ESC 100 Unit 4 Test Study Guide
questions and answers
What is weather? - correct answer ✔✔The state of the atmosphere at a given time and place
What is climate? - correct answer ✔✔The average weather conditions in an area over a long
period of time
What are the basic elements measured regularly for weather and climate data? - correct answer
✔✔Air Temperatures
Humidity
Type/Amount of cloudiness
Type/Amount of precipitation
Air Pressure
Speed and direction of wind
What is the composition of dry air? - correct answer ✔✔Nitrogen (N2) = 78%
Oxygen (O2) = 21%
Argon (Ar) = 1%
And Tiny amounts of carbon dioxide, aerosols, etc
What range does water vapor have? - correct answer ✔✔varies between 0% and 4%
What are aerosols, and what do they do? - correct answer ✔✔Aerosols are tiny solid and liquid
particles in the air. They act as surfaces for water vapor to condense upon, Absorbs, reflects,
and scatters sunlight, and Produce optical phenomenon (red sunsets)
,What is ozone? What is it made of? - correct answer ✔✔Ozone is three oxygen atoms bonded
together, Can occur as a pollutant in the low-levels
Where is the ozone layer located? What does it do there? Is ozone near the surface helpful or
harmful? Why? - correct answer ✔✔In the stratosphere (10 to 50 km up), it filters out
ultraviolet radiation, and the Ozone is good up high, bad nearby
What is air pressure? What is the value of sea level pressure in millibars? What happens to
pressure as you go up in the atmosphere - correct answer ✔✔The weight of the air above, it can
decrease exponentially with height
Sea level pressure is about 1000 millibars (14.7 pounds per square inch)
The higher you go in the atmosphere, the air pressure decreases.
What is a lapse rate? - correct answer ✔✔A lapse rate is the rate of temperature change with
height. The faster the temperature decreases with height, the "steeper" the lapse rate and the
more unstable the atmosphere becomes
What are the four layers of the atmosphere from the ground up? What happens to the
temperature in each layer? - correct answer ✔✔Troposphere - lowest layer, temperature
decreases with height, weather (mixing) occurs here
Stratosphere - no mixing, ozone layer here, temperature increases with height
Mesosphere - coldest temperatures
Thermosphere - highest temperatures found here, but the air is too thin to feel hot
Temperature increases as you gain altitude in the stratosphere and the thermosphere.
Temperature decreases as you gain altitude in the troposphere and mesosphere (in a z or zig-
zag way)
, What is rotation? Revolution? Why are the tropics hot and the poles cold? What causes the
seasons? - correct answer ✔✔Rotation: The Earth spinning on its axis once every 24 hours,
produces day and night cycle
Revolution: The Earth moving in its orbit around the sun at 70,000 mph
Most of the energy reaches the equatorial (Tropics) regions and the least energy reaches the
poles
Seasons are driven by the shifting of the altitude of the Sun during the day (when the Earth's
axis points toward the sun it causes Summer, and when the Earth's axis point away from the sun
it causes Winter)
What are the two equinoxes? - correct answer ✔✔Vernal or Spring (March 19th, 20th, or 21st)
and Autumnal (September 22nd or 23rd) Equinoxes: the Equator (zero latitude)
What are the two solstice? - correct answer ✔✔Summer Solstice (June 21st - 22nd): Tropic of
Cancer, 23.5 degrees north latitude
Winter Solstice (December 21st- 22nd) : Tropic of Capricorn, 23.5 degrees south latitude
What is the difference between heat and temperature? - correct answer ✔✔Heat - Thermal
energy, the total amount of internal motions (kinetic energy) of atoms and molecules in a
substance
Temperature - the average kinetic energy of a material's atoms or molecules
What are the three means of heat transfer? Know an example of each. - correct answer
✔✔Conduction: the transfer of heat through molecules to molecule contact
Hot spoon in a pot
Convection: the transfer of heat by mass movement or circulation within a fluid
Boiling pot of water
