Module 5 Flashcards
1a. define: hydrosphere
the sum of all water on a planet
1b. define: hydrologic cycle
the process by which water is continuously exchanged between earth’s various water sources
1c. define: transpiration
evaporation of water from plants
1d. define: condensation
the process by which a gas turns into a liquid
1e. define: precipitation
water falling form the atmosphere as rain, snow, sleet, or hail
1f. define: distillation
evaporation and condenstion of a mixture to separate out the mixture’s individual components
1g. define: residence time
the average time a given particle will stay in a given system
1h. define: salinity
a measure of the mass of dissolved salt in a given mass of water
1i. define: firn
a dense, icy pack of old snow
1j. define: water table
the line between the water-saturated soil and the soil that is not saturated with water
1k. define: percolation
the process by which water moves downward in the soil, toward the water table
1l. define: adiabatic cooling
the cooling of a gas that happens when the gas expands with no way of getting more energy
1m. define: cloud condenstion nuclei
small airborne particles upon which water vapor condenses to form clouds
- What kind of water makes up the majority of earth’s water supply?
saltwater
- What is the largest source of freshwater on the planet?
glaciers and icebergs
- What is the largest source of liquid freshwater on the planet?
groundwater
- In the hydrologic cycle, name the ways water can enter the atmosphere.
evaporation & transpiration
- What process in the hydrologic cycle puts soil mosture into the atmosphere?
transpiration
- In which body of water would the residence time be shorter: a quickly moving river or a lake that has no river outlets?
the residence time in the river is shorter
- Why is the salinity of the ocean evidence that the earth is not billions of years old?
the oceans are not salty enough for the earth to be billions of years old.
- If you tasted melted sea ice, would it taste like freshwater or saltwater?
melted sea ice would taste like saltwater
- What must a lake have in order to be a freshwater lake
a lake must have a way to get rid of water other than just evaporation.
- Where do icebergs come from?
icebergs come from glaciers
- Where do glaciers come from?
Glaciers start on mountains as the result of snow that never completely melts in the summer
- What is the term for the process by which a portion of a glacier breaks off and falls into the water
calving
- The captain of a ship sees an iceberg and steers clear of it. Why is the captain still worried about a collision?
the captain is worried because 90% of the glacier is underwater and therefore not visible
- Suppose you studied tow areas of land close to one another. In the first, there are alot of trees. In the second, there are almost not trees at all. Other than that, the two areas seem identical. They have the same kind of grass and experience the same weather. Which one has the deeper water table.
the water table will be deeper in the area with lots of trees
- If no energy is added to air, what happens to the temp. when the air expands?
the air will cool as it expands
- Will fog be thicker in a smoky area or an area free of smoke?
the fog will be thicker in smokey area
- What kind of cooling is responsible for most cloud formation?
adiabatic cooling
- A bright student notes that with a few modifications, a refrigerator can become a “hot box,” keeping things warm instead of cold. Explain.
If you simply reversed the design so that the pipes carrying the gas after compression are on the inside of the refrigerator, the inside would heat up.
- What kind of water pollution is the hardest to track back to its source?
groundwater pollution
- When a raindrop hits the ground, name 3 ways it can eventually end up in a river.
surface runoff, soak into groundwater and get to the river via groundwater flow, it could go into the soil, be absorbed by a plant, transpired into the atmosphere, condensed into a cloud, and precipitated into the river, or it could be evaporated before it soaks into the ground, condensed into a cloud, and percipitated into the river
