1. By William Garner

2.  The part of the earth which is covered with water.  Consists of the oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers.  Divided into two categories: fresh water and salt water.  70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water.  The water cycle, the journey water takes as it circulates, is part of the hydrosphere.  The water cycle includes evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection.

4.  Biosphere is our living world.  The one place that all the spheres work together.  The sun is a big factor that affects the biosphere.  Erosion and earthquakes are smaller factors that affect the biosphere.  The biosphere ranges from the bottoms of the deepest oceans to a few miles into the atmosphere.  Earth is the only planet known to have a biosphere.

6.  The solid rocky part of the Earth’s crust.  Plate tectonics explain how there is movement in the lithosphere.  Earthquakes and volcanoes occur along these plate boundaries.  Volcanism occurs when the magma within the crust rise through the crust and form volcanoes.  Continental drift is the movement of the Earth’s continents.  Lithosphere is about 100 km thick.

8.  Mass of gases that surround the Earth.  Divided into four layers: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and the thermosphere.  Function of the atmosphere is to trap heat from the sun, to shield the planet from harmful radiation, and to destroy space debris before it hits the earth.  The atmospheric pressure is caused by the weight of the air above it.  The higher you go, the less the air pressure becomes.  Atmospheric pressure is higher at sea-levels and lower at mountains and places of high altitude.

10.  The water (hydrosphere) evaporates to form a cloud in the atmosphere and it makes rain.  Plants (biosphere) need soil (lithosphere) to grow.  The (hydrosphere) rains on the (lithosphere) and gives the (biosphere) water.  The plants (biosphere) take the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere to live.  The (atmosphere) blows air down to the (lithosphere).  The (hydrosphere) evaporates the water to the (atmosphere) and it forms a cloud, the cloud makes rain and it goes to the (lithosphere) and the (biosphere) makes oxygen through it’s leaves.

12.  THE END