Question 2 (1 point)
How do traditional food production practices contribute to a reduction in biodiversity?
a
Air, land, and water are used to produce food, so food that is thrown away is a waste of those original resources.
b
Livestock raised for meat are not as diverse as wild species.
c
Land that is converted to agriculture is no longer a suitable habitat for native species.
d
Agricultural crops are not a good source of food for wild or native species.
c
Land that is converted to agriculture is no longer a suitable habitat for native species.
Article:
Friction is a critical part of everyday life. Sometimes it helps us. It is the force that makes the brakes in a car work, when the driver steps on the pedal. Sometimes it hinders us. Friction from the road drags against tires, wearing them out faster and sending us more often to the gas station to fuel up. Although most people take friction for granted when we hit the pedal, even scientists do not understand everything about how it works.
A recent study might help scientists understand more by looking at the ways that atoms work in friction. An atom is the smallest possible part of an element that still has the characteristics of that element. Scientists measured how the placement of single atoms affects the strength of friction between two surfaces.
Jay Weymouth, a scientist at the University of Regensburg in Germany, participated in the study. He said everyone knows that the amount of friction depends on direction. “It’s easier to pet a cat in one direction than another,” Weymouth said. What is new is that the scientists were able to measure how much direction affects friction at the tiny atomic level.
The Eye Sees Smooth, But Look Closer
Friction is the force working against the moving of one object against another. It generally increases with pressure. By looking at surfaces under a microscope, scientists can see that even seemingly smooth ones, such as a wooden table top, are really jagged and rough. The tiny bumps on one surface drag and catch those on a surface being slid across it. Atomic connections break and form and break again. This motion sets the atoms moving. In turn, this generates heat. The process costs the system energy. The loss of energy means that the motion between the surfaces slows.
For example, when you walk on a sidewalk, groups of atoms in the rubber soles of your shoes catch on groups of atoms in the sidewalk, resisting your motion. Without this resistance, you would not be able to walk at all — your shoes would slide backward with every step you took, as if you were imitating Michael Jackson’s Moon Walk.
While this basic description generally holds true, many facts about friction remain mysterious. “We’ve got these nice little high school formulas that work in a lot of basic cases,” Weymouth said. “But we’re very bad at taking two surfaces and saying what the friction will be.”
To do that, Weymouth and his team aimed to get a better understanding of what happens to single atoms when one brushes up against another.
Atoms Paired Off
The researchers slid a tiny tip made of tungsten, a very hard metal, against a surface of pure silicon crystals. Crystals are a solid material whose atoms are arranged in a very organized pattern. A diamond is one example of a crystal. When the tip slid against the crystals, they separated into pairs of atoms. As the metal tip slid over the pairs, they rocked back and forth. The energy put out by this rocking motion corresponded to the amount of friction between the materials. The researchers found that friction was lower when the tip was dragged along the direction in which the atoms were arranged.
“Experimentally this has not been done before,” Weymouth says. People have studied how direction affects friction, but never on a single atom level, he said.
Friction's Big Picture
Besides adding to the overall picture of how friction works, the research could help to improve the working of machines that lose energy to friction.
Philip Egberts and Robert W. Carpick are two scientists who were not involved in the study but wrote an article explaining its possible importance. The knowledge gained from the study might eventually help scientists understand enough about friction to be able to predict and control it, they said. This understanding will help with everything from the study of geological faults that cause earthquakes, to the prediction of wear in automobile parts and other machine parts, they said.
Question: Summarize the article into 3-well crafted sentences.
Friction plays a vital role in everyday life, allowing us to stop cars when we hit the brakes and walk without falling. However, scientists still do not fully understand how it works, particularly at an atomic level highly influential to machinery. By studying the friction of individual atoms, scientists at Germany's Regensburg University found that the direction in which atoms are aligned dictates frictional strength, findings which could aid further understanding of friction at a macro level to improve energy loss in machinery.
The correct answer is c) Land that is converted to agriculture is no longer a suitable habitat for native species.
To understand how traditional food production practices contribute to a reduction in biodiversity, we need to consider the different factors involved. Traditional food production often involves practices such as clearing land for agriculture, which can lead to a loss of natural habitats for native species. Here's how you can determine the correct answer:
Option a) Air, land, and water are used to produce food, so food that is thrown away is a waste of those original resources. This option is not directly related to the reduction in biodiversity. It focuses more on the wastage of resources rather than the impact on biodiversity.
Option b) Livestock raised for meat are not as diverse as wild species. While this statement is true, it does not directly address the reduction in biodiversity caused by traditional food production practices. It refers to the lack of diversity within livestock species, but it doesn't explain how it contributes to reducing overall biodiversity.
Option c) Land that is converted to agriculture is no longer a suitable habitat for native species. This option correctly identifies one of the main ways in which traditional food production practices can reduce biodiversity. The conversion of land for agriculture often involves clearing natural habitats, which can lead to the displacement or extinction of native species.
Option d) Agricultural crops are not a good source of food for wild or native species. This statement is not entirely accurate. While agricultural crops may not be the natural food source for some wild or native species, they can still provide a food source for certain animals. Additionally, the lack of food availability due to habitat destruction caused by traditional food production practices can indirectly affect the food sources for wild or native species.
Therefore, the correct answer is c) Land that is converted to agriculture is no longer a suitable habitat for native species, as this option directly addresses the impact of traditional food production practices on biodiversity.