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Twenty Questions
What do you know
about the weather?
Twenty Questions
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1. What is the atmosphere?

A layer of gases and small particles that
surrounds the earth
2. Why is the sky blue?

Water droplets and dust in the atmosphere
reflect and bend the sun’s rays sending them
out in all directions. This process is called
scattering. Short-wavelength rays like blue
light are more easily scattered so we see
more blue light than other wavelengths
(colors).
3. What’s in a cloud?

Water droplets that have condensed from
water vapor in the air
4. What is in the air you breathe?
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Nitrogen (78%)
Oxygen (21%)
Argon (.9%)
Other gases (carbon dioxide, ozone) .1%
5. What determines our climate?

Latitude, altitude, distance from large bodies
of water, ocean currents, winds and
mountain ranges
6. Why is it hotter in Phoenix in the
summer time than it is in Seattle?

Seattle has a different latitude (closer to the
north pole) and is closer to the Pacific Ocean
than Phoenix.
7. How is the air heated?

Heat from the sun is first absorbed by the
earth and then radiated back into the air
heating it.
8. What are the hottest & coldest
temperatures ever recorded in
Phoenix?

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Hottest Temperature = 122 F in 1990
Coldest Temperature = 16 F in 1913
9. Why is it warmer in the summer
than in the winter in the Northern
Hemisphere?

The sun’s rays are more direct and the days
are longer during the summer because of the
earth’s tilt on its axis
10. What is global warming?

Global warming is the warming of the earth
due to increased levels of greenhouse
gases, like carbon dioxide, being trapped in
the atmosphere.
11. How do tornadoes form?

Tornadoes develop in low, heavy
cumulonimbus clouds (thunderstorms) most
often in the Midwestern U.S. where cold air
masses from Canada meet warm air masses
from the Gulf of Mexico.
12. How do hurricanes form?

Hurricanes form when a low pressure system
develops over warm ocean water -- energy
from the warm water fuels the storm.
13. What causes wind?

Differences in air pressures cause wind,
which is the movement of air.
14. Why does it get cooler as you
travel up a mountain?

The higher you climb up a mountain, the
thinner the air. The thinner air contains less
water vapor and carbon dioxide to trap the
heat.
15. What is air pollution?

Air pollution is any substance in the
atmosphere that is harmful to living things or
property. The main source of air pollution is
the burning of fossil fuels by automobiles &
industry.
16. What is humidity?

Humidity is the measure of the amount of
water vapor in the atmosphere.
17. What percent of the sun’s energy
is received by the earth?

Two Billionths!
18. What is ozone and what would
happen is our ozone layer was
destroyed?.


Ozone is a form of oxygen, O 3, which
protects us from UV rays
If the ozone layer were destroyed the earth
would receive an increase in UV rays which
cause sunburn and skin cancer
19. What is air pressure and where is
it the greatest?


Air pressure is the force of air pushing down
on earth.
It is the greatest at sea level.
Congratulations!

You have successfully answered all 20
questions!