S115 Quarterly Test Modules 5-8
If an area receives a large amount of insolation, is it likely to be warm or cold?
If the area has a large about of insolation it is more likely to be warm.
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Pangaea is a hypothetical supercontinent that might have existed in earth's past. At one time, all the continents might have fit together to form this supercontinent.
If no energy is added to air, what happens to the temperature when the air expands?
The air will cool as it expands. That's what adiabatic cooling is all about.
What water source is a molecule of water in once it has gone through transpiration?
After water has gone through transpiration, the water goes into the atmosphere forming clouds by condensation.
What two theories attempt to explain the earth's magnetic field? Which theory is the most scientifically valid?
-The Dynamo theory says that the motion of the fluid in the outer core causes electrical charges in the core, which creates the electrical current -The rapid-decay theory says that the electrical current of the earth is a consequence of how it was created The rapid-decay theory has been used to accurately predict the magnetic fields of other planets. The dynamo theory fails miserably at this.
a. Hydrosphere b. Hydrologic cycle c. Transpiration d. Condensation e. Precipitation f. Distillation g. Residence time h. Salinity i. Firn j. Water table k. Percolation l. Adiabatic cooling m. Cloud condensation nuclei
1. a. Hydrosphere - The sum of all water on a planet b. Hydrologic cycle - The process by which water is continuously exchanged between earth's various water sources c. Transpiration - Evaporation of water from plants d. Condensation - The process by which a gas turns into a liquid e. Precipitation - Water falling from the atmosphere as rain, snow, sleet, or hail f. Distillation - Evaporation and condensation of a mixture to separate out the mixture's individual components g. Residence time - The average time a given particle will stay in a given system h. Salinity - A measure of the mass of dissolved salt in a given mass of water i. Firn - A dense, icy pack of old snow j. Water table - The line between the water-saturated soil and the soil that is not saturated with water k. Percolation - The process by which water moves downward in the soil, toward the water table l. Adiabatic cooling - The cooling of a gas that happens when the gas expands with no way of getting more energy m. Cloud condensation nuclei - Small airborne particles upon which water vapor condenses to form clouds
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A cumulonimbus cloud must be present to form a tornado. The vortex will not form without the strong updraft of a thunderstorm cell that forms a cumulonimbus cloud.
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A hurricane starts out as a tropical disturbance, then becomes a tropical depression, then a tropical storm, and finally a tropical cyclone. The wind speeds in the storm determine in which classification a storm belongs.
What must a lake have in order for it to be a freshwater lake?
A lake must have a way to get rid of water other than just evaporation. This usually is accomplished when the lake feeds a river or stream. If evaporation is the only way of getting rid of water, the salts that the lake receives will become concentrated, making saltwater.
A bright student notes that with a few modifications, a refrigerator can become a "hot box," keeping things warm instead of cold. Explain.
A refrigerator compresses a gas, which heats the gas up, and then it allows the gas to expand and any liquid to evaporate, which cools the gas. The only reason the inside of the refrigerator is cold is that the pipes carrying the expanded gas are exposed to the inside of the refrigerator. If you simply reversed the design so that the pipes carrying the gas after compression are on the inside of the refrigerator, the inside would heat up.
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A refrigerator uses a substance that is a gas at room temperature. A compressor in the refrigerator compresses the gas, which heats it up and forms a lot of liquid. Once compressed, the gas is released into a low-pressure portion of the system, which allows it to expand. This cools down the contents of the refrigerator. In addition, the gas that had condensed evaporates, which further cools the system. The pipes that carry the expanded gas are on the inside of the refrigerator, and the pipes that carry the compressed gas are on the outside of the refrigerator.
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A stationary front generally results in weather that doesn't change much for a long period of time.
What happens first in a lightning bolt: a return stroke or a stepped leader?
A stepped leader.
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A thunderstorm begins with a current of rising air, called an updraft. As the air rises, water condenses onto cloud condensation nuclei, which actually heats the cloud condensation nuclei, making the current of rising air stronger. This is the cumulus stage of the thunderstorm. Eventually, the water droplets and/or ice crystals in the cloud become too large, and it begins to rain. This marks the mature stage of the thunderstorm. As the rain falls, it causes winds that blow downward, which are called downdrafts. These winds eventually overpower the rising currents of air that started the storm, and the entire area is full of only downdrafts. This marks the dissipation stage of the thunderstorm. A single thunderstorm cell typically lasts for less than 30 minutes, but a thunderstorm might be composed of many cells so that the storm lasts longer.
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A weather front is a boundary between two air masses. The four basic types are cold fronts, warm fronts, stationary fronts, and occluded fronts.
Identify the clouds in the following pictures: a. b. c.
A- stratus clouds B- cirrus clouds C- cumulus clouds
What causes the temperature change that allows for condensation, which makes most clouds?
Adiabatic cooling forms the vast majority of clouds.
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Adiabatic cooling should not be confused with the fact that most things expand when they are heated. When you heat something, you are giving it energy. In adiabatic cooling, air is expanding without being given energy.
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Along the surface of the earth, winds blow from cold to warm. Thus, the wind will blow from the mountain to the valley
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An air mass is a large body of air with relatively uniform pressure, temperature, and humidity. The three basic types of air masses are arctic, polar, and tropical. Artic air masses are very cold and dry. Maritime tropical air masses are warm and moist, while maritime polar air masses are cold and moist. Continental tropical air masses are warm and dry, while continental polar air masses are cold (but not as cold as artic air masses) and dry.
Define the following terms: a. Aphelion b. Perihelion c. Coriolis effect d. Air mass e. Weather front
Aphelion- farthest the earth will be from the sun. Perihelion- closest the earth will be to the sun. Coriolis effect- the way in which the rotation of the earth bends the path of winds, sea currents, and objects that fly through different latitudes. Air mass- a large body of air with relatively uniform pressure, temperature, and humidity. Weather front- a boundary between two air masses
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As glaciers move, they might encounter warmer temperatures, where they begin to melt, feeding various freshwater sources of the hydrosphere. Glaciers in the polar regions often do not encounter warmer temperatures, however, and move all the way to the ocean, where they form ice shelves. When the edge of a glacier advances into the ocean, the ice weakens at some points, and large chunks of ice break off the glacier, floating away in the water. This process, called calving, is what makes an iceberg, approximately 90% of which is under water.
