Science Unit 3 Lesson 5

Question 1

What objects emit electromagnetic energy?

Answer 1

Objects that are not at absolute zero emit electromagnetic energy.

Question 2

How can the car become hotter than its surroundings?

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Answer 2

As sunlight reaches each layer of Earth’s atmosphere, some is reflected, some is absorbed, and some is transmitted. The sunlight that reaches Earth’s surface is largely composed of visible light and near infrared light. The atmosphere is transparent to these wavelengths of light. So are the windows in a car. Solar energy enters the car and heats the surfaces inside.

Objects that are not at absolute zero emit electromagnetic energy. For temperatures typically found at Earth’s surface, the emitted energy is in the far infrared range. The glass in car windows is not transparent to these wavelengths of energy. So, the heat emitted by the car’s surfaces cannot escape from the interior of the car.

Question 3

Temperatures near the surface of the planet stay within a fairly ____ range.

Answer 3

narrow

Question 4

Describe the cycle that warms the atmosphere near Earth’s surface.

Answer 4

They reradiate it in the far infrared wavelengths. If this were the only mechanism in play, the planet would be colder. Some gases in the atmosphere absorb the far infrared wavelengths radiated upward by Earth’s surface and reradiate them in all directions. Some of this retained heat energy is absorbed by other gas molecules and reradiated again. This cycle warms the atmosphere near Earth’s surface. Because this is similar to the way a greenhouse traps energy near the surface, the term greenhouse effect was coined to describe the phenomenon.

Question 5

What is the word used to describe “the cycle that warms the atmosphere near Earth’s surface”.

Answer 5

greenhouse effect

Question 6

Remember this

Answer 6

The atmosphere is not fully transparent to far infrared wavelengths. Instead, the infrared energy radiated upward by Earth’s surface is absorbed by some gases in the atmosphere, called greenhouse gases, and then reradiated into the atmosphere in all directions. This keeps the heat near Earth’s surface, raising the temperature.

Question 7

How is the greenhouse effect different from an actual greenhouse?

Answer 7

There is no physical barrier preventing the warm air from rising.

Question 8

What is a greenhouse gas?

Answer 8

a gas that absorbs and reradiates infrared radiation

Question 9

What do greenhouse gases do?

Answer 9

Greenhouse gases trap the sun’s heat in the atmosphere?

Question 10

What does excess carbon dioxide do to the Earth?

Answer 10

This disruption to the carbon cycle continues to warm up Earth, limiting the ability of natural carbon sinks, such as forests and the ocean, to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This affects the ability of soils to store carbon.

Question 11

Where does methane come from?

Answer 11

Methane is produced from landfills, livestock, agricultural practices such as growing rice, and the production and transport of fossil fuels.

Question 12

Methane accounts for ____% of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Answer 12

10%

Question 13

Methane is ____ times more efficient in trapping heat than carbon dioxide so it has a big impact on global warming.

Answer 13

21

Question 14

What is nitrous oxide and what does it do to the Earth’s atmosphere?

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Answer 14

Nitrous oxide is a natural byproduct of the nitrogen cycle. However, nitrous oxide also comes from industrial activities such as wastewater treatment. Nitrous oxide can trap as much as 298 times the amount of the heat that carbon dioxide can.

Question 15

What is the nitrogen cycle?

Answer 15

The nitrogen cycle describes the way that nitrogen is circulated among the atmosphere, plants, animals, and microorganisms that live in soil and water.

Question 16

Nitrous oxide can trap as much as _____ times the amount of the heat that carbon dioxide can.

Answer 16

298

Question 17

What are fluorinated gases and what do they do to the Earth’s atmosphere?

Answer 17

They have no natural source and only come from products such as refrigerators, circuit breakers, air conditioners, and aerosol cans. Fluorinated gases can retain the equivalent of 10,000 times the amount of heat compared to carbon dioxide.

Question 18

Fluorinated gases can retain the equivalent of _______ times the amount of heat compared to carbon dioxide.

Answer 18

10,000

Question 19

What part does water vapor take in global warming?

