Climate & Weather Basics
What is the main difference between weather and climate?
Weather is short-term conditions; climate is long-term patterns.
What are the three Rs that help reduce waste?
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Name two things satellites mainly measure to help us monitor climate change?
Temperature, sea level, ice cover, and atmospheric gases.
What is the closest star to Earth
The Sun.
I disappear when you say my name. What am I?
Silence
What gas is the main cause of the enhanced greenhouse effect?
Carbon dioxide (CO₂).
What is the biggest human-made source of CO₂ emissions?
Burning fossil fuels
What does a ‘trend line’ on a graph show?
The overall direction of the data over time.
Which organ filters blood in the human body?
The kidneys
I can crack, I can make, I can tell. What am I?
A joke.
What climate zone is Australia mostly classified as?
Arid to semi-arid
Why are plastics a major environmental issue?
They take hundreds of years to break down.
What is the x-axis typically used for?
Time or independent variable
How many elements are shown on the periodic table?
118.
I have cities but no houses, rivers but no water, and forests but no trees. What am I?
A map.
Why does warm water increase cyclone intensity?
More heat = more energy for storms.
How does landfill contribute to climate change?
It releases methane, a strong greenhouse gas.
If a graph shows sea levels rising, what global process might be happening?
Melting glaciers and thermal expansion.
What unit is used to measure force?
Newtons (N)
I am not alive, but I grow. I don’t have lungs, but I need air. What am I?
Fire
What is the name of the effect where dark surfaces like asphalt absorb more heat than lighter surfaces?
The Urban Heat Island Effect
What chemical change occurs when CO₂ dissolves in seawater that leads to ocean acidification?
It forms carbonic acid, which lowers pH.
A student notices a sudden spike in satellite temperature data for one month. What is one possible limitation?
Instrument error, cloud interference, or short-term anomalies that don’t represent long-term climate trends.
Which type of white blood cell produces antibodies?
B-cells
I move without legs, I roar without a mouth, and I can level mountains. What am I?
Wind