1. Atmosphere, Humidity and Seasons
Study Guide
Atmosphere, Humidity and Seasons

2. Why doesn’t water vapor rise above other gases to a higher level of the atmosphere?

3. Water vapor condenses and falls back to Earth

4. What type of cloud is associated with thunderstorms

5. cumulonimbus

6. Which element in Earth’s atmosphere is essential for human life

8. Hot air rising and cold air sinking causes

9. Air currents

10. How do clouds form

12. Why does ground fog form in the low areas?

13. Cool, descending air meets moist air in the low areas

14. Cloudy nights can be warmer than clear nights because clouds trap

15. heat

16. When moist air is cooled below its dew point water

17. Water condenses

18. What process is primarily responsible for the transfer of energy by air currents within the Earth’s atmosphere

19. Convection currents

20. By which process does sunlight travel through space

21. radiation

22. What type of cloud is associated with steady rain

23. nimbostratus

24. The ozone layer protects life on Earth from

25. UV radiation

26. Conduction is heat transfer by

27. Direct contact between particles

28. Most clouds form in the troposphere because

29. That’s where most of moisture is

30. Clouds are made of

31. Water/ Ice crystals

32. Describe how convection currents form

34. What is the % of Nitrogen in the atmosphere__________________; % oxygen ___________

36. Name the layers of the atmosphere in order from the earth upwards

38. How was the early atmosphere formed

39. Volcanic eruptions of gases
Cyanobacteria takes in CO2 in photosynthesis and produces O2

40. The ability of Earth’s atmosphere to absorb and retain heat is affected by the presence of two gases:

41. Water vapor
Mainly CO2

42. When dew point and temperature are close then the chance of precipitation is:

43. greater

44. Which atmosphere layer contains the ozone layer

45. stratosphere

46. The ozone layer is being destroyed by chemical reactions with sunlight and the following

47. Chloroflorcarbons: CFCs

48. The layers of the Earth’s atmosphere are divided based on

49. temperature

50. Insolation is

51. Incoming solar radiation

52. Where (location) is insolation the greatest on earth

53. equator

54. As the altitude increases in the troposphere the temperature-

55. decreases

56. Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 23
Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 23.5° relative to the plane of its orbit, which helps to cause

57. seasons

58. What is the date?
Equinox: equal
Day and night

59. Summer: northern hemisphere

60. Winter northern hemisphere

61. What is equinox and what are the dates of the 2 equinoxes What are the dates of the solistices

62. Seasons
The Earth's orbit is in the shape of an ellipse (a stretched out circle), so that sometimes the Earth is closer to the Sun than at other times
The Earth is a very special planet in many ways. Just as Earth's unique atmosphere and its distance from the Sun work together to make Earth the right temperature to support life, Earth's orbit and its rotation work together to create the seasons.

63. Clouds and Humidity

64. WATER is the substance that can exist as a solid, liquid, and a gas in the Earth’s atmosphere.

65. Humidity: the amount of water vapor or moisture in the air

66. Dew Point is the temperature to which air must cool to become saturated Before it can condense water vapor must have a surface to condense on.

67. Saturated air = 100% relative humidity – it can hold no more water vapor!

68. Precipitation
Precipitation is water (liquid or solid) that falls from the air to the Earth.

69. Cloud
A cloud is a collection of millions of tiny water droplets or ice crystals.
A cloud is NOT made up of water vapor!

70. Clouds http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0078617006/student_view0/
cirrus - Thin, wispy, curly-shaped clouds. cumulo-nimbus- Large, dense, towering clouds that cause rain and thunderstorms. cumulus - Puffy clouds. fog - Ground-hugging clouds. stratus - Layered, horizontal clouds with a flat base.