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At the two equinoxes, the days are 12 hours long in both hemispheres. As the earth moves from the autumnal equinox (spring equinox in the Southern hemisphere) to the winter solstice (summer solstice in the Southern hemisphere), the days in the Northern Hemisphere are shorter than 12 hours and are getting shorter. In the Southern Hemisphere, the days are longer than 12 hours and are getting longer. From the winter solstice (summer solstice in the Southern hemisphere) to the spring equinox (autumnal equinox in the Southern hemisphere), the days in the Northern Hemisphere are shorter than 12 hours and are getting longer. In the Southern Hemisphere, the days are longer than 12 hours and are getting shorter.
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Because of earth's axial tilt, sunlight shines more directly on the Northern Hemisphere when the earth is at aphelion. Thus, it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere at that time. At perihelion, sunlight shines more directly on the Southern Hemisphere. At that time, then, it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Because of the Coriolis effect, a missile fired due north from the equator will end up hitting a target northeast of its launch site, while a missile fired due south from near the North Pole will end up hitting a target southwest of its launch site. The Coriolis effect, however, is not strong enough to significantly affect how water drains in a basin.
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Fog is the result of a cloud forming on the ground. Although this used to be called smog, that term is now generally used to refer to a brownish haze that results from pollution. However, that brownish haze is more properly referred to as photochemical smog.
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By far, the most common form of precipitation is rain. There are two theories about how rain forms in clouds. The Bergeron process deals with how rain is formed in cold clouds. The ice crystals in these clouds grow larger until they can no longer remain suspended in the air. As they fall, they typically pick up more ice, growing even heavier. Eventually, these ice crystals become so big that they fragment, which results in several ice crystals falling through the cloud. Each of these fragments, until there are billions of ice crystals falling from the cloud. As they descend, they melt and form rain.
What are dark cumulus clouds called?
Dark cumulus clouds are called cumulonimbus clouds.
What is the dew point? What two factors influence it?
Dew point- the temperature that water vapor condenses out of the air onto ground-level surfaces. Humidity and pressure influence it.
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Drizzle usually forms in stratus clouds. Sleet is different from freezing rain because sleet is frozen before it hits the ground, while freezing rain is not. Hail is formed when an ice crystal or raindrop is blown back into the cloud by an upward gust of wind. If blown high enough, the raindrop will freeze, or the ice crystal will get larger. Depending on the wind conditions, the ice crystal might be blown back up into the clouds several times. Eventually, it gets so big that the upward gusts of wind are no longer strong enough to push it back up into the clouds, and it falls to the earth. Snow starts out as precipitation from a cold cloud. As the ice crystals fall from the clouds, they absorb more water, freezing and growing into bigger ice crystals.
Many powerful earthquakes are followed later by less-powerful earthquakes called "aftershocks." If an earthquake measures 6 on the Richter scale and is followed by an aftershock that measures 4, how many times more energy was released in the original earthquake as compared to the aftershock?
Each step on the Richter scale means a factor of 32 in energy. Since the quake and aftershock are off by 2 units, the quake was 32 x 32 = 1,024 times more energetic than the aftershock.
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Earthquakes are caused by the motion of rock masses along a fault or by volcanic activity.
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Electrical currents in earth's core are responsible for earth's magnetic field, the strength of which has been decreasing for the past 170 years. In addition, its direction has reversed a few times in the past. The data indicate that at least some of these reversals have happened over a short time period.
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Evaporation and condensation of a mixture to separate out the mixture's individual components is called distillation. This process is why water from the ocean can eventually end up in a freshwater source, like a lake, river, or stream.
Water was in the ocean and is now in a cloud. What two hydrologic cycle processes happened in order to make that transfer?
Evaporation, and condensation made this process occur.
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Eventually, all the water that evaporates into the atmosphere falls back to earth, mostly in the form of precipitation. However, water can also leave the atmosphere and return to earth as dew or frost.
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For every one step up in the Richter scale, the energy of the earthquake multiplies by 32. The first earthquake measured 4, and the second measured 8. The second earthquake was 4 units higher, which means it released 32 x 32 x 32 x 32 = 1,048,576 times more energy than the first!
Where do glaciers come from?
Glaciers start on mountains as the result of snow that never completely melts in the summer. If enough snow piles up, the weight causes it to slide down the mountain as a glacier.
What kind of water pollution is the hardest to track back to its source?
Groundwater pollution is hard to track back because there is no easy way to tell where the polluted groundwater came from.
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Hot air rises. As this happens it creates a region of low pressure. Cold air sinks. As this happens, it creates a region of high pressure. These effects cause loops of winds to develop as air tries to move from cool regions of the earth (like the poles) to warm regions of earth (like the equator). These winds are then bent by the Coriolis effect, which stems from the fact that different parts of the earth move at different speeds. The result is prevailing winds in the polar regions called polar easterlies, prevailing winds in the mid latitudes called westerlies, and prevailing winds near the equator called trade winds.
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Houston, TX is near a cold front, so it might have thunderstorms right now.
What city listed on the map should expect warmer weather?
Houston.
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Hurricanes are more properly called tropical cyclones, because they always start in the tropics. They begin as a tropical disturbance that is fed by the warm, moist air of the tropical sea. If the rotating winds reach a sustained speed of 23 miles per hour, it is "upgraded" to a tropical depression. If the winds reach a sustained speed of 39 miles per hour, the depression is "upgraded" again to a tropical storm. Finally, if the winds reach 74 miles per hour, it becomes a full-fledged hurricane. There are five categories of hurricanes, which are based on the wind speeds in the storm. The most pronounced feature of a hurricane is its eye, and the clouds spin around the eye counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The eye is actually a place of calm in the midst of the storm.