Answer 19

Water vapor depends on the temperature of the atmosphere. As the air becomes warmer, it can hold more moisture. Water vapor is not increased directly by human activity, but instead as human activity warms the atmosphere.

Question 20

What part does Carbon Dioxide (CO2) take in global warming?

Answer 20

Carbon dioxide is exchanged through the atmosphere via photosynthesis, respiration, organic decay, and the burning of organic material. In the past two hundred years, the burning of organic material has greatly increased, increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 30%. Carbon dioxide that is added to the atmosphere will remain for hundreds of years.

Question 21

Wht part does Methane (CH4) take in global warming?

Answer 21

Methane is a stronger absorber and emitter of infrared radiation than carbon dioxide, but it is present in the atmosphere in much smaller amounts. It is emitted from landfills, petroleum and natural gas production, and agriculture, especially the raising of grazing animals. It remains in the atmosphere for around a decade.

Question 22

What part dpes Nitrous Oxide (N2O) take in global warming?

Answer 22

A long-lived and potent greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide has increased in concentration due to agriculture and the use of fertilizers. It is also produced in combustion.

Question 23

What part does Ozone (O3) take in global warming?

Answer 23

Stratospheric ozone is not considered a greenhouse gas because it is not in the troposphere. Pollution can cause reactions that produce ozone closer to Earth’s surface.

Question 24

Explain simpler molecules and how they relate to greenhouse gases?

Answer 24

simple moclues have to do with molecular vibrations and interactions with infrared radiation. Nitrogen and oxygen, the most common constituents of the atmosphere, are molecules that are formed of two atoms: N2 and O2. When such a molecule absorbs energy, it vibrates as the two atoms move toward each other and apart. Molecules with two atoms take one shape and have one mode of vibration. As a result of this simpler vibration, oxygen, nitrogen, and similar gases are transparent to infrared radiation.

Question 25

Explain more complex molecules and how they relate to greenhouse gases?

Answer 25

Greenhouse gases such as water vapor, methane, carbon dioxide, and chlorofluorocarbons are formed of three or more atoms. They can take multiple shapes and have more modes of vibration, as they bend or stretch. Because of their complexity, they are more likely to interact with infrared radiation and absorb and reradiate it. Molecular vibration is modeled using balls and springs. Not all wavelengths of light are absorbed and re-emitted. Instead, greenhouse gas molecules absorb and reradiate only certain energy levels in the infrared range.

Question 26

What is Ozone, how does it form?

Answer 26

Ozone is a gas that exists naturally in Earth’s atmosphere. About 10 percent of Earth’s atmospheric ozone is in the the troposphere. About 90 percent is in the ozone layer. Ozone forms in the atmosphere when energy from the sun breaks apart oxygen molecules (O2). A single oxygen atom then combines with an oxygen molecule to form ozone.

Question 27

What and where is good ozone?

Answer 27

Ozone in the stratosphere is called good ozone. Here the ozone forms a protective layer that absorbs most of the harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

Question 28

What and where is bad ozone?

Answer 28

Ozone in the troposphere is called bad ozone. Nitrogen oxides and other harmful gases in the air close to Earth’s surface react with sunlight to produce harmful levels of ozone. The ozone can break down tissue, cause respiratory disease, and increase allergen sensitivity.

Question 29

How does the amount of ozone varies with latitude, seasons and even time of day?

Answer 29

Ozone is often higher in the late afternoon and during the hotter, summer months. Intense sunlight produces more ozone near the tropics, but global air circulation transports ozone to other areas. Circulation of the atmosphere moves gases toward the poles and downward to Earth surfaces. Ozone accumulates at the middle latitudes and the poles. As a result, ozone levels at middle and high latitudes (near the poles) increase in winter and peak in the spring.

Question 30

What is a ozone hole?

Answer 30

A ozone hole is the decrease in ozone over Antaratica.

Question 31

Why do ozone holes form?

Answer 31

The ozone hole forms because industry and the use of fossil fuels release harmful gases, primarily those containing chlorine and bromine that react with and destroy ozone in the stratosphere. In 1987, global industries and government signed the Montreal Protocol to stop the production of ozone-depleting gases. Since that time, the ozone hole has slowly begun to decrease.