Chapter 1 Topic 1

Question 1

Why is earth habitable?

Answer 1

It’s not too hot or cold so water can exist

Question 2

Why is earth not too hot and not too cold?

Answer 2

Because it is in the habitable zone

Question 3

What is the habitable zone?

Answer 3

Is a distance away from the sun that allows water to exist

Question 4

Is being in the habitable zone a sure fire way to be a habitable planet?

Answer 4

No mars is in the habitable zone, but it’s not currently a habitable planet as it’s colder than 0 degrees so no water can exist there.

Question 5

Define solar radiation

Answer 5

Is radiation from the sun

Question 6

How much solar radiation hits earth, how much gets reflected and how much gets absorbed?

Answer 6

340 W/m^2 of solar radiation hits the earth with 30% of it reflected back to space and 70% of it absorbed.

Question 7

How is the solar radiation reflected?

Answer 7

The solar radiation is reflected from earths surface and reflection and scattering from clouds.

Question 8

How is the solar radiation absobed?

Answer 8

Absorbed by clouds (1/3) and earths surface (2/3)

Question 9

Whats the def of albedo?

Answer 9

describes how reflective a surface is- ex: blac clothes hot, white clothes cold

Question 10

Why would white roofs be better when building houses?

Answer 10

White roofs reflect upto 90% of sunlight where as black roofs reflect 20%

Question 11

Say it’s a cold day and you get sunburnt? How’d that happen?

Answer 11

Because ice has a really high albedo it will reflect sunlight at your chin

Question 12

What does absorbed radiation do to the earths surface?

Answer 12

it causes atoms and molecules to
vibrate, heating up Earth’s surface
and lower atmosphere, this heat is also what produces liquid water

Question 13

Why is earth’s temp constant over time?

Answer 13

energy in = energy out. If we didn’t have. A mechanism to remove solar radiation, as in if we just had an intake of solar radiation we would be over heated, need reservoirs to deposit the radiation and to reflect it.

Question 14

How does energy travel?

Answer 14

Energy travels through space
at many wavelengths:

Question 15

Is solar energy in the visible spectrum?

Answer 15

Yes mostly, it’s in the visible spectrum and some is in the UV spectrum

Question 16

Is solar energy that comes in from the sun shortwave or longwave radiation?

Answer 16

shortwave

Question 17

Is solar energy that gets reflected from earth shortwave or longwave? What part of energy spectrum is it?

Answer 17

Its longwave and is in IR spectrum (not visible)

Question 18

How does IR radiation contribute to the earths climate?

Answer 18

It warms it as the long wave radiation that gets reflected from the surface of the earth can be absorbed by green house gases and be dispersed in the atmosphere warming it and the surface of the earth

Question 19

Define GHG

Answer 19

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): any gas that absorbs or emits infrared radiation.

Question 20

Name some direct GHG’s

Answer 20

Water H2O
* Carbon dioxide CO2
* Methane CH4
* Nitrous oxide N2O
* Ozone O3
* Chloroflurocarbons
Greenhouse Gas (GHG): any gas that absorbs or emits infrared radiation.

Question 21

What are CFCs

Answer 21

are chloroflurocarbon mlcls used in refrigeration, air conditioners, propellants in aerosols, and industrial degreasers until the 1970s as it was discovered as a bad green house gas. Breaks down ozone.

Question 22

How do CFCs break down ozone?

Answer 22

CFCs lose a chlorine and then that chlorine breaks up ozone by replacing an oxygen.

Question 23

Why is breaking down ozone bad?

Answer 23

Because the earth’s ozone layer shields us from uv RADIATION which causes cancer

Question 24

What are indirect GHGS

Answer 24

are not greenhouse gases but contribute to the effect of GHG

Question 25

Name all indirect GHGS and how they work

Answer 25

Greenhouse Gases
Indirect GHGs:
* Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
* Carbon monoxide (CO)
* Non-methane volatile
organic compounds
(NMVOC)
* Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
Indirect GHG’s are not greenhouse gases, but contribute to the greenhouse effect
in other ways.
contributes to aerosol formation - fine solid
particles or droplets of liquid in air- which
can either warm (through absorption of
solar radiation on dark particles) or cool
(from forming cloud droplets and reflecting
radiation) the atmosphere.

