Module 5

Question 1

1a. define: hydrosphere

Answer 1

the sum of all water on a planet

Question 2

1b. define: hydrologic cycle

Answer 2

the process by which water is continuously exchanged between earth’s various water sources

Question 3

1c. define: transpiration

Answer 3

evaporation of water from plants

Question 4

1d. define: condensation

Answer 4

the process by which a gas turns into a liquid

Question 5

1e. define: precipitation

Answer 5

water falling form the atmosphere as rain, snow, sleet, or hail

Question 6

1f. define: distillation

Answer 6

evaporation and condenstion of a mixture to separate out the mixture’s individual components

Question 7

1g. define: residence time

Answer 7

the average time a given particle will stay in a given system

Question 8

1h. define: salinity

Answer 8

a measure of the mass of dissolved salt in a given mass of water

Question 9

1i. define: firn

Answer 9

a dense, icy pack of old snow

Question 10

1j. define: water table

Answer 10

the line between the water-saturated soil and the soil that is not saturated with water

Question 11

1k. define: percolation

Answer 11

the process by which water moves downward in the soil, toward the water table

Question 12

1l. define: adiabatic cooling

Answer 12

the cooling of a gas that happens when the gas expands with no way of getting more energy

Question 13

1m. define: cloud condenstion nuclei

Answer 13

small airborne particles upon which water vapor condenses to form clouds

Question 14

2. What kind of water makes up the majority of earth’s water supply?

Answer 14

saltwater

Question 15

3. What is the largest source of freshwater on the planet?

Answer 15

glaciers and icebergs

Question 16

4. What is the largest source of liquid freshwater on the planet?

Answer 16

groundwater

Question 17

5. In the hydrologic cycle, name the ways water can enter the atmosphere.

Answer 17

evaporation & transpiration

Question 18

6. What process in the hydrologic cycle puts soil mosture into the atmosphere?

Answer 18

transpiration

Question 19

7. In which body of water would the residence time be shorter: a quickly moving river or a lake that has no river outlets?

Answer 19

the residence time in the river is shorter

Question 20

8. Why is the salinity of the ocean evidence that the earth is not billions of years old?

Answer 20

the oceans are not salty enough for the earth to be billions of years old.

Question 21

9. If you tasted melted sea ice, would it taste like freshwater or saltwater?

Answer 21

melted sea ice would taste like saltwater

Question 22

10. What must a lake have in order to be a freshwater lake

Answer 22

a lake must have a way to get rid of water other than just evaporation.

Question 23

11. Where do icebergs come from?

Answer 23

icebergs come from glaciers

Question 24

12. Where do glaciers come from?

Answer 24

Glaciers start on mountains as the result of snow that never completely melts in the summer

Question 25

13. What is the term for the process by which a portion of a glacier breaks off and falls into the water

Answer 25

calving

Question 26

14. The captain of a ship sees an iceberg and steers clear of it. Why is the captain still worried about a collision?

Answer 26

the captain is worried because 90% of the glacier is underwater and therefore not visible

Question 27

15. 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.

Answer 27

the water table will be deeper in the area with lots of trees

Question 28

16. If no energy is added to air, what happens to the temp. when the air expands?

Answer 28

the air will cool as it expands

Question 29

17. Will fog be thicker in a smoky area or an area free of smoke?

Answer 29

the fog will be thicker in smokey area

Question 30

18. What kind of cooling is responsible for most cloud formation?

Answer 30

adiabatic cooling

Question 31

19. A bright student notes that with a few modifications, a refrigerator can become a “hot box,” keeping things warm instead of cold. Explain.

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

20. What kind of water pollution is the hardest to track back to its source?

Answer 32

groundwater pollution

Question 33

21. When a raindrop hits the ground, name 3 ways it can eventually end up in a river.

Answer 33

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