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8th: Science Semester 2 > U2L5 Air Pressure and Weather > Flashcards

U2L5 Air Pressure and Weather Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the scientists who fly into the center of a hurricane called?

A

Hurricane hunters

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2
Q

What do hurricanes hunters do?

A

While hurricanes are crossing the ocean, they take off in airplanes loaded with weather instruments. They fly several paths through the hurricane and directly through its center, or eye.

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3
Q

What do hurricane hunters use to scan the interior of the storm?

A

Radar

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4
Q

How do hurricane hunters measure air pressure, temperature, humidity, and winds?

A

They drop instruments from the plane as they fall through the storm cloud to the sea surface.

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5
Q

How does the information hurricane hunters collect help people?

A

The data allow meteorologists to determine the strength of winds, the amount of precipitation, and the track of the storm. When forecasters warn cities in the path of a hurricane or report on the strength of its winds, much of the thanks belongs to these daring scientists.

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6
Q

What are air particles?

A

Air is invisible, but it is composed of tiny particles with mass and weight.

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7
Q

What are air particles affected by?

A

Air particles are affected by Earth’s gravity, pulling them downward toward Earth’s surface.

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8
Q

What is the definition of air pressure?

A

The weight of a column of air above a certain spot

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9
Q

True or False.

At each location on the planet’s surface or in the atmosphere, the column of air pressing down from above has a certain air pressure at that spot.

A

True

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10
Q

Variations in air pressure signal changes in the ______.

A

Weather

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11
Q

What is the air pressure in the center of a storm (such as a hurricane)? It is low or high?

A

Extremely low

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12
Q

As the storm passes and weather clears, what happens to the air pressure?

A

The air pressure increases

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13
Q

What 2 things that affect air density and pressure?

A

Temperature and humidity

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14
Q

What’s denser?

Colder air or warmer air

A

Colder air

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15
Q

What’s denser?

Dry air or air containing a lot of water vapor

A

Dry air

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16
Q

Air pressure changes due to what?

A

Air pressure changes depending on whether air is rising or sinking.

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17
Q

How does rising air affect air pressure?

A

Rising air presses on Earth’s surface with less force, creating lower air pressure.

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18
Q

Rising air is associated with _______ and _______.

A

cloud formation; precipitation

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19
Q

How does sinking air affect pressure?

A

Sinking air has higher air pressure and usually predicts more stability in the atmosphere

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20
Q

What type do weather does sinking air bring?

A

Drier weather conditions

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21
Q

True or False.

Sinking air predicts more stability in the atmosphere.

A

True

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22
Q

Why isn’t air pressure the same on every part of Earth’s surface?

A

Because of Earth’s tilt and its curvature, the sun heats the Earth’s surface unevenly

23
Q

True or False.

Difference in ground heating results in differences in air pressure.

A

True

24
Q

What is the air movement that is described as wind?

A

Air moves from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure, like water flowing downhill. This air movement is wind.

25
Q

How does air pressure affect the wind?

A

The greater the pressure difference, the stronger the wind.

26
Q

What is the definition of wind?

A

The movement of air from higher to lower pressure

27
Q

What causes a sea breeze?

A

The sun heats up land more quickly than it heats up water, creating rising air and low pressure over land. Air moves from the higher-pressure area over the water toward the lower pressure area over land, forming a sea breeze.

28
Q

Why are the winds of a hurricane so strong?

A

The winds of a hurricane are strong because there is an area of extremely low pressure at the center the storm. The low-pressure center pulls in air from higher-pressure areas around it, creating a swirling vortex of strong winds.

29
Q

How big are air masses?

A

Air masses are often more then 1000 miles wide and serval miles thick

30
Q

Where do air masses form?

A

They form over source regions, which determine their characteristics.

31
Q

How does the climate of a source region affect an air mass?

A

An air mass that forms over a cool, humid source region like the northern Atlantic Ocean, will be cool and humid. A source region such as the deserts of the southwestern United States, would produce air masses that are warm and dry.