You watch the sky as cirrus clouds form followed by stratus and nimbostratus clouds. Do you expect a violent rainstorm or a long, lighter rain?
I would expect long, thinner rain.
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Icebergs are composed of freshwater. They do not form as a result of ocean water freezing. In certain polar regions, the water in the ocean does freeze to form sea ice, but that is not an iceberg. In fact, icebergs come from glaciers, which are the result of snowfall. When a region is cold enough, the snow does not melt away during the summer. When new snow falls, the old snow gets packed down into what is called firn. As the mass of snow accumulates, it begins to slide to lower elevations, forming a glacier.
Where do icebergs come from?
Icebergs come from glaciers. If a glacier moves to the sea, it can break apart and float away as icebergs.
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If a fault exists in which one rock mass is moving up and the other is stationary or moving down, the upward-moving mass of rock will form a fault-block mountain. When two moving rock masses push against each other with extreme force, the crust can bend in an up-and-down, rolling pattern, forming folded mountains. A mountain formed by lava leaking up through the crust from the mantle is a volcanic mountain, while one formed by magma that does not leave the mantle is called a domed mountain.
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If a lake has a high enough salinity to consider it a saltwater lake, there are no rivers taking water away from the lake. As a result, the only way water can leave is through evaporation. The Dead Sea is one such lake, and it has a much higher salinity than that of the ocean.
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If a thick line on a weather map has only triangles on it, it represents a cold front, and the way the triangles point tell you the direction in which the front travels. If it has only ovals on it, the line represents a warm front, and the side the ovals are on tells you the direction in which the front travels. If the line has both ovals and circles on the same side, it represents an occluded front, and once again, the side that the symbols are on tells you the direction in which the front travels. Finally, if the line has ovals on one side and triangles on another, it represents a stationary front.
When a raindrop hits the ground, name three ways it can eventually end up in a river.
If the raindrop never really soaks into the soil, it can end up in a river via surface runoff. It could also soak into the groundwater and get to the river via groundwater flow. Alternatively, it could go into the soil, be absorbed by a plant, transpired into the atmosphere, condensed into a cloud, and precipitated into the river. It could also be evaporated before it soaks into the ground, condensed into a cloud, and precipitated into the river. That's four answers, but you only need three of them.
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Imaginary lines that run north and south across the earth are called lines of longitude, while imaginary lines that run east and west across the earth are called lines of latitude. The latitude is 0 at the equator and increases the farther you move away from it. The longitude is 0 at the prime meridian, which runs through Greenwich, England. It increases the farther you move away from the prime meridian.
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In the Northern Hemisphere, June 21 is the summer solstice. That's when the days in the Northern Hemisphere are at their longest, because the Northern Hemisphere is pointed towards the sun. They then begin to decrease so that by September 22 (the autumnal equinox), they are exactly 12 hours long. Thus, the days are greater than 12 hours long but are decreasing in length. Note that June 22 and September 23 can also be used.
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In the Southern Hemisphere, the days get longer from June 21 (the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice) to the December 21 (the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice). On September 22 (the Northern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox), they are exactly 12 hours long. Thus, from June 21 to September 22, the days get longer but are still under 12 hours. Note that June 22 and September 23 can also be used.
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In the elastic rebound theory, rock masses moving relative to one another get caught on the rough, jagged edges of the fault that lies between them. The rock masses start to bend as they keep trying to move. At some point, the stress becomes too great, and the moving rock breaks free, causing the rock masses on both sides of the fault to snap back into their original shapes. The resulting vibrations are what we feel as an earthquake.
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In warm clouds, meteorologists think that rain forms according to the collision-coalescence process. In this theory, each cloud contains many water droplets. As air currents in the cloud move these droplets around, they collide with other water droplets. Sometimes the droplets stick together, forming a bigger water droplet. Eventually, a water droplet gets big enough to start dropping through the cloud.
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Insolation stands for incoming solar radiation.
An air mass is dry and warm. What kind of air mass is it?
It has continental tropical air mass.
Is the atmospheric pressure in Houston, TX higher, lower, or equivalent to that in Atlanta, GA?
It is equivalent.
Is the atmospheric pressure in Chicago, IL higher, lower, or equivalent to that in New York, NY?
It is higher.
Why is the Northern Hemisphere in winter when the earth is closest to the sun?
It is in winter because the northern hemisphere is pointed away from the sun at perihelion, this is due to the earth's axis tilt.
Many scientists think that at one time, all the continents might have fit together to form a supercontinent. What is the name of this supercontinent?
It is known as Pangaea.
What major benefit do we derive from the earth's magnetic field?
It protects us from the solar wind, without the magnetic field we would all be barbequed.
A thunderstorm cell is raining, and there is no updraft. In what stage is the thunderstorm cell? Will there be hail at this point in the thunderstorm?
It will be in the dissipation stage, there will not be hail.
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Light that comes to the earth from the sun is called insolation, which abbreviates "incoming solar radiation." The earth's distance from the sun and its axial tilt affect how much a region of the earth gets. In addition, cloud cover can reduce the amount of incoming solar radiation. The earth orbits the sun in an oval pattern that mathematicians call an ellipse. When the earth is at its aphelion, it is the farthest it will ever be from the sun. When it is at its perihelion, it is closest to the sun.
How does lightning cause thunder?
Lightening causes thunder by heating up the air that it passes through.
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Lighting strikes tall things because the positive charges in the ground tend to pile up in a tall object, since that's how they can get closest to the cloud.
