C13 - Earth's Atmosphere Flashcards
What is the approximate proportion of nitrogen in Earth’s current atmosphere?
0.8
What is the approximate proportion of oxygen in Earth’s current atmosphere?
0.2
Which gases are in small proportions in the current atmosphere?
Noble gases water vapour and carbon dioxide
When Earth was formed which planets was its atmosphere similar to?
Venus and Mars
What do Mars and Venus’s atmospheres comprise of?
Carbon dioxide with little or no oxygen
What produced the gases present in Earth’s early atmosphere?
Volcanoes
Which gases were present in Earth’s early atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide water vapour and nitrogen with small amounts of methane and ammonia
Why have theories about Earth’s early atmosphere developed and changed over time?
Evidence is limited and it was billions of years ago
By what process do algae and plants produce oxygen?
Photosynthesis
Write the word equation to represent photosynthesis
Carbon dioxide + water → oxygen + glucose
How did the world’s oceans form?
The Earth’s temperature cooled causing water vapour in the air to condense
How did the oceans reduce atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide in Earth’s early atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide dissolved in the oceans
How did algae and plants reduce levels of carbon dioxide in Earth’s early atmosphere?
By photosynthesising
What was formed when shells of organisms made using dissolved carbon dioxide fell to the bottom of the oceans and were covered and compressed?
Sedimentary rock
What was formed when plants that grew millions of years ago died and were trapped and compressed under rocks?
Coal
What was formed when plankton that lived in the ocean millions of years ago died and were trapped and compressed under rocks?
Crude oil and natural gas
Name three greenhouse gases
Water vapour carbon dioxide and methane
Describe the wavelengths of radiation that comes from the sun and is reflected by the Earth
From the sun: short wave From the Earth: long wave
What happens to the long wave radiation that is reflected from the Earth in the atmosphere?
It is absorbed by the greenhouse gases
What is the name given to the process that warms the surface of the Earth?
The greenhouse effect
What human activities increase carbon dioxide levels?
Deforestation and burning fossil fuels
What human activities increase methane levels?
Farming animals and landfill
What is the name given to the increasing average temperature of the Earth?
Climate Change
Name an effect of climate change
Increased flooding changes in rainfall patterns frequency of storms destruction of habitats
