Download Study Guide for Weather Test :(gases, air pressure, layers of

Study Guide for Weather Test :(gases, air pressure, layers of atmosphere, pollution)
Terms: Know how to use the vocabulary words. Look at each word on the list. If you would be stumped by it, ask!
Weather: (conditions in atmosphere (specifically troposphere) in particular place and time)
Weather is driven by SUN, WATER, GRAVITY.
Climate is the average of weather conditions for a place over a period of many years.
Normal greenhouse effect—a natural process. Keeps Earth warm. (See pollution section at bottom of page.)
Gases:
Nitrogen 78 %
Oxygen 21%
Trace gases 1% (know some of them too!)
What is Ozone (O3) and what does it do? (good and bad)
Water vapor- runs from 0%- 5% ( 0%= desert, 5%= rainforest) Other gases don’t vary, but their percentage adjusts accordingly.
What other things are found in the atmosphere (particulates--dust particles, smoke, and salt)
What holds the atmosphere to the earth? GRAVITY!!!
What do carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases do to the atmosphere (Hold its heat.) (It does not take much!)
Air Pressure: weight of column of air pushing on area
What is a barometer? (instrument that measures air pressure) pressure up=good weather,
pressure down= bad weather (REMEMBER the trick?: thumbs up= good,/thumbs down = bad)
Mercury barometer (open container, liquid mercury, poisonous, non portable, unit=inches of mercury)
Aneroid barometer (closed container, air chamber, not poisonous, portable, unit=millibars)
What properties does air have? (density, mass, pressure)
Why is it hard to breath at high altitudes? (less dense, oxygen molecules too spread out)
Know the following:
B
Pressure
high
low
Altitude
low
high
Density
high
low
Hot air rises (molecules spread out) and cold air sinks (molecules close together)
Layers of the Atmosphere:
What factor determines a NEW LAYER in the atmosphere? TEMPERATURE SHIFT!
4 main layers of the atmosphere (troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere)
Troposphere: (COLD, ends at 7 miles, has weather, people/animals, mountains)
Stratosphere: (HOT, 7-30 miles, has airplanes and ozone)
Mesosphere: (COLD, 30-53 miles, has shooting stars, burns up incoming rocks)
Thermosphere: (HOT, 53-outer space, has northern lights and satellites)
Mnemonic device for layers of atmosphere: That Snake Must Think: I’m Evil!
Thermosphere is divided into 2 parts: ionosphere (northern lights) and exosphere (satellites)
Pollution:
Acid rain is caused by the sulfur and nitrogen oxides
Odious Ozone leads to photochemical smog (in troposphere)
Oh, wonderful Ozone protects us from UV radiation.(in stratosphere)
strato ozone
O= oxygen atom
O2= oxygen gas
O3= ozone
What do CFC’s do to the atmosphere (deplete ozone…how?)
Burning lots of fossil fuels adds too much CO2 to air. What are the results?
Îabnormally increased greenhouse effect Îcan lead to global warming
tropo ozone
Vocabulary List for Atmosphere and Weather Unit
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abundant
acid rain
air mass
air pollution
air pressure
air quality
altitude
anemometer
aneroid barometer
area source
atmosphere
bar, millibar
blizzard
carbon dioxide
cirrus
climate
cloud
cloud types
CO2
cold front
condensation
conduction
convection
cumulonimbus
cumulus
density
dew
dew point
dust storms
element
erosion
evaporation
exosphere
fluid
fog
fossil fuels
front
frost
gas
global warming
global wind system
H2O
high pressure
humidity
hurricane
inches of mercury
isobar
jet stream
lightning
liquid
low pressure
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mercury barometer
mesosphere
meteorology
methane
N2
nitrogen
non-point source
O2
O3
occluded front
oxygen
ozone
ozone depletion
particulate matter
photochemical smog
point source
pollutants
pollution
precipitation
pressure
radar
radiation
rain
satellite
saturate
smog
snow
solid
stationary front
storm
stratosphere
stratus
sulfur oxides
temperature
thermosphere
thunder
thunderstorm
tornado
transpiration
troposphere
vapor
warm front
water
water cycle
water vapor
weather
weather map
weather models
weather prediction
weather station
weather symbols
weight
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wind