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Lightning forms because a charge imbalance in a cloud causes charge to build up on the ground. The positive charges on the ground attract some negative charges from the cloud, forming a stepped leader. The closeness of the negative charges forces the positive charges up, making the return stroke, which is the most powerful part of the lightning strike. The thunder that you hear is the result of air that has been superheated by the return stroke. Although this kind of lightning (called cloud-to-ground lightning) forms lightning bolts, cloud-to-cloud lightning lights up the sky in big sheets.
What kind of cooling is responsible for most cloud formation?
Like the cloud in Experiment 5.3, adiabatic cooling accounts for most cloud formation.
Will fog be thicker in a smoky area or an area free of smoke?
Like the cloud in Experiment 5.3, the fog will be thicker in the smoky area.
What causes the wind in a certain region to be different from what we expect based on the global patterns we see?
Local winds cause certain regions to be different.
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Many of our observations of earthquakes, mountains, and volcanoes seem to support the theory of plate tectonics. There are deep trenches at the bottom of the oceans, the characteristics of which are well described by the theory that the plates in that region of the earth are moving away from each other. In the end, then, most geologists believe that the plate tectonics theory is correct.
If you tasted melted sea ice, would it taste like freshwater or saltwater?
Melted sea ice would taste like saltwater, because salt is incorporated into sea ice when it freezes.
Of the three types of rock discussed in this module, which type starts out a different type of rock?
Metamorphic rock starts out as either igneous or sedimentary rock and is then transformed by high temperature and pressure.
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Meteorologists separate clouds into four basic groups: cumulus (fluffy piles of clouds), stratus (layers of clouds), cirrus (high altitude, wispy clouds), and lenticular (lens-shaped clouds). You generally find each type of cloud at a characteristic altitude, but a prefix of "alto" is used to indicate that a cloud type is higher than expected. In general, cirrus clouds form at the highest altitudes, while stratus clouds form at the lower altitudes. A prefix of "nimbo" or a suffix of "nimbus" is also added if the cloud is dark. Dark clouds are the ones that typically bring precipitation.
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Most likely, Christ was born in April, not December. However, December 25th is celebrated as Christ's birthday because missionaries tried to link it to a pagan holiday that was called the birthday of the sun.
What city listed on the map might have been experiencing thundershowers at the time this map was drawn?
New York.
An enormous amount of ocean water in the polar region freezes. Does it form an iceberg? Why or why not?
No, because icebergs are form parts of glaciers that have broken off in a process called caving.
Is it possible for sheet lightning to strike a person?
No, because it is cloud-to-cloud lightning.
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Occluded fronts occur when a cold front meets up with a slower-moving warm front. They usually result in slow, steady rains followed by thunderstorms.
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One of the real environmental problems that exists today is water pollution, especially what is occurring to the groundwater supply. Since nearly 50% of the United States gets its drinking water from groundwater sources, it has a direct effect on human health.
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One plate can slide under another and form a trench; the plates can move away from each other, allowing magma to rise and create new crust; the plate can push against each other, causing the crust to fold; or the plates can slide along each other.
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Only the size of the raindrop. Drizzle has very small water droplets, while raindrops are bigger.
what process in the hydrologic cycle is responsible for making glaciers?
Precipitation is responsible because it needs liquid to make ice.
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Prevailing wind patterns can be easily disrupted by local winds. Examples of such winds would be a sea breeze near the ocean shore, which tends to blow during the day, and a land breeze, which tends to blow near the ocean shore during the night.
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Radar (which stands for "radio detection and ranging"), emits radio waves at a rate of several hundred per second. As those waves encounter objects, they bounce off the objects and head back toward the radar unit. The time it takes for the waves to travel to an object and then bounce back indicates the distance to the object. In addition, differences between the outgoing and returning waves provide information that can determine whether a cloud is made up of ice crystals (a cold cloud) or water droplets (a warm cloud). Doppler radar is a well-known tool in both weather and law enforcement. Traffic police use it to determine the speed of automobiles, while meteorologists use it to measure the speed of winds and air masses.
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Salt is found in the ocean because the only way water can escape the ocean is through evaporation. As Experiment 5.1 shows, when this happens, the salt is left behind. Thus, the ocean's average salinity increases over time. Nevertheless, the salinity of the ocean does vary. Where rivers dump water into the ocean, for example, the salinity is lower than the average salinity. The average salinity of the ocean indicates it is much younger than even a few million years old.
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Saltwater freezes at a lower temperature than does freshwater. In fact, putting salt on ice will often melt the ice, because the salt molecules attract water molecules so that they move away from the other water molecules. When the temperature gets low enough, however, even saltwater will freeze, but the salt and water separate as the solution freezes, usually forming solid water that surround little pockets of concentrated saltwater called brine.
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San Francisco, CA is behind an occluded front. Since the weather described is that of an occluded front, San Francisco might have just experienced such weather.
What causes the earth's magnetic field?
Scientists don't completely know why the earth has a magnetic field. Most scientists think that it's because the earth has a bunch of electrical current running through it making the earth's core a giant magnet.
What is the main thing scientists observe in order to learn about the makeup of the earth's interior?
Scientists observe seismic waves, which are usually generated by earthquakes. The behavior of these waves tells us a lot about the makeup and properties of the mantle and core.
What have scientists observed in order to learn about earth's interior?
Scientists use seismic waves to study Earth's interior. Seismic waves travel through the Earth and can be detected far from their source.
What is the difference between the ways that igneous rock and sedimentary rock form?
Sedimentary rock is formed when sediments are solidified through chemical reactions. Igneous rock forms when molten rock solidifies.
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Sheet lightning is cloud-to-cloud lightning while lightning bolts are cloud-to-ground lightning. The lightning bolts, therefore, hit the ground, while sheet lightning never does.
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Since it is continental, the humidity is low. Since it is polar, the air mass is cold.
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Since it is maritime, the humidity is high. Since it is tropical, the air mass is warm.
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Sleet is much smaller than hail, but both of them are frozen before they hit the ground. Freezing rain, on the other hand, is liquid until it hits a cold surface. Hail and sleet also form differently, since hail is recycled through the cloud several times while sleet is not.
