Physical Geography Test 1

Travelers flying west from Los Angeles (118º W) to Tokyo (139 º E) will cross the __________ and, as a result, they will __________ when crossing this meridian.

International Dateline; lose a day

Which of the following statements is true?

March 21 = equal day and nights everywhere on Earth.

A value for Earth's circumference was first calculated by

a librarian at Alexandria named Eratosthenes.

-273 º C (-459.4 º F) is

absolute 0 º temperature.

The ozonosphere is critical to life because it

absorbs most ultraviolet wavelengths.

The Coriolis force

causes the apparent deflection of winds from a straight path.

A nonrechargeable battery can best be described as a/an __________ energy system and a/an __________ material system.

closed; closed

Which of the following terms characterizes the discipline of geography?

eclectic & holistic

An angular distance measured north or south of the equator from the center of Earth is termed

latitude.

How far north you live from the equator is measured as your __________, whereas an imaginary line marking all those places at that same distance north of the equator is called a __________.

latitude; parallel

Land-sea breezes are caused by

onshore (toward the land) air flows that develop in the afternoon as the land heats faster than neighboring water surfaces.

The passage of shortwave and longwave energy through the atmosphere or water is an example of

transmission.

The Polar high above the North Pole is a __________ pressure system that produces variable winds that flow in a/an __________ pattern.

weak; anticyclonic

Net radiation (NET R) refers to

the balance of all radiation incoming and outgoing at Earth's surface.

The Tropic of Cancer refers to

the parallel that is the farthest northern location for the subsolar point during the year.

Which of the following is the most strongly supported by experimental and observational evidence?

theory

Which of the following can lead to a temperature inversion?

air drainage into mountain valleys & radiative cooling of the ground at night

A isoline of equal pressure plotted on a weather map is known as

an isobar

Photochemical reactions produce

ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrates (PAN)

If the temperature at the surface of the earth (at sea level) is 40 º C, what is the temperature at 2000 m if the normal lapse rate is 6.4 º C/1000 m?

27.2 º C

Which is not true of geographers?

They are not really scientists.

Air flow is initiated by the

pressure gradient force.

Because of the process known as __________ the sun appears above the horizon __________ it has actually risen.

refraction; before

Air temperature is a measure of the presence of which of the following?

sensible heat

The larger the scale of a map, the __________ the area covered by the mapand the ________ detail it provides.

smaller; more

Evaporation

tends to lower temperatures more over water bodies than over land.

Which of the following is not true of ozone?

It is inert; i.e., it is chemically non-reactive.

Living systems are considered

biotic.

Which of the following is correctly matched?

equilibrium; balance of inputs and outputs and steady state equilibrium; small fluctuations about an average condition and dynamic equilibrium; small fluctuations about an average condition that changes gradually over time

Based on temperature, the atmosphere is divided into

four regions: ranging from the troposphere to the thermosphere.

The Clean Air Act

has saved the country several trillion dollars.

Which of the following results from radiation imbalances at different latitudes?

hurricanes, global winds, ocean currents

If a surface absorbs insolation,

its temperature increases.