GEOG 1100 FUNDAMENTALS REVIEW

Question 1

what percentage of the atmosphere is within 30km of the Earth’s surface?

Answer 1

99%

Question 2

what are the two most abundant gases?

Answer 2

nitrogen
oxygen

Question 3

what are permanent gases?

Answer 3

compose a constant (in space & time) proportion of atmospheric mass

Question 4

what are variable gases?

Answer 4

percentage of atmospheric mass varies in both time and space

Question 5

what are aerosols?

Answer 5

small solid particles and liquid droplets suspended in the air that have lower visibility

Question 6

what are condensation nuclei?

Answer 6

suspended aerosols which water vapor condenses form cloud droplets

Question 7

what is the pressure at earth’s surface?

Answer 7

14.7 lbs./in^2

Question 8

atmospheric pressure _____ with an _____ in height

Answer 8

decreases
increase

Question 9

what is density?

Answer 9

mass/volume

Question 10

what is lapse rate?

Answer 10

change in temperature with a change in height

Question 11

what is isothermal environment?

Answer 11

no change in temperature with height

Question 12

what is an inversion layer?

Answer 12

change in the sign of the lapse rate

Question 13

characteristics of the troposphere?

Answer 13

decrease in temperature
day to day weather
tropopause

Question 14

characteristics of the stratosphere?

Answer 14

increase in temperature
ozone
stratopause

Question 15

characteristics of the mesosphere?

Answer 15

decrease in temperature
mesopause

Question 16

characteristics of the thermosphere?

Answer 16

increase in temperature
suns strongest radiation

Question 17

what is weather?

Answer 17

• short term air temp.
• air pressure
• humidity
• clouds
• precip.
• visibility
• wind

Question 18

what is climate?

Answer 18

long term patterns and average weather
(not just magnitude but also frequency)

Question 19

how many increments of F to every 5 increments of C and K?

Answer 19

nine

Question 20

how to do fahrenheit?

Answer 20

9/5 C + 32

Question 21

how to do celsius?

Answer 21

(F-32) / 1.8

Question 22

how to do kelvin?

Answer 22

C + 273
(273.15 specifically)

Question 23

what path does the earth have around the sun?

Answer 23

elliptical

Question 24

how does the earth rotate?

Answer 24

counterclockwise

Question 25

the amount of energy that reaches earth’s surface is influenced by...

Answer 25

a. distance from the sun b. solar angle c. length of daylight

Question 26

what is the sub solar point?

Answer 26

the location where it is currently noon and is directly overhead at the latitude - (i.e. sun’s rays are perpendicular to ground) - (latitude and longitude reference)

Question 27

what is solar declination?

Answer 27

latitude of the subsolar point

Question 28

why do we have a solar angle?

Answer 28

earth is a sphere and tilted axis, sun’s rays hit the surface at different angles depending upon the latitude of the location

Question 29

what is energy?

Answer 29

ability to do work (pushing/pulling/lifting)

Question 30

what is potential energy?

Answer 30

potential for work to be done (mass x gravity x height)

Question 31

what is kinetic energy?

Answer 31

energy of a moving object (half of mass x velocity squared)

Question 32

what is total (internal) energy?

Answer 32

KE + PE

Question 33

what is temperature?

Answer 33

- the average amount of kinetic energy of the atoms/molecules of the object - (warm objects have fast motions, cold slow)

Question 34

what is heat?

Answer 34

process of transferring thermal energy (molecular motion) from 1 object to another

Question 35

what is heat capacity?

Answer 35

a measure of how quickly the temperature of an object changes as energy is absorbed by the object

Question 36

what is specific heat?

Answer 36

the amount of energy required to raise one gram of substance by 1ºC

Question 37

what is required for high specific heat to heat the object?

Answer 37

a lot of energy

Question 38

what is latent heating?

Answer 38

- evaporation or melting - bonds between H molecules are broken

Question 39

what is latent cooling?

Answer 39

- condensation and freezing - hydrogen bonds are created between molecules

Question 40

what is conduction?

Answer 40

transfer of kinetic heat directly from one molecule to another

Question 41

what is convection?

Answer 41

transfer of heat by the vertical mass movement of a fluid (liquids and gases)

Question 42

what is radiation?

Answer 42

energy transfer via electromagnetic waves

Question 43

is warm air or cool air less dense?

Answer 43

warm air

Question 44

"thunderstorms are the king of ____"?

Answer 44

convection

Question 45

(meteorology term) what is convection?

Answer 45

vertical air motions

Question 46

(meteorology term) what is advection?

Answer 46

horizontal air motions (caused by wind)

Question 47

** of the following, which is arguably the BEST method to keeping a car colder on a hot sunny summer day?

Answer 47

park in the shade !!

Question 48

what is humidity?

Answer 48

the quantity of water vapor in the air

Question 49

what is absolute humidity?

Answer 49

mass of water vapor per volume of air g/m^3 = volume

Question 50

what is specific humidity?

Answer 50

mass of water vapor / mass of (all) air

Question 50

what is specific humidity?

Answer 50

mass of water vapor / mass of (all) air

Question 51

what is mixing ratio?

Answer 51

mass of water vapor / mass of dry air

Question 52

what is vapor pressure?

Answer 52

the pressure exerted by water vapor molecules in an air parcel

Question 53

what is Dalton's Law of Partial Pressure?

Answer 53

total air pressure in a parcel is the sum of the pressures of the individual gases

Question 54

what changes of phases release latent heat?

Answer 54

condensation freezing deposition

Question 55

what changes of phases cool the environment?

Answer 55

evaporation melting sublimation

Question 56

what is evaporation?

Answer 56

liquid to gas takes in latent heat cooling process

Question 57

what is condensation?

Answer 57

gas to liquid releases latent heat warming process

Question 58

what is saturation?

Answer 58

equilibrium condition in which for each molecule evaporates, one condenses