Module 5: The Hydrosphere

Question 1

transpiration

Answer 1

the emission of water vapor from plants

Question 2

emission

Answer 2

something sent out or given off

Question 3

condensation

Answer 3

the process by which water vapor turns into liquid water

Question 4

residence time

Answer 4

the average time a given molecule of water will stay in a given water source

Question 5

percolation

Answer 5

the process by which water passes from above the water table to below it

Question 6

adiabatic cooling

Answer 6

the cooling of a gas that happens when the gas expands

Question 7

Where does the majority of earth’s water reside?

Answer 7

in the oceans

Question 8

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

Answer 8

groundwater

Question 9

What water source is a molecule of water in once it has gone through transpiration?

Answer 9

in the atmosphere

Question 10

Water was in the ocean and now it is in a cloud. What two hydrologic cycle processes happened in order to make that transfer?

Answer 10

Evaporation allowed it to leave the ocean

condensation put it in the cloud

Question 11

Where is the residence time longer: in the ocean or in a fast-moving stream?

Answer 11

the ocean

Question 12

If a lake has no means of getting rid of water except evaporation, does it contain saltwater or freshwater?

Answer 12

saltwater

Question 13

What do the oceans tell us about the age of the earth?

Answer 13

that the earth can’t be billions of years old

Question 14

An enormous amount of ocean water in the polar region freezes. Does it form an iceberg? Why or Why not?

Answer 14

it does not form an iceberg. [ Icebergs are freshwater and come from glaciers. Sea ice has salt mixed in with it.]

Question 15

What process in the hydrologic cycle is responsible for making glaciers?

Answer 15

precipitation [remember, glaciers start because of snow and snow is precipitation]

Question 16

What causes the condensation that makes most clouds?

Answer 16

adiabatic cooling

Question 17

If a sample of gas is compressed and nothing else is allowed to change, what will happen to the temperature of the gas?

Answer 17

the temperature will increase

Question 18

If there is a lot more rain than normal in an area over an extensive length of time, what happens to the depth of the water table?

Answer 18

the depth will decrease [ if a lot more water enters the soil, then more soil than usual will become saturated. That means you don’t have to go down as far to find the saturated water, so the water table is higher]

Question 19

Why is groundwater pollution so hard to trace back to its original source?

Answer 19

the nature of groundwater flow makes it such that a lake can be polluted by groundwater that originally soaked into the soil hundreds of miles away [when you find a lake polluted by groundwater pollution, how will you know where it came from?]