Download Earth Science Fall Semester Exam

Earth Science Fall Semester Exam
Study Guide
• What is the first step in the scientific
method?
• Identify the problem and determine
what you want to know.
• What is a component of the
atmosphere that changes very
little?
• Nitrogen
• When moist winds encounter
mountains, what happens?
• Clouds form
• What is the constant
movement of water
between the atmosphere
and Earth’s surface?
• Water cycle
• What type of air mass causes
the hot and humid weather in
Texas during the summer?
• Maritime tropical
• What kind of weather forms
when cold air collides with
warm air?
• Thunderstorms!
• What is weather?
• Short term variations in the
atmosphere.
• What happens to the accuracy of a
weather forecast when the forecast
becomes longer?
• It becomes less accurate.
• What is the optimal time frame for
predicting weather the most
accurately?
• The shorter the forecast, the more
accurate. So, one or two or three
days. (1-3)
• What is air mass
modification?
• The exchange of heat or
moisture with the surface
over which an air mass
travels.
• Where are the strongest winds
of a hurricane located?
• The calmest part is the eye and
the strongest part is the
eyewall.
• Which would be the warmest—a city, a
park, a farm, or a suburb? Which of
them would be the coldest?
• The city because the concrete and black
top absorbs the heat and it is trapped
by the pollution and the buildings.
• The coldest would be the farm because
it is more open to the wind and there is
nothing to trap the heat there.
• What happened to oxygen
levels during the
Proterozoic?
• They steadily increased. If
you drew a line graph of
this, the line would have a
positive slope.
• Be able to read a graph and
make predictions from it!
• What is outgassing?
• The process by which
volcanoes vent water
vapor, carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, and other
substances.
• What process does
cyanobacteria use to
produce energy?
• photosynthesis
• What force draws the
matter in an interstellar
cloud together to form a
star?
• Gravity
• What are the characteristics of a
dwarf planet?
• It must have a spherical shape.
• It has not cleared the
neighborhood around its orbit
(other objects are close indicating
it doesn’t have enough mass to
have the gravity necessary to pull
it in to its mass).
• What are the stages in the
formation of a star?
• Nebula
• Protostar
• Star *must get hot enough for
fusion!
• Be able to identify the control,
independent variable, dependent
variable, and constants in an
experiment.
•
•
•
•
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How would you model:
Radiation?
—sun lamp radiates heat outwards
Convection?
—boiling pot…hot water rises and
cool sinks
• Conduction?
• Stove top—heats the pan that comes
in contact with it.
• Explain why heating water from
the top will heat it slower than
heating it from the bottom.
• Because warm water (and air)
rises and cool sinks. If you heat it
from the top, then the warm
water is already hot and at the
top. The cool water will not
come in contact with the source
of heat.
• Identify where the strongest
winds would be found:
–Forest
–Desert
–Mountains
–city
• Desert
•Classify clouds as being
high, middle, or low.
•Low—stratus
•Middle—cumulus
•High--cirrus
• Describe the formation of:
• Hail
• Forms as ice moves up and down in
the atmosphere, accumulating more
ice to form the lumps known as hail.
• Sleet
• Forms as rain droplets move up and
down through freezing and
nonfreezing air.
• What are the most abundant
gases in the atmosphere?
• Nitrogen and Oxygen
• What happens in the temperature of the
atmosphere reaches the dew point?
• Condensation
• How does a temperature
inversion affect air pollution?
Why?
• It traps the pollution, thus
worsening it.
• What is condensation nuclei?
• Particles of atmospheric dust.
• What is the purpose of
condensation nuclei?
• Cloud droplets form around
them.
• How long does it take for
an area’s weather to
become its climate?
• 30 years
• Be able to read a table given
information about air masses
and winter weather.
• What causes the Coriolis
effect?
• Earth’s rotation.
• What is a storm surge?
• A mound of water driven
toward coastal areas by
hurricane winds.
• What is the wind chill factor?
• The phenomenon in which the
effects of cold air are
worsened by wind.
• What is parallax?
• The apparent shift in a star’s
position caused by the motion
of the observer.
• What property of a star
determines its temperature,
luminosity, and diameter?
• Mass
• What is climatology?
• A subspecialty of Earth science
that studies patterns of
weather over a long period of
time.
• Define the big bang theory.
• The Big bang theory says the universe started
as a point and has been expanding ever since.
• What evidence supports the big bang theory?
• Background radiation—
• indicates there was an explosion
• Red Shift—
• Indicates that an object is moving away from
us.