Earth's Spheres
What are the four spheres of the Earth?
Biosphere
Atmosphere
Lithosphere/geosphere
Hydrosphere
If Earth’s axis is tipping towards the sun, which season will the Northern Hemisphere experience?
summer
What are two examples of greenhouse gases?
Carbon dioxide, Hydrofluorocarbons, and Methane
Define altitude
The distance from the ground or above sea level.
The boundary between the Stratosphere and Mesosphere is called the
Stratopause
What is classified within the Biosphere?
People, insects, plants, reptiles, and animals.
What affects local winds?
hills, towns and cities, lakes and oceans, the sun, open fields, large paved areas
What is the atmospheric composition?
78%- Nitrogen
21%- Oxygen
0.9%- Argon
0.04%- Carbon
How does severe weather occur?
When cold, dry air masses collide with warm, moist air masses
Which layer of the atmosphere is closest to the ground?
Troposphere
What is classified within the atmosphere?
Oxygen, gases, clouds, weather, and ozone layer
DAILY DOUBLE
Name one wind pattern.
Polar Cells
Ferrel Cells
Hadley Cells
What is the order of the atmospheric layers from Earth's surface up?
Troposphere
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Thermosphere
Exosphere
Which kind of storm occurs when cumulonimbus clouds form and may expand upward until they flatten out against the bottom of the stratosphere?
Thunderstorms
Which is considered a trace gas?
Krypton, Neon, and Helium.
What is classified in the hydrosphere?
Puddles, springs, ice, and ocean.
Put the layers of the Earth from most dense to least dense.
Inner Core, Outer Core, Mantle, Crust.
What layer of the atmosphere contains the majority of the ozone layer?
Stratosphere
What layer of the atmosphere contains 75% of all the mass of the atmosphere, even though it is the thinnest layer?
Troposphere
DAILY DOUBLE
What are Earth's seasons caused by?
Does Earth's tilt remain the same as it orbits the sun?
Different seasons are due to the tilt of the Earth's axis.
The Earth remains the same as it orbits the sun, but the sun's light shines differently on the Earth throughout the year.
How does the biosphere affect the atmosphere?
By regulating the composition of gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen through processes like photosynthesis (plants absorbing CO2 and releasing O2) and respiration (animals releasing CO2), essentially acting as a major driver in the global carbon cycle
What is one way we are impacting the earth negatively? What will happen if we continue this habit?
Deforestation, carbon release through vehicles, fossil fuels, etc.
Disruption of ecosystems, increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere contributing to climate change, and potential soil erosion issues.
What does the Ozone layer protect us from? What would happen if we did not have the ozone layer?
UV rays.
Without the ozone layer, too much harmful UVB radiation would have reached the Earth's surface. Increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation can cause skin cancer and eye cataracts and damage crops, plants, and micro-organisms, affecting ecosystems and food chains.
The ratio of the actual amount of water vapor in the air to the maximum amount that could be present at a given temperature. It's typically expressed as a percentage.
Relative Humidity
Describe the temperature trends between the layers of the atmosphere.
It decreases in temperature in the troposphere, increases in the stratosphere, decreases again in the mesosphere, and then increases in the thermosphere.