Vocab 1
A specific "blob" or bubble of air that has its own temperature and moisture, separate from the air around it.
air parcel
The "stuff" that makes things happen or change; in weather, this usually comes from the Sun.
Energy
When something becomes different over time.
Change
A statement that answers a scientific question (your "guess" that you plan to prove with evidence).
Claim
A giant body of air (thousands of miles wide!) that has a similar temperature and humidity throughout.
Air Mass
Water in its invisible gas form (it’s in the air all around us, even if we can't see it!).
Water vapor
When liquid water gains enough energy to turn into invisible water vapor.
Evaporation
The place where something starts or comes from (like the Sun being the source of heat).
Source
A measure of how much water vapor is currently in the air. (If it’s high, the air feels "sticky.")
Humidity
The boundary where two different air masses meet (like a "battle line" between cold and warm air).
Front
The process where water vapor cools down and turns back into liquid water droplets (like the "sweat" on a cold soda can).
Condensation
To move something (like heat or energy) from one place or object to another.
Transfer
A state where things stay the same or balanced rather than changing quickly.
Stability
The weight of the atmosphere pressing down on Earth. Changes in pressure usually mean a change in weather is coming.
Air pressure
Any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth’s surface, like rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Precipitation
A visible mass made of billions of tiny liquid water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.
Cloud
A measure of how hot or cold something is; it’s actually a measurement of how fast the tiny molecules inside are moving!
Temperature
Something that happens over and over again in a way that we can predict.
Pattern
The specific tool scientists use to measure air pressure.
Barometer
The thin blanket of gases that surrounds the Earth like an envelope.
Atmosphere
The layer of the atmosphere closest to Earth where we live and where almost all weather happens.
Troposphere
The movement of air caused by differences in air pressure.
Wind
What the air is like at a specific time and place (including temperature, wind, and rain).
Weather
A tool that spins to measure how fast the wind is blowing.
Anemometer
The pattern of weather in a specific place over a long period of time (usually 30 years or more), rather than just what is happening today.
Climate