Question 26

How much of the earths atmosphere do GHGS (aside from water) make up?

Answer 26

0.04%
Carbon Dioxide 0.035%
Neon 0.0018%
Helium 0.00052%
Methane 0.00014%
Krypton 0.00010%
Nitrous Oxide 0.00005%
Hydrogen 0.00005%
Ozone 0.000007%

Question 27

How are GHG’s vital to life in our planet?

Answer 27

they cause a big change in the temp of our atmosphere. If we had no green house gases our avg temp would be -18 degrees Celsius- this would cause an ice age- means no life. ‘

Question 28

If mars is in the habitable zone, why isn’t it habitable?

Answer 28

It’s too cold due to it’s very thin atmosphere that stop the green house effect from even occurring which means temps are every cold so no water

Question 29

Is there evidence for liquid water on mars being there?

Answer 29

Yes, dry river channels show that once mars had water.

Question 30

Why is venus so hot?

Answer 30

has too many GHG’s, surface temp exceeds 400 degrees Celsius and has a very thick atmosphere.

Question 31

How does our magnetic field help earth become habitable?

Answer 31

it protects us from harmful solar radiation

Question 32

How does earth create its magnetic field?

Answer 32

Earth has a liquid outer core, this convects- moves to the top and then sinks to the bottom again and again, we also have motion by the earths spinning, this moves metal and causes a geomagnetic field. This sets planet up like a magnet, have a north and South Pole.

Question 33

What exactly does earth’s magnetic field protects us from?

Answer 33

Charged particles from the sun (plasma/ions) are released into space. These particles are very fast, these change the surface of earths magnetic field, the one facing the sun gets flattened and the one facing away gets elongated. This is called solar wind.

Question 34

How does earths magnetic field protects us from solar wind?

Answer 34

Earth’s magnetic field protects us from solar wind, it traps charged particles and spirals them away from earth, the earths magnetic field also protects our atmosphere as the atmosphere absorbs all of the suns radiation and would otherwise get stripped away.

Question 35

Why is mar’s atmosphere so thin?

Answer 35

We believe that mars lost it’s atmosphere by cooling down and solidifying it’s mantle losing the ability to create a magnetic field, causing solar wind to erode it’s atmosphere therefore life does not exist.

Question 36

How do auroras occur?

Answer 36

Some plasma from sun can get trapped in the magnetosphere which is what causes cosmic light shows called auroras, the bigger the solar storm the more common these auroras are.

Question 37

What ingredients of life does earth have?

Answer 37

Phosphate- has energy in it’s bonds which can be released for movement.
Sulfur- helps catalyze reactions
N, O, H- bond with carbon and are building blocks for amino acids, fats, lipids, and nucelobases
Carbon- forms carbon chairs and are backbones for organic molecules.

Question 38

Where did the ingrediants of life come from?

Answer 38

Rocks, as this is what made up the planets and contained the ingredients for life.
ie plate tectonics

Question 39

How do we access nutrients in rock?

Answer 39

Solvents dissolve solids (e.g. rocks) and also allow the ingredients for life (as we
know it) to move and interact with each other to carry out the reactions needed for
life to happen.
* Liquid water is an excellent solvent, capable of dissolving many substances.
* Other liquids are also good solvents (ammonia, methane, ethane, propane,
hydrogen sulfide), but water (on Earth) is abundant and readily available.

Question 40

List all the reasons earth is habitable

Answer 40

It is not too hot and not too cold
2. It is protected from harmful solar
radiation by its magnetic field
3. It has the right chemical
ingredients for life,
including water
and carbon.

Question 41

Can life exist on other planets?

Answer 41

Maybe, but if there was we’d look at microorganisms (as this what most of earth history’s life was), extremophiles, and probably still carbon based (because it’s abundant)