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What is atmosphere?
Mixture of gases that surround the planet or moon
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How much of the earth is oxygen?
78%
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how much of the earth is nitrogen?
21% Remaining 1%
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What is the atmosphere
a mixture of gases
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The air we breathe is mostly________
nitrogen
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About how much of earth's atmosphere is oxygen
21%
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Why is air pressure greatest at the earth's surface?
because gravity pulls gas molecules toward the surface
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Most solar energy that reaches the earth's atmosphere is _____________
absorbed by earth's surface
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Global warming may be cause by_____________
a increase in greenhouse gases
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In a convection current why does cold air sink?
it is more dense
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Wind occurs because of differences in_________
air pressure
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The winds that blow from 30 degrees latitude in both hemispheres toward the equator are called
trade winds
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The winds that blow from the poles to 60 degrees latitude in both hemispheres are called
polar easterlies
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Sea breezes are winds that come from the ___________-
sea
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What causes global winds
temperature differences
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The curved paths of global winds and surface currents are caused by
the corolis effect
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Ocean currents in the Northern and Southern hemispheres turn
in opposite directions
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What does a surface current do when it deflects
it changes direction
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When water evaporates from the ocean the salt stays behind leaving a higher salinty. This causes the density in the water to ______________
increase
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In what layer of the atmosphere does the weather occur?
troposphere
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Middle layer of the atmosphere, the coldest layer
mesosphere
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Layer of the atmosphere that contains the ozone layer?
stratosphere
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The highest layer of the atmosphere temperatures can reach 1,000 celcius.
thermosphere
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Layer of the atmosphere closet to earth's surface where weather occurs?
troposphere
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Energy that moves as electromagnectic waves is called
radiation
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When heat moves through a material it is called
thermal conduction
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When the global temperature rises bit by bit it is called
global warming
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Warm air rising and cool air sinking is called
convection current
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What are three factors that influence surface currents
global winds, coroilis effect and continental reflections
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The condition of the atmosphere at a certain time and place
weather
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What is humidty
amount of water vapor in the air
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How does temperature affect humidity
by how much water vapor the air can hold. The cooler it is the less water vapor it can hold. The warmer it is the more water vapor it can hold
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What is relative humidty
is the ratio of the amount of water vapor in the air to the maxium amount of water vapor the air can hold at a set temperature.
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Amount of water vapor
the more water vapor in the air the higher the relative humidity
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What happens when water vapor stays the same?
The temperature changes and the relative humdity decreases a temperature rises and increases as temperature drops
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What is psychrometer
an instrument that is used to measure relative humidity
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What has to happen before condensation can occur
the air must be saturated which means that the air must have a relative humidity of 100%. Condensation occurs when saturated air cools
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What is dew point?
The temperature at which gas condenses into a liquid air is saturated at the dew point
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What must happen before water vapor can condense
it must have a surface to condense on such as a glass of ice water or the grass
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What are clouds
collections of small water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air which forms when the air is cooleed and condensation occurs
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Describe cumulus clouds?
Puffy, white clouds that tend to have flat bottoms.
form when warm air rises
generally indicate fair weather
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describe cumulonimbus clouds
are thunderstorm clouds
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describe nimbo/nimbus
means likely to produce precipitation
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Describe stratus
clouds that are formed in layers
Cover large areas of sky and often blockout the sun
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Describe nimbostratus
are dark stratus clouds that usually produce heavy continous rain
fog: a status cloud that has formed near the ground
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Descirbe cirrus
thin, feathery, white clouds found at high latitudes. Forms when the wind is strong. If they get thicker cirrus clouds indicate
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Describe what cause weather
weather is due to the motion of the atmosphere from the suns uneven heating of the earth
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Explain where most of the weather occurs in the atmopshere
Most of the weather occurs in the troposphere (lower portion of the atmosphere)
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Describe what an air mass is and what causes it to move.
A huge body of air that has similar temperature. Humidity and air pressure at any given height in the atmosphere. The temperature changes in the air masses cause them to move in the atmosphere
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State what is the major cause of heating and cooling of our atmosphere.
the sun is the major cause of the heating and cooling of the atmosphere
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Describe how the earth's tilited axis influences our climate.
The earth gets the same amount of light each day, but since the earth is tilited on its axis the light is unevenly divided into two hemispheres. The hemisphere that is tilited toward the sun and is receiving more of the direct light is expereincing summer. The hemisphere that is tilited away from the sun is receiving less direct light is experiencing winter.
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Describe how living next to the ocean influence the climate.
Oceans absorb a lot of heat energy which keeps the climate more constant living by the water. Whereas inland. Land heat s up and cools down more quickly making the climate fluctuate more.
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State how much of the earth's surface is ocean
70% of the earth's surface is ocean.
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explain what a front is
a front refers to the boundary that forms between warm and cold air masses.
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Describe why warm air masses and cold air masses dont mix
due to the different densities of warm and cold air, they do not really mix.
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What does prevailing winds affect?
affect the amount of precipitation that a region recieves.
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What do they carry when the prevailing winds form warm air.
they may carry moisture.
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Prevailing winds form cold air
they will probably be dry.
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the amount of moisture in prevailing winds that is affected by what?
affected by whether the winds blow across land or across a large body of water.
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What do winds that travel across large bodies of water absorb
absorb moisture
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Explain what a jet stream is and how it influences weather
?
The concentrated high altitude streams of fast moving wind that blows from west to east across the northern and southern hemispheres. It is responsible for the movement of major weather features from west to east across north america and the earth as a whole
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Describe the weather associated with a warm front.
bring in light steady rain
followed by clear warm weather
steady long lasting rains in the summer and steady snow falls in the winter.
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Describe a cold front
Big thunderstorms in the summer and snow falls in the winter
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Describe a occluded front
cool temperatures and large amounts of rain or snow.
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Describe stationary front
can last for day and produces alto cumulus clouds. Tempd are changing for many days.
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Describe the cause and effects of air pollution
Cause: automobiles, fuel consumption in industry and buildings, coal-burning power plants, burning fossil fuels(anything that runs on gas, oi,, or coal.) aerosol products.
Effects: Damages plants and causes health problems in animals. Loss of habitat when plants are destroyed causes some species to become endangered. Air pollution can also influence climate changes.
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Describe temperature, density, and air pressure changes with elevation.
Temperature: at higher elevations the temperature of the air is generally colder.
Density: As altitude increases . The concentration of oxygen molecules per breath is reduced.
Air pressure: as altitude increases air pressure decreases since the air gets thinner as elevation increase
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Describe how clouds are formed.
Dust particles are present in the air. Water changes state(gas to liquid) by condensing on the dust particles. Water vapor (gas) cools in the atmosphere and returns to a liquid state
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Describe what wind is and how it moves.
Wind is the movement of air from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure
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Describe how the sun causes winds
the pressure differences are caused bu the sun's uneven heating of the earth's surface
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Explain the corolis effect and how it influnces winds
The corolis effect occurs because of the earth's rotation. it causes the wind to curve to the right in the northern hemisphere
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Describe why warm air masses and cold air masses dont mix
air mases dont mix because they have densities. When two air masses meet the warm air rises.
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Descirbe what an ocean current is?
Ocean currents are caused by the movement of ocean water due to the uneven heating of the water and the different densities of the ocean waters.
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Explain the differnt types of currents
There are cold and warm currents that are caused by uneven heating and differnt densities of ocean waters.
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Explain how ocean and air currents are similar
They both move through convection currents. Warm air(water) rises and cold air (water) sinks.
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