Pathways of energy

Our sun is 4.5 billion years old-half way through its life
1. It has burned up about half of its hydrogen in nuclear fusion-this causes the release of energy
  1. The energy is in packets called photons ( it takes 8 minutes for a photos to reach Earth)
    1. Photosynthesis- is the only way that solar energy can enter an ecosystem
What is in sunlight (solar radiation)?
1. Sunlight contains a wide spectrum of wavelengths
  1. Most of it is ultraviolet (UV) visible light and infrared radiation
    1. Almost half of the suns total radiation is visible light
Albedo-is the reflective power of a surface
1. 49% that is absorbed at the surface, only 0.06% is captured by plants!!!
WHAT HAPPENS TO UPCOMING SOLAR ENERGY?
1. DESCRIBING:
  1. Very little of sunlight from the Sun ends up as biomass in ecosystems
    1. Some is lost before it even gets to the Earth
      1. 49% that is absorbed by the surface much of it fails
2. EXPAINING:
  1. Light doesn't hit the chloroplast
    1. Light is transmitted alone the surface on the leaf
      1. Some is reflected
        Photosynthesis (conversion of light to chemical energy) is inefficient
Once light is converted into chemical store transformation-the energy is in usable form for producers and those higher up the food chain
1. At each trophic level energy is lost from the food chain
2. Respiration is inefficient, resulting the further heat loss
3. PYRAMID REPRESENT THE ENERGY TRANSFER
  1. BIRD
    1. CATEPILLAR
      1. oak
        MICROBES

Resource summary

	Created by Sabina Ahmed about 9 years ago