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Soil moisture can flow down through the soil in a process called percolation. If it travels down far enough, it will reach soil that is completely saturated with water. The line between the saturated and unsaturated soil is called the water table. The depth of this line changes over time. For example, when there is a period of very heavy rains, the depth increases, and when there are periods of little or no rain, the depth decreases.
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Some good scientists ignore plate tectonics because it is typically linked to the idea of an earth that is billions of years old. This is unfortunate because there is no reason to believe that the continents always moved slowly. Indeed, in a catastrophe like a worldwide Flood, they could have moved very quickly.
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Temperature differences cause winds.
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The Bergeron process begins with cold clouds, while the collision-coalescence theory begins with warm clouds.
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The Bergeron process describes precipitation from the top of cumulonimbus clouds, while the collision-coalescence theory describes precipitation from nimbostratus. Remember, the top of a cumulonimbus cloud is near the top of the troposphere, where water freezes. Nimbostratus clouds, however, are much lower, so they are the most likely to be warm.
The same cloud precipitates snow on a mountain and rain in the nearby valley. Does the Bergeron process or the collision-coalescence theory best describe the process causing precipitation from that cloud?
The Bergeron process is occurring
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The Coriolis effect bends the wind patterns.
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The Coriolis effect causes hurricanes in different hemispheres to rotate differently.
What two regions of the earth does the Moho discontinuity separate? What about the Gutenberg 4. discontinuity? What about the Lehmann discontinuity?
The Moho separates the crust from the mantle, and the Gutenberg discontinuity separates the mantle from the core. The Lehmann discontinuity separates the inner core from the outer core.
Between what two regions of the earth can you find the Moho?
The Moho separates the crust from the mantle.
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The Northern Hemisphere is pointed toward the sun at aphelion, so that's when it's summer in that hemisphere.
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The atmospheric pressure in Houston is lower. Houston is 3 isobars from the "L" symbol, while Atlanta is 4 isobars away. This means Atlanta's pressure is higher.
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The atmospheric pressures are nearly equivalent. Even though they are far away from each other, they are very close to the same isobar, indicating nearly equal pressure.
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The average time a given particle will stay in a given system is called its residence time, and in the hydrologic cycle, it varies considerably from source to source. The average time a molecule of water stays in a swiftly flowing river, for example, is shorter than that of a water molecule in a lake. The average time a molecule of water stays in the atmosphere is much shorter than that of a water molecule in the ocean. The Bible was the first work to mention the hydrologic cycle.
The captain of a ship sees an iceberg and steers clear of it. Why is the captain still worried about a collision?
The captain is worried because 90% of the glacier is underwater and therefore not visible. The captain steered clear of the visible part, but the underside of the boat could still hit the part that is underwater.
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The charge imbalance first forms in the cumulonimbus cloud, and it is due to water droplets or ice crystals rubbing against each other in glancing collisions.
Why don't you see lightning from nimbostratus clouds?
The charge imbalance that causes lightning starts in a cloud and cannot form unless the cloud is tall.
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The chemical name of the salt you put on your food is sodium chloride. Although this is the majority of salt in the ocean, chemists use the tem "salt" more broadly, and as a result, there are other salts in the ocean. A measure of the mass of dissolved salt in a given mass of water is called salinity.
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The core's principal ingredient is iron. In the outer core, the iron is liquid, but in the inner core, it is solid. Nevertheless, the inner core has a higher temperature than the outer core. The reason the inner core is solid is because of pressure freezing. The boundary between the inner and outer cores is the Lehmann discontinuity.
If there is a lot more rain than normal in an area over an extensive length of time, what happens to the depth of the water table?
The depth of the water table will decrease.
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The dew point is coldest on the second morning. It takes a colder temperature to form dew from air that is less humid or is lower in pressure.
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The dynamo theory says that the motion of the core is due to temperature differences in the core and the rotation of the earth. This motion causes the motion of electrical charges in the core, which creates electrical current. The rapid decay theory states that the electrical current in the core started as a consequence of how the earth formed and is decreasing over time.
Scientists often separate the earth into five distinct sections. Name those sections.
The earth is divided into the atmosphere, hydrosphere, crust, mantle, and core.
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The earth is typically divided into five regions: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the crust, the mantle, and the core. The deepest region is further subdivided into the outer core and inner core. We have learned about the lowest regions with indirect observation, such as observing how sound waves pass through the earth.
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The earth's crust is its outermost layer of rocks. It is separated from the mantle by the Mohorovicic discontinuity, which is typically called the Moho for short. We have never been able to drill below the crust. The crust also contains soil and small, solid fragments of rock and other materials called sediment. Many of the rocks of the earth's crust are sedimentary rocks, which are formed when chemical reactions cement sediments together. Other rock types found in the crust are igneous (rock that forms from molten rock) and metatmorphic (rock that has been changed as a result of great pressure and temperature).
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The earth's magnetic field deflects the vast majority of cosmic rays that come from the sun. Without such protection, life would cease to exist as a result of the energy of these particles. If the earth's magnetic field were too small, too few of them would be deflected. If it were too strong, it would cause deadly magnetic storms that would make life impossible. Thus, the earth has a magnetic field that is just the right strength to support life.
What is unique about the rock in the asthenosphere?
The extremes in temperature and pressure make the rock behave sometimes like a liquid and sometimes like a solid. That's why we call it plastic rock
Where is the calmest part of a hurricane?
The eye is the calmest part of a hurricane.
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The fact that the continents appear as if they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle has led some scientists to speculate that years ago, all the continents were connected in a giant supercontinent, which has been called Pangaea. Evidence to support this idea includes the fact that sections of rock from different continents are very similar, and they "match up" when you put the continents together the way they are assumed to have existed in Pangaea. Although most scientists believe that the plates have always moved slowly, a theory called "catastrophic plate tectonics" uses rapid plate movement as a result of a global catastrophe to explain how the supercontinent split in a short amount of time.
