Hydrosphere
What fuels the water cycle?
The Sun.
What is infiltration?
When water from precipitation soaks into the ground surface.
What is groundwater?
Water that has soaked further into the ground in spaces between soil and rock particles.
What is Evapotranspiration?
Water is evaporated into the air from soil and plants leaves.
What is a cloud?
A collection of water vapor that gets heavy and cools to liquid.
How does the sun fuel the water cycle?
The sun heats the water causing water molecules to move rapidly turning from liquid water to water vapor.
What is surface runoff?
When water does not soak into the ground but flows on a path to a river.
What is evaporation?
The process by which the sun's heat turns the water into a gas / vapor.
What is Condensation?
When water molecules and (vapor) in the air cool and become liquid.
What is carbon dioxide?
A greenhouse gas that traps heat from the Sun and warms the Earth.
What is precipitation?
When water falls onto Earth as rain, snow, hail or sleet.
What is percolation?
When water soaks deeper into the ground by gravitational pull.
What is Transpiration?
The process by which water is evaporated into the air from plant leaves.
What is the atmosphere made of?
Gases and aerosols.
What is global climate change?
When he is trapped near Earth's surface by a greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide).
What percentage of the water on Earth is Polar Ice?
2%.
What is the Troposphere?
The Troposphere is the layer closest to the Earth's surface it holds most of the atmosphere's mass. It is the region where clouds form and where all weather happens.
What is the Mesosphere?
The Mesosphere is the coldest layer of the atmosphere. At its outer reaches, called The Mesopause, temperatures average -90 Celsius. Most meteors burn up in this layer, creating shooting stars.
What are aerosols?
Solid particles such as salt evaporated from the ocean and pollution.
What is the Exosphere?
The Exosphere is the outermost layer. It is extremely thin and does not have a specific outer limit. Atoms and molicules escape into space from this region.
What percentage of the water on Earth is rivers, lakes and groundwater?
1% (or less).
What is the Stratosphere?
Contains the ozone layer that absorbs ultraviolet rays from the Sun. This heats the Stratosphere and protects us from radiation.
What is the Thermosphere?
The Thermosphere is the hottest layer of the atmosphere because energy from the Sun hits here first. It contains a layer of charged atoms and molecules known as the Ionosphere.
What do the gases mostly include?
Nitrogen (78%) oxygen (21%) as well as carbon dioxide, water vapor and ozone.