8/10 of the air is nitrogen. 2/10 of the air is oxygen. A very small part of the air is carbon dioxide, water vapor, and there are other gases too.
100
What are air masses?
An air mass is a large body or a large chunk of air that develops characteristics depending on where it's from on the planet.
100
Name four kinds of severe weather.
Thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, very high or low temperatures.
100
What are the parts of the weather system?
The temperature, moisture, clouds, precipitation, wind speed, air pressure, and wind direction.
100
What is the difference between weather and climate?
Weather is made up of all the conditions in one place at a single moment. Weather changes very often. Climate is the average of weather conditions over a long time.
200
Name the 5 layers of Earth's atmosphere.
Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, and Exosphere.
200
What are the names of the 4 major air masses?
Continental Polar, Maritime Tropical, Maritime Polar, and Continental Tropical. Continental means it's over land and Maritime means it's over water.
200
Thunderstorms can form in different ways but usually there are 3 stages. Who can describe the first stage of a thunderstorm?
The first stage of a thunderstorm has strong, quickly rising currents of moist air. Clouds grow as moisture condenses (turns into liquid form) in the rising air. The clouds have both ice crystals and water droplets.
200
What is a barometer used to show? What does anemometer measure?
Barometer shows air pressure and an anemometer measures wind speed.
200
What does climate include?
Climate includes things like the average amount of precipitation, the average temperature, and how much the temperature changes during the year.
300
In which layer does most weather conditions occur? Where does it rain or snow?
The bottom layer, the troposphere.
300
What are the characteristics of a continental polar air mass?
The land near the poles is not very moist. So, the air mass from this area is cold and fairly dry.
300
What is lightening? What is it caused by?
an electrical spark moving between areas of opposite charge. Different areas of a thunderstorm cloud have either positive or negative charges. It is caused by the precipitation colliding in the air currents of the cloud.
300
How do weather forecasters forecast weather?
Weather forecasters observe many patterns of weather change. They use the information from their observations to make inferences. These inferences are conclusions of how air, land, and the steps of the water cycle affect each other to make weather systems.
300
How do oceans affect climate?
Oceans can affect a climate by slowing the rise and fall of the air temperature. Bodies of water become warm and cool more slowly than land. Because of this, the temperature of the air near an ocean does not change as quickly as air over land.
400
How many of you, while at the beach, have felt really hot sand under your feet and had to walk quickly to the ocean water to cool down your burning feet? The same amount of sunlight is shining on the water and the sand..why is the ocean not as hot as the land?
Land gets warmer more quickly in sunlight than water does.
400
What is a front? What does a cold front do?
A front is a boundary between two air masses. A cold front brings colder air into an area.
400
How long does a tornado last for?
Usually last only a few minutes, but they can leave a path many kilometers wide.
400
What does radar measure? How does radar work?
Radar measures the winds and precipitation inside a storm. The radar station sends out energy similar to signals from a radio station. Some of the energy bounces back from objects, including raindrops. Changes in the returning energy show the direction and speed of a rainstorm.
400
How can researchers find clues about climate changes?
During major ice ages, huge glaciers moved across continents. They moved soil and rock of every size to form hills and lakes. Researchers can tell how the glaciers moved by making maps of these hills and lakes.
500
What's a convection current?
Gases or liquids that rise and sink in a circular path. Convection currents happen both in water and in air.
500
What are the properties of an air mass?
Temperature and the amount of water vapor.
500
Where do hurricane get their energy from?
Hurricanes get their energy from warm ocean water...when water vapor condenses, it releases energy. this energy builds and drives the winds of a hurricane..so once it is over land, the hurricane's energy decreases.
500
What kind of weather system is found in areas of high air pressure?
High air pressure areas often have clear skies.
500
What makes climates cooler?
Volcanic eruptions and asteroid or meteorite impacts may have caused cooler climates in the past. They could have done this by putting dust and other materials into the upper atmosphere...which can cool the climate by blocking sunlight or reflecting sunlight back into space.