Mother Earth Quiz - MSN Encarta

Unlike the other planets in our solar system, Earth has the ability to sustain life because of a unique set of characteristics. Which of these life-sustaining features are found on Earth?

Earth (Image credit: NASA/Science Source/Photo Researchers, Inc.)

An abundance of water.

A protective atmosphere.

Moderate temperatures.

All of the above.

The Earth's atmosphere is crucial to sustaining life on Earth. Which of these does NOT describe the Earth's atmosphere:

Helps block radiation from the Sun that would be harmful to life.

Helps moderate Earth's climate by trapping radiation from the Sun that is reflected from Earth's surface.

Is constituted of equal parts nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide.

Is an important part of a phenomenon known as the water cycle or the hydrologic cycle.

Over the past three decades alone, about how much of the world's tropical rain forests have been cleared?

Deforestation and Erosion (Image credit: S.E. Cornelius/Photo Researchers, Inc.)

1 million sq km (400,000 sq mi)

2.8 million sq km (1.1 million sq mi)

4.3 million sq km (1.7 million sq mi)

5 million sq km (2 million sq mi)

What is believed to be the primary cause of global warming, the increasing of the average temperature of Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and landmasses?

The burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The deforestation of a significant amount of the world's rain forests.

The amount of methane in the atmosphere more than doubling since the mid-1700s.

Synthetic chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFSs), that destroy the Earth's ozone layer.

What is the name for pollution in which airborne acids--produced by the creation of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the burning of fossil fuels and from certain kinds of manufacturing--fall to Earth?

Greenhouse effect

Acid rain

Chimney air

Toxic snow

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), about what percent of the country's lakes, estuaries, and rivers are too polluted for basic uses such as fishing or swimming during all or part of the year:

Industrial Water Pollution (Image credit: Sygma/Corbis)

7 percent

15 percent

22-23 percent

36-37 percent

What parts of the Earth have the most biologically diverse ecosystems, containing 50 to 90 percent of the world's plant and animal species:

Oceans

Deserts

Mountains

Rain forests

Which of these statements regarding the ozone layer is false:

Ozone Layer Hole (Image credit: SVS/TOMS/NASA)

The holes in the ozone layer are found above areas of rain forests and deserts.

Ozone is a pale blue gas with a strong odor that is highly poisonous at ground level.

The ozone layer protects life on Earth from the Sun's harmful rays by absorbing the ultraviolet radiation.

Scientists discovered in the 1970s that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) released into the atmosphere was a significant threat to the ozone layer.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that sets concrete targets for developed countries to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, was signed by more than 130 countries. Which of the following countries refused to ratify it?

Industrial Smokestacks (Image credit: Kim Westerskov/Oxford Scientific Films)

France

Japan

The United States

Russian Federation

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 report on global warming, what are some of the catastrophic consequences to our Earth and its inhabitants if the trend of global warming continues:

Shrinking Greenland Ice Sheet (Image credit: Clifford Grabhorn/Courtesy of ACIA 2004)

Sea levels will rise significantly across the globe, destroying coastal areas worldwide.

Weather changes will be dramatic and devastating--from more frequent and intense heat waves, to more droughts and flooding, to stronger hurricanes.

Temperatures will rise by 3.2 - 7.1 degrees by the year 2100.

All of the above