Weather: For Exam

  1. What are the three important cycles in the atmosphere?
    • Water Cycle
    • Nitrogen Cycle
    • Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Cycle
  2. Why is water a universal solvent?
    It has strong polarity (charged at opposite ends)
  3. What is an example of a non polar material?
    Ethane
  4. What is waters liquid range?
    0-212
  5. What material/substance has a nice range for organic chemistry?
    Water
  6. Really cold water can't _______
    Stay at the bottom
  7. What are 4 unique things about water?
    • Universal solvent
    • Significant liquid range
    • Most dense a few degrees above the freezing point
    • High heat capacity
  8. How does water stores __________ really well
    Heat energy
  9. What are 2 proofs that water is most dense a few degrees above the freezing point?
    • Really cold water can't stay at the bottom
    • Ice floats
  10. What is water essential for?
    • Organisms
    • Environment
    • Atmosphere
  11. What is a specific name for when water holds heat in the atmosphere?
    The greenhouse effect
  12. What is the specific name for when water holds heat in the oceans?
    Lake effect
  13. What percentage of the atmosphere is water vapor?
    0-4%
  14. What does lake effect do to the region affected?
    • More moisture
    • Moderation of climate
    • Reigns in extremes
    • Slows down initial blooms
  15. What percentage of tart cherries in the world does MI produce?
    85%
  16. What percentage of the worlds blueberry production does MI produce?
    20%
  17. In apple production, Michigan is ___ in the nation
    3rd
  18. In grape production, MI is ____ in the nation.
    What about greenhouse/nursery production?
    • 6th
    • 6th as well
  19. What percentage of the atmosphere is nitrogen gas?
    78%
  20. What is the symbol for nitrogen gas?
    N2
  21. What is nitrogen gas essential for?
    Protein synthesis
  22. Protein molecules are the essential unit of ____ and ____ in all living things
    • Structure
    • Function
  23. Nitrogen cycles through the ______
    Atmosphere
  24. What percentage of the atmosphere is oxygen gas?
    21%
  25. What is oxygen essential for?
    Energy consumption
  26. Where does oxygen play a part in energy consumption?
    • In animals
    • In combustion engines
  27. What is the symbol for oxygen gas?
    O2
  28. Oxygen cycles through the _______
    Atmosphere
  29. What is a polar vortex?
    A persistent, large scale cyclone located near the Earth's poles
  30. Where in the atmosphere is the polar vortex located?
    In the middle and upper troposphere and the stratosphere
  31. What has the polar vortex created?
    An ozone depletion or hole over Antarctica
  32. What is ozone?
    A blue gas with a strong odor
  33. Where and how is ozone made?
    In the upper atmosphere, out of Oxygen atoms
  34. __________ tears oxygen molecules (O2) into oxygen atoms
    UV light
  35. What do oxygen molecules exsist as?
    Clear odorless gas
  36. An oxygen atom joins a ____ molecule to form _____ (____)
    • Oxygen (O2)
    • forms ozone (O3)
  37. Out of every 10 million atmosphere molecules, how many are O2? How many are O3?
    • 2 million are O2
    • 3 are O3
  38. What does ozone reemit UV electromagnetic radation as?
    Infrared radiation
  39. When ozone absorbs UV radiation and turns it into infrared radation, what does this process do?
    It heats the atmosphere around the ozone layer in the upper stratosphere
  40. What seems do be the trend in ozone levels?
    Mainly downward, but over the past 20 years, we can see that there is a seasonal trend as well.
  41. When is ozone generation less effective?
    At lower temperatures.
  42. What does warmer weather prevent?
    Ozone deterioration
  43. What contributes to ozone depletion?
    Volcanos
  44. How do volcanos contribute to ozone depletion?
    • By pumping hydrogen sulfide into the air
    • By pumping aerosols into the air
  45. Which has a shorter life span, H2S or CFC's?
    H2S (Hydrogen Sulfide)
  46. What is H2F's lifespan?
    About 3 years, and H2F has only a short term effect.
  47. What is CFC-12's lifespan?
    102 years
  48. What is CFC-11's lifespan?
    55 years
  49. What kind of particles do aerosols have?
    Micro millimeters spherical particles
  50. What do aerosals act as?
    A catalytic surface for CFC produced chlorine molecules to deteriorate ozone
  51. What is the magnetosphere?
    The area above the earth where the Earth's magnetic field operates
  52. At what height does the magnetosphere start?
    1000 km
  53. On the Sun side, how high up does the magnetosphere extend to?
    Extends to about 4000 km
  54. On which side does the magnetosphere extend farther, the sun side, or the dark side?
    The dark side
  55. Why does the magnetosphere extend farther on the dark side?
    Solar winds make the difference
  56. What is the solar wind?
    A stream of high speed charged particles
  57. What is the sun's atmosphere?
    A plasma
  58. How fast do the solar winds travel?
    450km/sec or more (2 or 3 days)
  59. What does the solar wind consist of?
    Protons and electrons
  60. What are the Van Allen Radiation Belts?
    2 belts of high energy particles trapped by earths magnetic field
  61. What does the smaller inner Van Allen Radiation Belt consist of?
    High energy protons
  62. What does the larger outer Van Allen Radiation Belt consist of?
    High energy electrons
  63. What is weather?
    The state of atmospheric conditions in an area
  64. What causes changes in weather?
    Air movements in the troposphere
  65. What makes the air warm?
    • Not the sun directly.
    • The sun heats the ground, which heats the air.
