System Earth Ch 17

Question 1

What are the three types of UV?

Answer 1

UVA, UVB, UVC
UVC (not IVC) is the shortest (like your time there hun)

Question 2

absorption coefficien

Answer 2

measure of how strongly a molecule absorbs electro magntic radiationof a given wavelength. ozone absorption coefficient is low at UVA wavelengths, that is the one that makes it to the ground.

Question 3

UVA

Answer 3

is relatively safe but skin can suffer

Question 4

UVC

Answer 4

very dangerous. The absorption peak for DNA is in the the middle of UVC so better watch out

Question 5

UVB

Answer 5

solar flux high and absorption is low
main cause of skin cancer etc.
UVB flux goes up if atmospheric ozone goes down.

Question 6

Ozone vertical distribution

Answer 6

most of it is in the stratosphere

Question 7

dobson unit

Answer 7

one layer of pure ozone 0.001cm thick at 1 atm pressure. Usually has a value of 300DU for ozone

Question 8

tropospheric ozone

Answer 8

10% of ozone is in the troposphere. it helps clean up pollutants. but too much is toxic to plants and lungs.

Question 9

Chapman mechanism

Answer 9

a series of equations that show how ozone is formed and destroyed. They allow for the formation of “odd oxygen” and this is quite important. But this will be done by hand and not on flashcards.