Introducing the Geochemical Cycles (it is necessary to understand & use these if you want to design a Mars Colony or any ecosystem…) Water cycle Carbon cycle Energy NON-cycle

You can recycle matter, but you can’t recycle energy! Why? Two Laws of Thermodynamics: 1.The total amount of energy in the universe is constant. You can’t create it or destroy it, only transform it. 2. The total amount of disorder (=entropy) in the universe is always increasing. So energy is transformed from organized, useful forms to random, diluted, useless forms. This is a one-way process. (PUT THIS IN YOUR NOTES)

Organized, concentrated useful: Sunlight, food, fuels, batteries, water behind a dam, electric current, etc. Disorganized, diluted, useless: “room temperature” heat, infra-red light. (PUT IN NOTES)

Energy NON- cycle: WASTE HEAT Visible Light in Infrared Light out (Everything that happens generates waste heat and infrared light)

The main thing is NOT to present it as a CYCLE Every thing with energy has at least one arrow coming in (often from the sun) and one arrow going out to “WASTE HEAT” All the “WASTE HEAT” energy goes out into space! “WASTE HEAT”