  66. What are air movements due to?
    Uneven heating of the earth's surface by the Sun.
  67. Why does the Earth heat unevenly?
    • It is curved.
    • Its surface is made of different materials.
    • The earth is spinning on its axis
    • The earth is revolving around the sun
  68. When the Earth revolves around the Sun, what else is happening? (Other characteristics.)
    • It is tilted on its axis.
    • It is following an elliptical path.
  69. What does uneven heating of the Earth's surface cause? (4)
    • Temperature--as air warms temp rises
    • Capacity to hold water increases
    • Density--decreases with temp
    • Pressure--increases with density
  70. What is a barometer?
    A device used to measure the pressure of air
  71. What indicates a changing air mass?
    A changing barometric pressure
  72. What does atmospheric air pressure determine?
    • Weather patterns
    • Fronts
    • Precipitation
  73. When does atmospheric air pressure rapidly decrease?
    With altitude
  74. At sea level, what is the atmospheric pressure?
    At an altitude of 5.5 km?
    • 1000 millibars (mb)
    • 500 mb
  75. What influences air pressure?
    Temperature
  76. when air molecules are spread furthur apart, what happens?
    • There is a lower density=lower gravitational attraction
    • Lower pressure
  77. When colder air molecules are closer, what happens?
    • Higher density=higher gravitational attraction
    • Higher pressure
  78. What do changes in air pressure indicate?
    Weather changes in air masses over a given area
  79. What means stormy weather?
    Increasing air pressure.
  80. What means fair weather?
    Declining air pressure
  81. What is an air mass?
    Relatively uniform (horizontally) in its temperature and relative humidity over a large region.
  82. what are air masses developed by?
    The surface features they form over.
  83. Continental tropical air is _____ and ____
    Continental polar air is _____ and ____
    Maritime tropical air is _____ and ______
    Maritime polar air is _____ and ______
    • 1. warm and dry
    • 2. cool and dry
    • 3. warm and humid
    • 4. cool and humid
  84. What is the point where air masses meet?
    Front
  85. What is air masss identified by?
    • Temperature
    • Humidity
  86. What determines temperature and humidity?
    The surface that they form over
  87. Where do Continental Tropical air masses form over?
    Southern Lands
  88. Where do Continental Polar masses form over?
    Northern Lands
  89. Where do Maritime Tropical masses form?
    over Southern Seas
  90. Where do Maritime Polar masses form?
    Over Northern Seas
  91. What is a cold front?
    A cold air mass.
  92. What are 5 things associated with cold fronts?
    • Brief intense rain
    • Lightning
    • Hail
    • Strong Winds
    • Tornados
  93. What are tornados?
    Cyclones of rising warm air. They rotate counter clockwise.
  94. What is the scale used to rate tornados?
    Fujita scale F (0-5)
  95. What are the two ways that tornados do damage?
    • Winds up to 250mph
    • Low pressure
  96. what are the wind speeds of F2s?
    • Up to 157 mph
    • (A cat 5 hurricane starts at 155 mph)
  97. what does a warm front bring?
    It is slow moving, and brings a light steady rain.
  98. What is an occluded front?
    Cold air mass catches up with a warm air mass.
  99. What happens when the sun light shines on the surface of the Earth?
    • 1. visible light is absorbed (by the surface)
    • 2. Infrared radiation is emitted (by land)
    • 3. Air is warmed (by land)
    • 4. Warm air expands
    • 5. Expanding air rises
    • 6. Expanding air cools
    • 7. When air cools to form dew point, clouds form
  100. What happens as air cools?
    It loses its capacity to hold water
  101. When the capacity to hold water decreases, what happens?
    • Clouds form when the air reaches the dew point temperature
    • Relative humidity increases
  102. What are the 3 main types of clouds?
    • Cirrus
    • Stratus
    • Cumulus
  103. What does nimbo mean? Alto?
    • Rain
    • Mid-Level
  104. What is a super cell?
    A cumulus cloud that has grown very large?
  105. What kind of clouds are not associated with a front?
    Super cells
  106. How many Super Cells produce tornadoes?
    3 in 10
  107. What is a Hurricane?
    A low pressure storm system that forms over tropical seas.
  108. What must be the temperature of the ocean for a hurricane to form?
    80oF to 150 feet
  109. How are hurricanes powered?
    by heat released from water condensation
  110. How far from the equator must hurricanes be to start spinning?
    300 miles
  111. How are hurricanes formed?
    • Low pressure air is warm and lifts moisture.
    • Water condenses on dew point dust.
    • Condensing water releases heat.
    • Expands air furthur.
    • Decreases pressure further.
    • Increasing winds increase surface evaporation.
  112. Where are winds strongest in a hurricane?
    Closest to the eye.
  113. What is a storm surge?
    Low pressure, waves due to wind, high tides
  114. What is dew?
    When water condenses on surface features that are at the dew point temp.
  115. What is fog?
    Dew on dust in the air near the ground--a type of cloud
  116. What is a cloud?
    Dew on dust in the air
  117. What is rain?
    Dew on the dust that gets so heavy, it falls from the sky
  118. What is sleet?
    Raindrops that fall from a cloud and freeze before they hit the ground.
  119. What is freezing rain?
    The ground is at freezing temps and rain falls and freezes
  120. What is frost?
    water crystals growing on surface features?
  121. What are cirrus clouds?
    Frost on dust way up high.
Author
Anonymous
ID
23033
Card Set
Weather: For Exam
Description
Weather
Updated