Review Questions 18C 1-7 (Earth Science)

Compare the three different ways that the sun warms the atmosphere.

Conduction is the transfer of heat particles by objects touching, Convection is the transfer of heat particles by vertical masses of warm air and cold air to an object, radiation is energy given off by matter in the form of rays or high-speed particles.

What is the solar constant? Where is it measured?

The rate of flow of radiant energy from the sun that reaches the earth through space. At the top of the atmosphere.

Describe the greenhouse effect.

The shorter wavelengths of light strike the ground after passing through the clear atmosphere, just like the light passing through the glass of a greenhouse. The warmed earth changes the shorter-wave solar energy to the longer-wave infrared energy. The infrared energy radiates back toward space, and the lower atmosphere traps and absorbs much of this energy. This is very similar to what happens in a greenhouse. Certain gases that make up the atmosphere, mainly water vapor and carbon dioxide, contribute most to heat.

What kinds of radiant energy make up most of what earth's surface receives?

The sun.

(True or False) All other conditions remaining the same, temperatures on the ground under cloudy skies could be warmer than under clear skies because of the greenhouse effect.

True.

Which two gases contribute most to the greenhouse effect?

Water Vapor and Carbon Dioxide.