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The fact that the rapid-decay theory requires a catastrophe like the worlwide Flood and the fact that the rapid-decay theory indicates an earth 10,000 years old or younger tend to make many scientists shy away from it. This is unfortunate, as there are good reasons to believe both of them!
Without two specific factors, the global wind patterns would be simple. They would blow from the poles to the equator. What two factors shape the global winds into the complex patterns that we actually see?
The factor that shape global winds are the changing temperature in the latitude and the coriolis effect.
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The first stage is the cumulus stage, where there is only an updraft and no precipitation. In the second stage, the mature stage, there are updrafts, downdrafts, and precipitation. The last stage, the dissipation stage, has only downdrafts and precipitation.
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The four types of mountains are: volcanic mountains, domed mountains, fault-block mountains, and folded mountains. Volcanic and domed mountains need magma from the earth's mantle, fault- block mountains need vertical motion along a fault, and folded mountains need rock masses pushing against each other.
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The ground in Alaska rotates slowly compared to the ground at the equator. Thus, as the missile travels, the ground underneath it will outrun it. As a result, the missile's path will bend to the west relative to the ground. To correct for this, you will have to fire the missile southeast.
Which is solid: the inner core or the outer core? Why is it solid when the other is liquid?
The inner core is solid because of pressure freezing. Even though the inner core is hotter than the outer core, it remains solid because the pressure is so great that it forces iron atoms close enough together to be solid.
If a lake has no means of getting rid of water except evaporation, does it contain saltwater or freshwater?
The lake would contain saltwater, because it would have no way of getting rid of its saltwater.
What is the largest source of freshwater on the planet?
The largest source of freshwater is the glaciers and icebergs on the planet.
What is the largest source of liquid freshwater on the planet?
The largest source of liquid freshwater is found in groundwater.
What is the largest source of liquid freshwater on the planet?
The largest source of liquid freshwater is groundwater.
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The magnetic field is caused by a large amount of electrical flow in the core.
Where is the magnetic field of the earth generated?
The magnetic field is generated in the earth's core.
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The mantle is under the crust, and it is separated from the outer core by the Gutenberg discontinuity. Its principal ingredient is silica. Deeper portions of the mantle have a higher temperature than shallower portions of the mantle. The crust and the upper layers of the mantle form the lithosphere, and directly below that is the asthenosphere, where the rock is called plastic rock because it behaves like something between a liquid and a solid.
In a survey of the deep ocean, sonar measurements detect a deep trench on the bottom that runs as far as the instruments detect. What is the most likely cause of the trench?
The most likely cause of a trench is when two the plates of an island interact with each other earthquakes can occur, mountains can form, or deep trenches form.
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The most successful theory regarding fault-related earthquakes is the elastic rebound theory. In this theory, as rock masses on a fault try to move relative to each other, they get caught up on one another. As a result, they bend. Eventually, the rock masses break free of each other, and they "rebound" to their normal shape.
Why is groundwater pollution so hard to trace back to its original source?
The nature of groundwater flow makes it such that a lake can be polluted by groundwater that originally soaked into the soil hundreds of miles away
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The occluded front has triangles and ovals on the same side. That's nearest San Francisco.
Why is the salinity of the ocean evidence that the earth is not billions of years old?
The oceans are not salty enough for the earth to be billions of years old. Since salt accumulates in the oceans, the older the earth is, the saltier the oceans will be. Calculations indicate that even assuming the oceans had no salt to begin with, it would take, at most, 62 million years (not billions of years!) to make the oceans as salty as they are now.
What do the oceans tell us about the age of the earth?
The oceans tell us that the earth is significantly younger than a few million years old.
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The plates are large "islands" of the earth's lithosphere. These plates float around on the plastic rock of the asthenosphere.
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The point where an earthquake begins is called the earthquake's focus. The epicenter is the point on the surface of the earth directly above an earthquake's focus. The study of earthquakes is called seismology, and it uses delicate instruments called seismographs that can measure vibrations that are too small for us to notice. This has led to a scale that classifies earthquakes based on their strength, called the Richter scale. This scale runs from 0 to 10, and each step along this scale is an increase of approximately 32 in the energy of an earthquake. A earthquake that measures 5 on the Richter scale is 32 times more energetic than one that measures 4 and 32,768 (32x32x32) less energetic than one that measures 8.
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The principal factors affecting the weather are thermal energy, uneven distribution of thermal energy, and water vapor in the atmosphere.
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The process by which water is continuously exchanged between earth's various water sources is called the hydrologic cycle. In this process, water gets into the atmosphere predominantly by evaporation and transpiration. Soil moisture is usually depleted by either transpiration or groundwater flow. Water vapor in the atmosphere can form a cloud through a process called condensation. Once water is in a cloud, it can fall back to earth as precipitation. When this water falls on land and then runs along the surface into a lake, river, or stream, we call it surface runoff.
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The rapid-decay theory has been used to accurately predict the magnetic fields of other planets. The dynamo theory fails miserably at this.
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The rapid-decay theory requires a global catastrophe in order to be consistent with the data that indicate the magnetic field of the earth has reversed several times.
The earthquake activity of two regions on earth is measured. The first region sits near the middle of one of the plates in the earth's crust, while the other is very near a boundary between two plates. Which will (most likely) have the greatest earthquake activity?
The region nearest the plate boundary should have more earthquakes.
In which body of water would the residence time be shorter: a quickly moving river or a lake that has no river outlets?
The residence time in the river is shorter. The residence time will be shorter wherever water is quickly exchanged with other sources.
Where is the residence time longer: in the ocean or in a fast-moving stream?
The resident time is defiantly longer in an ocean; the average residence time in an ocean is approximately 4,000 years
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The return stroke is responsible for the majority of light and sound in a lightning bolt.
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The stages of a tornado are: the whirl stage, the organizing stage, the mature stage, the shrinking stage, and the decaying stage. The tornado is most destructive in its mature stage.
