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Test 17,18,19 Williams EarthSc
DH Conley
79
Science
9th Grade
10/02/2008

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Term
Atmosphere
Definition
The gaseous portion of a planet.
The planet's envelope of air.
Term
Atmosphere
Definition
one of the traditional subdivisions of Earth's physical environment
Term
Troposphere
Definition
Where weather phenomena occurs
Term
Stratosphere
Definition
Has the ozone layer,
Term
Mesosphere
Definition
Temperatures decrease w/ height
Term
Thermosphere
Definition
Temperatures increase
Smallest layer.
Term
Troposphere
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Thermosphere
Definition
What are the layers of the atmosphere (starting at the layer closest to earth)
Term
Rotation and revolution
Definition
What are Earth's two principal motions?
Term
Rotation
Definition
Spinning of the Earth around its axis
Term
Revolution
Definition
The movement of Earth in its orbit around the sun.
Term
Season changes
Definition
What is caused by the Earth's position relative to the sun contually changes is it travels along its orbit.
a.k.a.
Earth's axis is not perpendicular tot he plane of its orbit around the sun
Term
Summer Solstice
Definition
First official day of summer
Term
Winter Solstice
Definition
First official day of winter
Term
23.5 degrees
Definition
How many degrees is the maximum that the Earth tilts causing solstices
Term
Equinoxes
Definition
What occurs midway/halway between the solstices?
Term
June 21 or June 22
Definition
Date of Summer Solstice
Term
December 21 or 22
Definition
Date of winter solstice
Term
Temperature
Definition
The measure of the average kinetic energy in a substance
Term
Heat
Definition
The energy transferred from one objject to another because of a difference in their temperatures.
Term
conduction, convection and radiation
Definition
What are the three mechanisms of energy transfer?
Term
Conduction
Definition
The transfer of heat through matter by molecular activity
Term
Conduction
Definition
The transfer of heat through matter by molecular activity
Term
Convection
Definition
What is the transfer of heat by mass movement or circulation within a substance?
Term
Radiation
Definition
Which type of energy can travel through the vacuum of space.
Term
Radiation
Definition
By which type of energy does solar energy reach the Earth?
Term
Some energy is absorbed by the object.
Substances such as water and air are transparent to certain wavelengths or radiation.
Some radiation may bounce off the objects w/out being absorbed or transmitted.
Definition
What are the 3 things that happen to solar radiation?
Term
-Heating of land and water
-Altitude
-Geographic position
-Cloud cover
-Ocean currents
Definition
What factors other than latitude exert a strong influence on temperature?
Term
Land
Definition
In which is temperature variation the greatest - land or water?
Term
Water vapor
Definition
What is the most important gas in the atmosphere?
Term
Sublimation
Definition
Solid to gas
Term
Deposition
Definition
Gas to solid
Term
Melting
Definition
Solid to liquid
Term
Freezing
Definition
Liquid to solid
Term
Evaporation
Definition
Liquid to gas
Term
Condensation
Definition
Gas to liquid
Term
Humidity
Definition
The amount of water vapor in air
Term
Relative humidity
Definition
What is the ratio of the air's actual water-vapor content compared with the amount of water vapor air can hold at that temperature and pressure?
Term
Dew Point
Definition
What is the temperature to which a parcel of air would need to be cooled to reach saturation?
Term
Stable air
Definition
What is referred to as air that resists vertical movement
Term
Cirrus
Definition
Very high & wispy clouds
Term
Cumulus
Definition
Big puffy, fluffy clouds that are in the middle.
Term
Stratus
Definition
Sheets or layers that cover much or all of the sky.
Term
Nimbostratus
Definition
rain cloud / stormy cloud
Term
orographic lifting
frontal wedging
convergence
localized convective lifting
Definition
What are the 4 mechanisms that can cause air to rise?
Term
Orographic Lifting
Definition
What occurs when elevated terrains such as mountains act as barriers to air flow?
Term
Frontal Wedging
Definition
Cooler, denser air acts as a barrier over which the warmer, less dense air rises.
Term
Convergence
Definition
When air in the lower atmosphere flows together causing lifting, it is called what?
Term
Localized convective lifting
Definition
What is caused by unequal heating of Earth's surface?
Term
Rain or snow
Definition
drops of water that fall from a cloud.
Term
Sleet
Definition
What is the fall of small particles of clear-to-translucent ice
Term
Glaze
Definition
Freezing rain
Term
Hail
Definition
small ice pellets
Term
all directions
Definition
In which direction is air pressure exerted
Term
The air pressure pushing up on the object
Definition
The air pressure pushing down on an object exactly equals/blances what?
Term
Mercury rises
Definition
When air pressure increases what happens to the mercury in a tube?
Term
Mercury also decreases
Definition
When air pressures decreases, what happens to the height of mercury in a column/tube
Term
Wind
Definition
What is the result of horizontal differences in air pressure?
Term
Air flows from high to low pressure
Definition
Does air flow
from high to low pressure
or
from low to high pressure?
Term
Solar energy
Definition
What is the ultimate energy source for most wind?
Term
Pressure differences
Coriolis effect
friction
Definition
What are the three factors that control wind?
Term
Coriolis effect
Definition
Described how Earth's rotation affects moving objects
Term
Air masses
Definition
An immense body of air that is characterized by similar temperatures and amounts of moisture at any given altitude
Term
Continental air mass
Definition
Air mass that forms over land
Term
Maritime air mass
Definition
air masses that for over water
Term
Continental air mass
Definition
An air mass that is likely to be dry
Term
Maritime air mass
Definition
What type of air mass is likely to be humid
Term
a front
Definition
a boundary that separates two air masses
Term
Warm front
Definition
What type of front forms when warm air moves into an area that was covered by cooler air
Term
Cold Front
Definition
What type of front forms when cold, dense air moves into a region occupied by warmer air
Term
Stationary Front
Definition
What occurs when the surface position of a front does not move?
Term
Occluded Front
Definition
What type of front when an active cold front overtakes a warm front?
Term
Thunderstorms
Definition
A storm that generates lightining and thunder? They product gusty winds, heavy rain and hail.
Term
2000
Definition
At an given time, how many thunderstorm are occuring on Earth?
Term
Thunderstorms
Definition
What forms when warm, humid air rises in an unstable environment?
Term
Tornadoes
Definition
Violent windstorms that take the form of a rotating column of air called a vortex
Term
Cumulonimbus cloud
Definition
What type of cloud does a tornadoe come from
Term
Thunderstorms
Definition
Most tornadoes form in association with what?
Term
Hurricane
Definition
Whirling tropical cyclones that produce winds of at least 119 kilometers/hour?
Term
Late summer
Definition
When do hurricanes generally develop?
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