Rocket rides his bike up a long hill. At the top, he looks out over a valley with a river, fields and a town.
"I can see all four systems from here," he tells Raven over the wrist radio.
"Name them," Raven says from below. "And find one interaction."
Nova zooms up to the hilltop. "Look at the clouds stuck on the far mountains," she says. "What do you notice?"
"The mountains change the clouds," Rocket says. "Atmosphere and geosphere!"
Earth's four systems are the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.
They interact all the time. A change in one system often causes a change in another.
Scientists study one pair at a time, like water and rock, or air and life.
| Example | Do two systems interact here? |
|---|---|
| Waves carve a sea cave into a cliff. | ? |
| Plants release water vapor into the air. | ? |
| Wind blows clouds against a mountain range. | ? |
| Plant cover softens raindrops and protects soil. | ? |
Rocket's view from the hilltop holds all four systems.
The valley and hills are geosphere. The river is hydrosphere.
The clouds are atmosphere. The plants in the fields and the people in town are biosphere.
You can see Earth as a set of connected systems now. Tomorrow is Launch Lab with your family.