If a sample of gas is compressed and nothing else is allowed to change, what will happen to the temperature of the gas?
The temperature of the gas will increase.
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The term "weather" refers to the condition of the earth's atmosphere (mostly the troposphere) at any particular time. Climate, on the other hand, is a steady condition that prevails day in and day out in a particular region of creation.
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The theory of plate tectonics views the earth's lithosphere as composed of several "plates" that all move about on the plastic rock of the asthenosphere. When they move away from each other, magma leaks up from the mantle, creating new crust. When they collide, one can slide under the other, generally forming a trench with mountains on one side. When this happens, crust is destroyed as it melts into the mantle. When they collide and neither slides under the other, they buckle, forming mountains. When they slide (or shear) against each other, their edges scrape against each other. This motion can result in severe earthquakes.
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The three main factors are thermal energy, uneven distribution of thermal energy, and water vapor in the atmosphere.
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The thunderstorm is probably made up of several cells. The mature stage of a typical thunderstorm cell lasts no longer than 30 minutes.
Of the 3 main factors that influence weather, which is mostly responsible for winds?
The uneven distribution of thermal energy is responsible for winds
Where does the majority of earth's water reside?
The vast majority of Earth's water (about 97.25%) is found in the oceans.
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The vast majority of earth's water supply is contained in the oceans as saltwater. The vast majority of earth's freshwater supply is stored in icebergs and glaciers. The largest source of liquid freshwater is groundwater. Aside from the sources just mentioned, the other major sources of water in the hydrosphere are surface water (not oceans), soil moisture, and atmospheric moisture.
What kind of water makes up the majority of earth's water supply?
The vast majority of water on the earth is saltwater, since more than 97% of earth's water supply is in the oceans.
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The warm front has only ovals on it, and the ovals point in the direction of travel. Thus, Indianapolis will get warmer weather soon.
Suppose you studied two areas of land close to one another. In the first, there are a lot of trees. In the second, there are almost no trees at all. Other than that, the two areas seem identical. They have the same kind of grass and experience the same weather. Which one has the deeper water table?
The water table will be deeper in the area with lots of trees. Since there are no trees to take away soil moisture in the one area, and since they each have the same kind of grass, the area with the trees depletes soil moisture faster than the other one. As a result, there will be more unsaturated soil in the region with trees, and the water table will therefore be deeper.
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The weather changes from day to day, while the climate does not. Climate is what you generally expect from a region, while weather is what actually happens from day to day.
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There are basically two views of how the electrical currents in the core originated, and they are called the dynamo theory and the rapid-decay theory. The dynamo theory assumes that the earth is billions of years old and is not very successful when compared to the data. The rapid-decay theory assumes that they earth is only thousands of years old and is very successful when compared to the data. The fact that most scientists believe in the dynamo theory in spite of the data indicates that there is no such thing as an unbiased scientist. The rapid-decay theory says that all planets initially had a magnetic field, but some planet's fields have decayed away to nothing by now. The dynamo theory says that once a planet has a magnetic field, its strength might change, but it will never be completely gone.
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There is no answer for this one. Just be sure that given a picture or drawing of a cloud, you can determine which of the four major types of cloud it is.
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There isn't a steady stream of wind blowing from the poles to the equator because the temperature of the air changes as it changes latitude. This causes loops of wind to develop at different latitudes.
In the Northern Hemisphere, are the day lengths greater than or less than 12 hours between the winter solstice and the spring equinox? Are the day lengths increasing or decreasing during that time?
There would be less than 12 hours in a day, and the day lengths would be increasing.
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This kind of cloud pattern and resulting rain is indicative of a cold front. Thus, you should expect cooler temperatures.
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This kind of cloud progression is caused by an occluded front.
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This kind of weather is indicative of a warm front. It is not a stationary front because the rain would have lasted several days.
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Thunder is the result of superheated air traveling out from the lightning bolt in waves. When those waves hit our eardrum, we interpret them as sound. Since the waves are violent, the sound is loud.
If the mature stage of a thunderstorm lasts for 30 minutes maximum, why can thunderstorms rain heavy sheets of rain for several hours?
Thunderstorms can last for several hours because thunderstorms are made of several cells, and each cell produces heavy rains for about 30 minutes.
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Tornadoes start as the result of updrafts that form thunderstorms. In the first stage of their development, known as the whirl stage, the updraft of air forming a cumulonimbus cloud begins being hit by winds blowing in a different direction at higher altitudes. Combined with the updraft, this causes a funnel of air to form, with air whirling both around and up. This is often called a vortex. The funnel of air then touches the ground, starting the organizing stage of the tornado. Once the funnel touches the ground, it sucks debris up into the funnel, which darkens the tornado. This marks the mature stage. It is in this stage that the tornado is most destructive. Eventually, the forces that hold the vortex together dissipate, and the tornado gets smaller, entering its shrinking stage. Finally, the tornado weakens to the point that it is no longer visible, and it slowly dies out in the decaying stage. When tornadoes form over the water, the result is a waterspout, which is weaker than a tornado that forms over land. A dust devil is even weaker, forming as a result of temperature differences between the ground and the air above it.
What process in the hydrologic cycle puts soil moisture into the atmosphere?
Transpiration takes water from the soil and puts it in the atmosphere, because plants absorb the soil moisture and then put it into the atmosphere via transpiration.
Define the following terms: a. Transpiration b. Condensation c. Residence time d. Percolation e. Adiabatic cooling
Transpiration- Evaporation of water from plants. Condensation- The process by which gas turns into a liquid. Resident Time- The average time a given particle will stay in a given system. Percolation- The process by which water moves downward in the soil, towards the water table. Adiabatic cooling- The cooling of gas that happens when the gas expands with no way of getting more energy.
