8th Grade Science Test 8

Question 1

considered a high-level cloud

Answer 1

cirrostratus

Question 2

considered a mid-level cloud

Answer 2

nimbostratus

Question 3

cooling air becomes saturated at a temperature called

Answer 3

dew point

Question 4

type of drought that occurs when precipitation cannot supply enough moisture to the ground to support an area’s crops

Answer 4

agricultural drought

Question 5

type of drought based on a water shortage’s effect on people

Answer 5

socioeconomic drought

Question 6

type of cloud that forms a flat, gray layer of heavy clouds not far above the ground

Answer 6

stratus

Question 7

type of front formed when a warm air mass moves into a region occupied by a cold air mass

Answer 7

warm front

Question 8

type of front forms a Y shape

Answer 8

occluded front

Question 9

precipitation made of ice crystals that fall to the ground

Answer 9

snow

Question 10

which type of air mass brings cool, wet weather

Answer 10

maritime polar

Question 11

type of air mass brings warm, moist weather

Answer 11

maritime tropical

Question 12

the process of a liquid becoming a gas

Answer 12

evaporation

Question 13

when the temperature of air rises, relative humidity will

Answer 13

decrease

Question 14

the year-round atmospheric conditions typical of a certain place

Answer 14

climate

Question 15

the movement of water from the earth’s surface, into the air, and back to the surface

Answer 15

water cycle

Question 16

an almond-shaped cloud

Answer 16

lenticular cloud

Question 17

the air mass that brings very cold and dry weather

Answer 17

Arctic air mass

Question 18

a low that forms along a front

Answer 18

frontal cyclone

Question 19

which type of front forms when two air masses push against each other but neither advances?

Answer 19

stationary front

Question 20

a mixture of smoke and fog

Answer 20

smog

Question 21

the amount of water vapor in the air

Answer 21

humidity

Question 22

phenomenon that occurs when an area receives an abnormally low amount of precipitation over a long period

Answer 22

drought

Question 23

rain that freezes before it hits the ground

Answer 23

sleet

Question 24

the study of weather and of the atmospheric conditions that produce weather

Answer 24

meteorology

Question 25

the phenomenon that occurs when an air mass remains stationary one a region for a long time

Answer 25

air-mass weather

Question 26

list the three factors that affect the density of an air mass

Answer 26

temperature
humidity
pressure

Question 27

a substance going from a solid to a liquid

Answer 27

melting

Question 28

water vapor in the air that touches the ground and turns to ice

Answer 28

frost

Question 29

water vapor in the air that touches the cooler ground and turns to a liquid

Answer 29

dew

Question 30

ice crystals in clouds that grow large enough to fall to the ground

Answer 30

snowflakes

Question 31

layered balls of ice

Answer 31

hailstones

Question 32

white, billowy clouds that resemble piles of cotton puffs

Answer 32

cumulus

Question 33

type of fog found along the slopes of mountains

Answer 33

upslope fog

Question 34

drops of liquid water that have a diameter of 0.5 millimeter or greater and fall from the clouds to Earth

Answer 34

rain

Question 35

snowflakes with white, feather benches forming a leaf- or star-shaped pattern

Answer 35

dendrites

Question 36

air that is completely full of water vapor and can hold no more is considered

Answer 36

saturated

Question 37

the most frequent type of cloud

Answer 37

stratocumulus

Question 38

forms when a body of rising air reaches the dew point

Answer 38

cloud

Question 39

clouds consist of tiny ice crystals or droplets of

Answer 39

liquid water

Question 40

most clouds result from adiabatic ___ of moist air

Answer 40

cooling

Question 41

the ratio comparing the actual humidity tot he humidity of saturated air under the same conditions is

Answer 41

relative humidity

Question 42

a large body of air with relatively uniform properties

Answer 42

air mass

Question 43

airborne water vapor cannot turn into liquid without a small particle called

Answer 43

condensation nucleus

Question 44

the three major factors that determine the earth’s weather

Answer 44

heat energy
uneven distribution of heat energy
water vapor

Question 45

a thick, brownish haze that results from complex molecules released into the air by vehicles and some factories and plants

Answer 45

photochemical smog

Question 46

List and explain two processes that form rain.

Answer 46

Bergeron process (cold-cloud process) - water vapor in portions of a cloud below freezing crystallizes around freezing nuclei. The ice crystals absorb water vapor from the cloud and stick to each other, growing large enough to be snowflakes. The snowflakes fall through the cloud, melting in warmer air near the round to form rain.

collision-coalescence process - larger-than-normal condensation nuclei in regions of the cloud above freezing cause the formation of “giant” cloud droplets, which grow larger by colliding with smaller droplets. When they become too big to remain suspended in the air, the droplets fall to the earth as rain.