viscous to flow, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A bubble or plug of
cooling rock forms over a fissure. This cooler, thick lava usually rises near the end of an explosive eruption and lava domes often
form within the craters of stratovolcanoes. Mount St. Helens has several well-defined lava domes inside the crater,
according to NASA.

Other volcanic landforms

Besides well-known symmetrical volcanoes such as Mount Fuji in Japan and
Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, volcanic activity is responsible for several other distinctive
landforms.

Calderas: A caldera is a bowl-shaped depression formed when a volcano collapses

into the void left when its magma chamber is emptied. There are three types,
according to San Diego State University. The first type is a crater lake caldera. This is
the result of a stratovolcano collapsing into its magma chamber during a violent
eruption. Basaltic calderas have a concentric ring pattern resulting from a series of
gradual collapses rather than a single event. They are often found at the summit of
shield volcanoes such as the craters at the tops of Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Resurgent
calderas are the largest volcanic structures on Earth. They are the result of catastrophic
eruptions that dwarf any eruptions ever recorded by human beings. Yellowstone caldera, sometimes called a "super
volcano," is one example.

Climate
Climate is the long-term average of weather, typically averaged over a period of 30 years. [1][2] Some of the meteorological variables
that are commonly measured are temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, and precipitation. In a broader sense, climate
is the state of the components of the climate system, which includes the ocean and ice on Earth.[1] The climate of a location is
affected by its latitude, terrain, and altitude, as well as nearby water bodies and their [Link] can be classified according
to the average and the typical ranges of different variables, most commonly temperature and precipitation.
Constellations
Stars
A star is a massive ball of plasma that emits light throughout the universe. While there is only one star in our solar system, there
are billions upon billions of stars throughout our galaxy and exponentially more in the billions of galaxies in the universe. A star
can be defined by five basic characteristics: brightness, color, surface temperature, size and mass.

Brightness

Two characteristics define brightness: luminosity and magnitude. Luminosity is the amount of light that a star radiates. The size
of the star and its surface temperature determine its luminosity. Apparent magnitude of a star is its perceived brightness,
factoring in size and distance, while absolute magnitude is its true brightness irrespective of its distance from earth.

Color

A star's color depends on its surface temperature. Cooler stars tend to be redder in color, while hotter stars have a bluer
appearance. Stars in the mid ranges are white or yellow, such as our sun. Stars can also blend colors, such as red-orange stars
or blue-white stars.

Surface Temperature

Astronomers measure a star's temperature on the Kelvin scale. Zero degrees on the Kelvin scale is theoretically absolute and is
equal to -273.15 degrees Celsius. The coolest, reddest stars are approximately 2,500 K, while the hottest stars can reach
50,000 K. Our sun is about 5,500 K.

Size

Astronomers measure the size of a given star in terms of our own sun's radius. Thus, a star that measure 1 solar radii would be
the same size as our sun. The star Rigel, which is much larger than our sun, measures 78 solar radii. A star's size, along with its
surface temperature, will determine its luminosity.

Mass

A star's mass is also measured in terms of our own sun, with 1 equal to the size of our sun. For instance, Rigel, which is much
larger than our sun, has a mass of 3.5 solar masses. Two stars of a similar size may not necessarily have the same mass, as
stars can vary greatly in density.

A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of stars forms an imaginary outline or pattern, typically

representing an animal, mythological person or creature, or an inanimate object.

 Chapter 4
Force And Power
A force is a push or pull upon an object resulting from the object's interaction with
another object. Whenever there is an interaction between two objects, there is a
force upon each of the objects. When the interaction ceases, the two objects no
longer experience the force. Forces only exist as a result of an interaction.

Energy is defined as the amount of work that can be performed by force,

whereas power is defined as the rate at which work is performed.

Different Forms of Power and Energy

There are different forms of energy. These include kinetic, potential, thermal,
gravitational, electromagnetic, sound, light and elastic. The form of energy is
dependent on the frame of reference, and can be transformed into other forms.
For instance potential energy is dependent on the position of the object,
whereas kinetic energy is the energy required to accelerate an object to a
particular speed, and so on.
Different forms of power could be electric power, which is the rate at which
electrical energy is transferred by a circuit, human power, and optical power.