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Unusually large, upward-moving wind currents can produce huge, towering cumulonimbus clouds that most people call "thunderclouds." Cirrus clouds are composed of ice instead of liquid water. Precipitation-producing stratus clouds are typically called nimbostratus clouds. Clouds that look like part cirrus/part cumulus clouds are called cirrocumulus clouds, while clouds that look a bit like cumulus clouds but are formed where stratus clouds normally formed are called stratocumulus clouds. Finally, some clouds have the feathery appearance of cirrus clouds, but they form flat layers like that of stratus clouds and are called cirrostratus clouds.
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Vibration of the earth that results either from volcanic activity or rock masses suddenly moving along a fault is called an earthquake. A fault is the boundary between two sections of rock that can move relative to one another. Wherever a fault exists, there is the possibility of an earthquake.
Of the five sections listed in problem 2, which can we observe directly?
We can directly observe the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and crust.
In the hydrologic cycle, name the ways water can enter the atmosphere.
Water can enter the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration.
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Water in the atmosphere exists as either humidity or clouds. In order for clouds to form, there must be cloud condensation nuclei upon which water can condense. This condensation occurs because as air expands, it gets cooler. The scientific name for this process is adiabatic cooling. Water in clouds can be either liquid or solid, depending on the temperature.
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Water is such a large part of the earth that astronomers often call it the blue planet. The sum of all water on a planet is called its hydrosphere. Of all the planets in our solar system, earth is the only one that has a large quantity of water in its liquid form. This is because the earth has just the right mixture of gases in its atmosphere and is just the right distance from the sun.
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Weather data is often summarized on a weather map that allows meteorologists to track fronts and atmospheric pressure. The thin black lines on such a map are called isobars, and they represent regions of equal atmospheric pressure. An "H" on such a map indicates an area of high pressure, while an "L" represents low pressure. Isobars represent increasing pressure the farther they are from an "L" and decreasing pressure the farther they are from an "H."
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Weather satellites take data continuously all over the world and give us an accurate, global picture of the weather fronts and patterns that exist on a day-to-day basis. They also provide strong evidence that global warming is not happening.
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When a cloud is dark, you add a suffix of "nimbus" or prefix of "nimbo." The proper term is nimbostratus, but stratonimbus is also correct.
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When a cloud is higher than usual, you add the "alto" prefix. Thus, it would be an altolenticular cloud.
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When a cold front moves in, cumulonimbus clouds are usually formed by the warm air rising in response to the cold air mass. The temperature in the region tends to decrease. Cold fronts generally carry the most severe weather system, including thunderstorms.
What is the term for the process by which a portion of a glacier breaks off and falls into the water?
When a piece of a glacier breaks up and falls into the ocean, we called it calving.
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When a warm front moves in, the warm air tends to rise above the cooler air that was in the region. This usually causes a progression of clouds from cirrus to cirrostratus to stratus to nimbostratus, which generally heralds a slow and steady rain as well as increased temperatures
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When earthquakes occur, they emit vibrations called seismic waves, which travel through the earth, eventually reaching the surface. They can be detected with seismographs, which can be used to tell how the waves traveled through the inner parts of the earth. This allows scientists to develop models of the earth's mantle and core, which allow us to understand their makeup.
What differentiates a tropical storm from a tropical disturbance?
Wind speed differentiates a tropical storm, and tropical disturbances.
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Within the eye, a hurricane is calm. It is often sunny as well.
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Without the magnetic field, cosmic rays from the sun would hit the earth. These rays would kill all life on the planet.
A tornado is in its organization stage. Has it touched the ground yet?
Yes, the tornado has already touched the ground.
If a region of the earth has a lot of volcanic activity, what kinds of mountains do you expect to find there?
You can expect to find volcanic mountains, and domed mountains in this region.
Suppose you are at the equator and want to fire a missile at a target due north of your location. Would you aim the missile north, northwest, or northeast in order to ensure it hits the intended target?
You would fire it northwest to counteract the Coriolis effect
Label the sections (a-e) of the earth shown in the figure: a. b. c. d. e.
a- Crust b- Asthenosphere c- Mantle d- Outer core e- Inner core
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a. Aphelion - The point at which the earth is farthest from the sun b. Perihelion - The point at which the earth is closest to the sun c. Lines of longitude - Imaginary lines that run north and south across the earth d. Lines of latitude - Imaginary lines that run east and west across the earth e. Coriolis effect - The way in which the rotation of the earth bends the path of winds, sea currents, and objects that fly through different latitudes f. Air mass - A large body of air with relatively uniform pressure, temperature, and humidity g. Weather front - A boundary between two air masses
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a. Earth's crust - Earth's outermost layer of rock b. Sediment - Small, solid fragments of rock and other materials that are carried and deposited by wind, water, or ice. Examples would be sand, mud, or gravel. c. Sedimentary rock - Rock formed when chemical reactions cement sediments together, hardening them d. Igneous rock - Rock that forms from molten rock e. Metamorphic rock - Igneous or sedimentary rock that has been changed into a new kind of rock as a result of great pressure and temperature f. Plastic rock - Rock that behaves like something between a liquid and a solid g. Earthquake - Vibration of the earth that results either from volcanic activity or rock masses suddenly moving along a fault h. Fault - The boundary between two sections of rock that can move relative to one another i. Focus - The point where an earthquake begins j. Epicenter - The point on the surface of the earth directly above an earthquake's focus
Define the following terms: a. Sedimentary rock b. Plastic rock c. Fault d. Epicenter
a. Sedimentary rock- Rock formed when chemical reactions cement sedimentary rock together, hardening them. b. Plastic rock- Rock that behaves like something between a liquid and a solid. c. Fault- The boundary between two sections of rock that can move relative to one another. d. Epicenter- The point on the surface of the earth directly above an earthquakes focus.
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a. Updraft - A current of rising air b. Insulator - A substance that does not conduct electricity very well
Define the following terms: a. Updraft b. Insulator
a. Updraft- A current of rising air. b. Insulator- A substance that does not conduct electricity very well.