32
Q

What is the definition of air mass?

A

A large body of air with uniform temperature and moisture

33
Q

What is the definition of source region?

A

An area where an air mass forms

34
Q

Why are air masses important?

A

They dominate weather and weather changes

35
Q

What type of weather does a warm, dry air mass bring?

A

Fair weather and sunny skies

36
Q

What type of weather does a cool, humid air mass bring?

A

If a cool, humid air mass rolls in, the weather will change and could turn cool and gray.

37
Q

What is the definition of front?

A

The place where two unlike air masses meet

38
Q

What is an example of what weather you would see in a front?

A

Think of the sudden cooling of the air after a thunderstorm or a day of blue skies and sunshine after a period of dismal cloudiness and rain.

39
Q

What type of air pressure are cold fronts and warm fronts associated with?

A

Both are associated with low air pressure because of unstable, rising air.

40
Q

What is the difference between the weather at a cold front and at a warm front?

A

Cold fronts bring the formation of towering clouds, thunderstorms, and heavy rain. There is also a drop in temperature after the front passes. Warm fronts bring several days of increasing cloudiness and steady rain. There is a rise in temperature after the front passes.

41
Q

How do you think meteorologists use fronts to predict weather?

A

Predictable changes in weather happen at cold fronts and warm fronts, which meteorologists can use to make accurate forecasts.

42
Q

Describe a cold front.

A

At a cold front, a denser, cold air mass collides abruptly with a less-dense, warmer air mass, forcing the warm air up sharply. With enough moisture present, the quickly rising warm air forms towering cumulonimbus clouds. At a cold front, look for thunderstorms, heavy rain and wind, and a drop in temperature as the front passes. Thunderstorms that dump large quantities of rain are common at cold fronts. As the front passes, the temperature drops as the cooler air overtakes the warmer air.

43
Q

Describe a warm front.

A

At a warm front, a warm air mass gradually rides up over a denser and colder air mass. Look for a couple of days of increasing cloudiness and increasing precipitation as a warm front approaches. The rising air produces clouds and eventually precipitation over a much larger area than at a cold front. Precipitation is longer lasting and generally not as intense as the downpours that can occur at cold fronts. As a warm front passes, the temperature rises.

44
Q

How does temperature affect how dense air is?

Ignore the cube shit

A

When air is heated, the air molecules spread out and now there are fewer molecules in the same amount of space, so it’s less dense.
When air is cooled, the air molecules condense. Now there are more molecules in the same amount of space, so it’s more dense.

45
Q

How is air pressure measured?

A

Barometer

46
Q

What type of weather can you expect with low pressure air?

A

When low pressure air moves into an area, it typically leads to cloudiness, wind, and precipitation. This happens because air cools as it rises, causing water vapor in the air to condense into liquid water droplets.

47
Q

What type of weather can you expect with high pressure air?

A

When high pressure air comes in, the air sinks and becomes drier and warmer. This usually leads to fairer, calmer weather.

48
Q

The space between high and low pressure systems can be _______.

A

Windy, this is because the air naturally moves away from high pressure areas toward low pressure areas

49
Q

What is air pressure?

A

The weight of air molecules in the atmosphere pressing down on Earth is air pressure.

50
Q

Which would be the best characteristic to indicate low or high pressure?

a. temperature of air
b. moisture content of the air
c. rising or sinking of air
d. prevailing wind direction

A

Rising or sinking of air

51
Q

Which of these can help determine air pressure? Select the two correct answers.

wind speed of the air

moisture in the air

temperature of the air

cloud patterns in the air

A

Moisture in the air

Temperature of the air

52
Q

Which do meteorologists use to measure air pressure?

A

A barometer

53
Q

Which would register a drop in air pressure? (One correct answer)

going up a mountain

a drop in temperature

going down a mountain

a heavy rainstorm

A

going up a mountain

8th: Science Semester 2 (65 decks)

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