71. Joshua and Jennifer Mosser, Briar Woods High School
Clouds
In order for clouds to form, air must be at its dew point (temperature at which air is saturated). Water vapor condenses on small particles called condensation nuclei.
Cirrus—light, thin, feathery (fair weather clouds)
Cumulus—puffy white clouds
Stratus—low gray clouds
Joshua and Jennifer Mosser, Briar Woods High School

72. Cumulonimbus
Clouds that produce thunderstorms

73. Layers of Atmosphere

74. Joshua and Jennifer Mosser, Briar Woods High School
The Atmosphere
Earth’s atmosphere is 21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen
Human activities (cars, factories, burning land, coal) have increased carbon dioxide levels, causing a slight greenhouse effect
Water vapor and carbon dioxide help the Earth to retain heat and make it warmer
Burning fossil fuels also causes smog and contributes to acid rain
Venus has an extreme greenhouse effect due to carbon dioxide
Energy transfer in the atmosphere involves convection, radiation and conduction
Joshua and Jennifer Mosser, Briar Woods High School

75. Layers of the Atmosphere

76. A meteorologist studies and forecasts the WEATHER.

77. Layers in order
Thermosphere
Mesosphere
Stratosphere
Troposphere

78. Layer of the atmosphere closest to Earth and has weather = TROPOSPHERE

79. Layer where the air pressure is the greatest = TROPOSPHERE

80. Layer of the atmosphere that contains the ozone layer = STRATOSPHERE

81. Ozone layer disappearing would lead to more cases of skin cancer

82. Man-made chemicals have decreased the ozone concentration in the upper atmosphere.
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83. CFCs are destroying the ozone layer
CFCs are destroying the ozone layer. The chlorine atoms destroy ozone molecules.

84. What does temperature do in the troposphere as altitude increases?
Temperature DECREASES

85. In which layer is the temperature the lowest?
MESOSPHERE

86. Cold air is more dense than warm air; therefore it has GREATER pressure.

87. Heat Transfer

88. Radiation = the movement of energy through space
Conduction = movement of heat by direct contact; by touch
Example: metal pan on a hot stove
Convection = movement of heat through a liquid or gas

89. Areas near the equator receive more of the sun’s energy per unit area than nearer the poles.
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90. Convection Is a Current that is set up when hot less dense material rises, cools, becomes denser and sinks.
Hot stuff rises cold stuff sinks
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91. Convection runs oceans, atmosphere and Earths interior
Convection runs oceans, atmosphere and Earths interior.Plate tectonics is driven by convection in the Earth’s mantle.Some ocean currents are convection currents
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92. Convection is the major mechanism of energy transfer in the oceans, atmosphere, and Earth’s interior.
Convection in the atmosphere is a major cause of weather.

93. Early Atmosphere
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94. The early atmosphere contained little oxygen and more carbon dioxide than the modern atmosphere.
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95. Early photosynthetic life (blue green algae) generated oxygen and consumed carbon dioxide. It was only after early photosynthetic life generated oxygen that animal life become possible.
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96. Atmosphere Today
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97. Earth’s atmosphere is 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and 1% trace gases.
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98. Human activities have increased the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere.
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99. Volcanic activity and meteorite impacts can inject large quantities of dust and gases into the atmosphere.
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100. The ability of the Earth’s atmosphere to absorb and retain heat is affected by the presence of gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide.
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101. Earth’s atmosphere
The oxygen so characteristic of our atmosphere was almost all produced by plants (cyan bacteria or, more colloquially, blue-green algae). Thus, the present composition of the atmosphere is 79% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, and 1% other gases.
Auroras (North/South Polar Lights; or aurorae, sing.: aurora) are natural colored light displays, which are usually observed in the night sky, particularly in the polar zone. Some scientists call them "polar auroras" (or "aurorae polares"). In northern latitudes, it is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas. It often appears as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the sun was rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis is also called the northern polar lights, as it is only visible in the North sky from the Northern Hemisphere. The aurora borealis most often occurs from September to October and from March to April.

102. The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back into space and Earth’s average temperature would be about 60ºF colder. Because of how they warm our world, these gases are referred to as greenhouse gases.
The composition of the atmosphere can change due to human, biologic, and geologic activity.

103. The atmosphere of Venus is mostly carbon dioxide and very dense.
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104. The Martian atmosphere is very thin and mostly Carbon Dioxide.
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