The Atmosphere An Introduction

Question 1

What is mixing ratio?

Answer 1

fraction or proportion of the air made up of a air species

Question 2

What are the types of unit for mixing ratio?

Answer 2

Fraction / Percentage / Parts per million (106) / billion (109) / trillion (1012)

Question 3

What is concentration?

Answer 3

amount of an air species per unit volume

Question 4

What is the unit for air quality concentration?

Answer 4

ug m-3

Question 5

What will happen to mixing ratio and concentration with a change in temp or pressure (altitude)?

Answer 5

Mixing ratio will remain unchanged
Concentration varies as air readily compressible

Question 6

What can be used to calculate the concentration of air molecules?

Answer 6

Ideal Gas Law

Question 7

What do the letters in the Ideal Gas Law equation mean? (pV=nRT)

Answer 7

p= pressure
V= volume
n= number of moles
R= gas constant
T= temperature

Question 7

What is the equation for the Ideal Gas Law?

Answer 7

pV= nRT

Question 8

What are the units for pressure in the Ideal Gas Law?

Answer 8

Nm-2
Pascals

Question 9

What is the unit for volume in the Ideal Gas Law?

Answer 9

m*3

Question 10

What is the gas constant?

Answer 10

8.314 JK-1 mol-1

Question 11

What is the unit for temperature in the Ideal Gas Law?

Answer 11

K

Question 12

What is the average air pressure at sea level?

Answer 12

1.013 bar

Question 13

What unit for pressure will be used on weather maps?

Answer 13

Millibars (mb)

Question 14

What is 1 bar equal to? (pressure)

Answer 14

105 pascal
105 Nm-2

Question 15

How many Pa is 1 atmosphere equivalent to?

Answer 15

101325 Pa

Question 16

How many psi is 1 bar?

Answer 16

14.5 Pound per square inch

Question 17

How many Torr is 1 atmosphere equivalent to?

Answer 17

760

Question 18

What is the technical term for heat exchange for most environmental processes?

Answer 18

Enthalpy (J)

Question 19

What is heat capacity?

Answer 19

how much energy needed to raise temp of ice or water by 1K

Question 20

What is the heat capacity of ice?

Answer 20

2.108 JK-1g-1

Question 21

What is the heat capacity of liquid water?

Answer 21

4.182 JK-1g-1

Question 22

What is the heat capacity of water vapour?

Answer 22

1.996 JK-1g-1

Question 23

What is the Enthalpy of Melting for water ice?

Answer 23

334 J g-1

Question 24

What is the Enthalpy of Vaporisation for liquid water?

Answer 24

2230 J g-1

Question 25

How is the atmosphere divided?

Answer 25

Into layers by altitude (variation in temp with height)

Question 26

What are the characteristics of the troposphere?

Answer 26

10-15 km high
90% atmospheric mass
Temp decrease as go up

Question 27

What happens when you get to 10-12 km in atmopshere?

Answer 27

change to stratosphere so temp starts to increase

Question 28

Why does temp increase in the stratosphere?

Answer 28

Ozone layer found here which absorbs short wave radiation

Question 29

What is the troposphere made up on? (most to least abundant)

Answer 29

Nitrogen
Oxygen
CO2
H2O
Hydrocarbons
CH4
VOC (volatile organic compounds)
CO
N2O
H2

O3 (ozone)
NO2

OH
O

Question 30

What happens as you go down the table for the composition of the troposhere?

Answer 30

Less abundant but more reactive

Question 31

What affects the level of O3 and hydrocarbons?

Answer 31

Reactions involving OH moderated by NOx

Question 32

What is an example of a short lived atmospheric air species?

Answer 32

OH - few seconds, maybe 1m travelled
Little concern

Question 33

What is an example of a moderate residence time air species?

Answer 33

NOx- 1 day, 10km
Can be controlled with city projects

Question 34

What is an example of a long residence time air species?

Answer 34

CFCs- 100yr, global
Requires global action