Definitions
The mass of air surrounding a planet.
What is "Atmosphere?"
If you want to study weather, which region of the atmosphere would you study?
What is "Troposphere?"
Explained: Because that's where the majority of weather phenomena are.
If you want to study the aurora borealis, which region of the atmosphere would you study?
What is "Ionosphere?"
What is the most abundant gas in the air?
What is "nitrogen?"
What special area within the atmosphere is a major contributor to the auroras?
What is "the Ionosphere?"
Explained: When the ionized particles experience high-energy collisions in the presence of the Earth's magnetic field, auroras can be seen.
The transfer of energy by waves through air or empty space.
What is "Radiation?"
Place the 5 major atmospheric layers in the proper order from lowest to highest in elevation form Earth's surface.
What is "troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere?"
If you want to study the ozone layer, which region of the atmosphere would you study?
What is "Stratosphere?"
Which two atmospheric gases are important for life?
What is "oxygen and carbon dioxide?"
Which of the following does the atmosphere NOT do to benefit life on Earth?
a. protects life form bombardment by meteors b. filters out much of the harmful ultraviolet radiation before it reaches Earth's surface. c. reflects all light back to space d. keeps Earth's overall temperature within a narrow temperature range e. protects life from high-energy radiation from space
What is "C, It does not reflect all light back to space?"
Explained: If all light reflected, we would live in constant darkness, and all plant life (and eventually animal life, too) would die.
The transfer of heat energy through a liquid or gas by currents.
What is "Convection?"
What special area within the stratosphere causes the temperature there to increase as altitude increases?
What is "ozone layer?"
Explained: Even though the amount of air molecules continues to decrease with increasing altitude in the stratosphere, the presence of a large layer of ozone gas there absorbs the energy of ultraviolet rays, causing the temperature to rise.
Which layers of the atmosphere are in the homosphere?
What is "troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere?"
Which atmospheric gas is important for the greenhouse effect?
What is "Carbon Dioxide?"
There is one atmosphere (atm) of pressure at sea level. What is that value in pounds per square inch (psi)?
1 atm = _______ psi
What is "14.7 psi?"
Explained: A column of air with an area of 1 inch by 1 inch form sea level to the top of Earth's atmosphere weighs 14.7 pounds. This means that at sea level, one atmosphere exerts an average of 14.7 psi.
The transfer of heat energy from molecule to molecule by contact.
What is "Conduction?"
In the troposphere, does the temperature increase OR decrease as the altitude increases?
What is "decreases?"
Which layers of the atmosphere are in the heterosphere?
What is "thermosphere and exosphere?"
There are three sealed vials of air. The air molecules in each vial are traveling at different average speeds: Vial A = 800 mph; vial B = 1,300 mph; and vial C = 1,500 mph. Which of the vials contains the gases with the highest temperature?
What is "Vial C?"
Remember, temperature is a measure of the energy of random motion in a substance's molecules. Since the molecules in vial C have the highest speed, they have the most energy and therefore the highest temperature.
The average value of atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psi. If a weather report shows the atmospheric pressure at 12.5 psi, what would you expect he atmospheric pressure to be in atm?
a. 1.35 atm b. 1.00 atm c. 14.7 atm d. 0.85 atm
What is "D; 0.85?"
12.5 psi x 1 atm = 0.85 atm
1 14.7 psi
A measure of the energy of random motion in a substance’s molecules.
What is "Temperature?"
If you were able to measure the speed of the molecules in the air while you were traveling up through the troposphere, would the speed of the molecules increase, decrease, or stayed the same as you altitude increased?
What is "decrease?"
Explained: Remember, temperature measures the average energy of molecules, which is directly related to their speed. Since temperature decreases with increasing altitude the troposphere, the average energy of the molecules in troposphere decreases, which means their speeds decrease as well.
Which layers of the homosphere does temperature increase with increasing altitude?
What is "Stratosphere?"
Explained: Temperature increases with increasing altitude because of the ozone layer.
If a sample of air is predominately oxygen, did it most likely come from the homosphere or the heterosphere?
What is "Heterosphere?"
Explained: Because air in the homosphere is all 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other
Which location will experience greater atmospheric pressure: Denver, CO (1.60 km above sea level), or the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro (5.96 km above sea level)?
What is "Denver CO?"
Explained: Gas molecules that make up the atmosphere are densest near the Earth's surface and become less dense as the altitude increases. So, locations closer to sea level experience greater atmospheric pressure.