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Earth Science > Test 1 > Flashcards

Test 1 Flashcards

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0
Q

What is science?

A

A body of knowledge about the natural world.

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1
Q

What questions does science answer?

A

How does nature work? How did nature get to be the way it is?

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2
Q

What are the steps of the scientific method?

A

1) Make observation 2) Formulate a hypothesis, 3) Perform an experiment 4) Collect data, 5) Draw conclusions

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3
Q

What is a hypothesis?

A

An educated guess based on background knowledge of something. A logical explanation of an observation or a few observations. Is testable

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4
Q

What is a Theory?

A

A logical explanation of a series or many observations that have been extensively tested

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5
Q

A theory is much _____ in nature than a hypothesis.

A

broader

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6
Q

What is the Bergeron Process?

A

The process that generates much of the precipitation in the middle latitudes.

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7
Q

What two processes does the Bergeron Process rely on?

A

Supercooling and Supersaturation

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8
Q

How big must a cloud droplet grow for precipitation for form?

A

They must grow roughly one million times in volume

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9
Q

Water in the liquid state below 0*C is referred to as what?

A

Supercooled

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10
Q

How big are cloud droplets?

A

Under 20 micromillimeters

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11
Q

When cool air moves over warm water, this produces what?

A

Steam Fog

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12
Q

When front wedging occurs and lifts warm air containing rain, while the cold air below is near it’s dew point, this produces what?

A

Frontal Fog

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13
Q

When warm, moist air moves over a cold surface, this produces what?

A

Advection fog

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14
Q

On cool, clear, calm nights, when earth’s surface cools rapidly by radiation, _____ forms.

A

Radiation Fog

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15
Q

What is fog defined as?

A

a cloud with it’s base at or very near the ground.

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16
Q

What 3 types of clouds are found above 6000 meters?

A

Cirrus, Cirrocumulus, Cirrostratus

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17
Q

What are the two types of middle clouds?

A

Altocumulus and Altostratus

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18
Q

What types of clouds are considered “low clouds” below 2000 meters?

A

Stratocumulus, Stratus, and Nimbostratus

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19
Q

What are the two types of clouds of vertical development?

A

Cumulus and Cumulonimbus

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20
Q

What type of cloud is described as “thin, delicate, fibrous, ice crystal clouds”?

A

Cirrus

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21
Q

What type of cloud is described as “Thin, white, ice-crystal clouds in the form of ripples, waves, or globular masses all in a row?”

A

Cirrocumulus

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22
Q

What type of clouds are described as “Thin sheet of white, ice-crystal clouds that may give the sky a milky look”

A

Cirrostratus

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23
Q

What type of cloud is described as “white to gray clouds often composed of separate globules”

A

Altocumulus

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24
Q

What type of cloud is described as “stratified veil of clouds that are generally thin and may produce very light precipitation”?

A

Alsostratus

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25
Q

What type of clouds are described as “Soft, gray clouds in globular patches or rolls. Rolls may join together to make a continuous cloud”

A

Statocumulus

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26
Q

What type of cloud is described as “Low Uniform layer resembling fog but not resting on the ground. May produce drizzle”

A

Stratus

27
Q

What type of cloud is described as an “amorphous layer of dark gray clouds. One of the chief precipitation-producing clouds”

A

Nimbostratus

29
Q

What is described as “Dense, billowy clouds often characterized by flat bases”

A

Cumulus

30
Q

What is described as “Towering cloud sometimes spreading out on top to form an “anvil head”?

A

Cumulonimbus

31
Q

What is an object that makes a very good condensation nuclei because it absorbs water?

A

Hygroscopic nuclei

32
Q

On a dreary, drizzly day, what kind of air has been forced aloft?

A

stable

33
Q

Unstable air generates what kind of weather?

A

Thunderstorms

34
Q

When the temperature in a layer of air actually increases with altitude, this is called a _____-

A

Temperature inversion

35
Q

What are the 4 mechanisms that force air to rise?

A

Orographic lifting, Frontal wedging, Convergence, Localized convective lifting

36
Q

What happens in Orographic lifting?

A

Air is forced to rise over a mountainous barrier

37
Q

When air is allowed to expand, it _____

A

cools

38
Q

When air is compressed, it _____

A

warms

39
Q

When heat is neither added nor subtracted, but temperature changes, this is called _____

A

an adiabatic temperature change

40
Q

When small cloud droplets are suspended in air, and collide with other droplets and grow, increasing in velocity, flattens into a donut, and break into smaller drops as rain, this is called what?

A

The collision-coalescence process

41
Q

Raindrops can grow to a maximum size of ____

A

5 mm

42
Q

What is a scientific law?

A

A simple description/statement or equation that describes a behavior in nature

43
Q

A scientific law is not tested, but _____

A

measured or observed repeatedly

44
Q

What are the 4 earth sciences?

A

Meteorology, Geology, Astronomy, Oceanography

45
Q

What is the atmosphere?

A

A thin envelope of gases around the earth, held to the surface by gravity

46
Q

What are the 3 big gases in the atmosphere?

A

Nitrogen, oxygen, argon

47
Q

What makes up 99% of the atmosphere?

A

Nitrogen and oxygen

48
Q

All other gases make up what percentage of the atmosphere?

A

.1%

49
Q

What are the permanent gases? (meaning the concentration doesn’t change over time)

A

The big 3, and the noble gases

50
Q

What are the noble gases?

A

neon, helium, hydrogen, xenon

51
Q

What are the variable gases in the atmosphere?

A

H2O vapor, CO2, CH4, N2O, O3, CFCs

52
Q

What is the #1 greenhouse gas?

A

Water vapor

53
Q

What are the 4 thermal layers of the atmosphere?

A

Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere

54
Q

What are the two phenomena of the troposphere?

A

Weather and greenhouse effect

55
Q

What is the phenomena of the stratosphere?

A

Ozone layer

56
Q

What is the phenomenon of the mesosphere?

A

meteors burn up

57
Q

What is the phenomenon of the thermosphere?

A

the auroras

58
Q

What is a pause in the atmosphere?

A

Where the temperature change stabilizes before switching directions

59
Q

What are the two non-thermal layers of the atmosphere?

A

Exosphere and Ionosphere

60
Q

Where is the exosphere located?

A

Top of the thermosphere

61
Q

Where is the ionosphere located?

A

Top of the mesosphere and the thermosphere

62
Q

What is energy?

A

the ability to do work

63
Q

What are the two types of energy?

A

Potential energy and kinetic energy

64
Q

What is the sun composed of?

A

H2 and He

65
Q

What is the surface temperature of the sun?

A

10,000* F

66
Q

The sun uses nuclear fusion. What is it?

A

H+H –>He+energy+neutrons

67
Q

When the sun consumes all it’s hydrogen, it will begin consuming what?

A

Helium

Earth Science (4 decks)

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