Radiation: the transfer of energy through electromagnetic waves
Sun's energy reaching Earth
questions and answers
What is weather? - correct answer ✔✔The state of the atmosphere at a given time and place
What is climate? - correct answer ✔✔The average weather conditions in an area over a long
period of time
What are the basic elements measured regularly for weather and climate data? - correct answer
✔✔Air Temperatures
Humidity
Type/Amount of cloudiness
Type/Amount of precipitation
Air Pressure
Speed and direction of wind
What is the composition of dry air? - correct answer ✔✔Nitrogen (N2) = 78%
Oxygen (O2) = 21%
Argon (Ar) = 1%
And Tiny amounts of carbon dioxide, aerosols, etc
What range does water vapor have? - correct answer ✔✔varies between 0% and 4%
What are aerosols, and what do they do? - correct answer ✔✔Aerosols are tiny solid and liquid
particles in the air. They act as surfaces for water vapor to condense upon, Absorbs, reflects,
and scatters sunlight, and Produce optical phenomenon (red sunsets)
,What is ozone? What is it made of? - correct answer ✔✔Ozone is three oxygen atoms bonded
together, Can occur as a pollutant in the low-levels
Where is the ozone layer located? What does it do there? Is ozone near the surface helpful or
harmful? Why? - correct answer ✔✔In the stratosphere (10 to 50 km up), it filters out
ultraviolet radiation, and the Ozone is good up high, bad nearby
What is air pressure? What is the value of sea level pressure in millibars? What happens to
pressure as you go up in the atmosphere - correct answer ✔✔The weight of the air above, it can
decrease exponentially with height
Sea level pressure is about 1000 millibars (14.7 pounds per square inch)
The higher you go in the atmosphere, the air pressure decreases.
What is a lapse rate? - correct answer ✔✔A lapse rate is the rate of temperature change with
height. The faster the temperature decreases with height, the "steeper" the lapse rate and the
more unstable the atmosphere becomes
What are the four layers of the atmosphere from the ground up? What happens to the
temperature in each layer? - correct answer ✔✔Troposphere - lowest layer, temperature
decreases with height, weather (mixing) occurs here
Stratosphere - no mixing, ozone layer here, temperature increases with height
Mesosphere - coldest temperatures
Thermosphere - highest temperatures found here, but the air is too thin to feel hot
Temperature increases as you gain altitude in the stratosphere and the thermosphere.
Temperature decreases as you gain altitude in the troposphere and mesosphere (in a z or zig-
zag way)
, What is rotation? Revolution? Why are the tropics hot and the poles cold? What causes the
seasons? - correct answer ✔✔Rotation: The Earth spinning on its axis once every 24 hours,
produces day and night cycle
Revolution: The Earth moving in its orbit around the sun at 70,000 mph
Most of the energy reaches the equatorial (Tropics) regions and the least energy reaches the
poles
Seasons are driven by the shifting of the altitude of the Sun during the day (when the Earth's
axis points toward the sun it causes Summer, and when the Earth's axis point away from the sun
it causes Winter)
What are the two equinoxes? - correct answer ✔✔Vernal or Spring (March 19th, 20th, or 21st)
and Autumnal (September 22nd or 23rd) Equinoxes: the Equator (zero latitude)
What are the two solstice? - correct answer ✔✔Summer Solstice (June 21st - 22nd): Tropic of
Cancer, 23.5 degrees north latitude
Winter Solstice (December 21st- 22nd) : Tropic of Capricorn, 23.5 degrees south latitude
What is the difference between heat and temperature? - correct answer ✔✔Heat - Thermal
energy, the total amount of internal motions (kinetic energy) of atoms and molecules in a
substance
Temperature - the average kinetic energy of a material's atoms or molecules
What are the three means of heat transfer? Know an example of each. - correct answer
✔✔Conduction: the transfer of heat through molecules to molecule contact
Hot spoon in a pot
Convection: the transfer of heat by mass movement or circulation within a fluid
Boiling pot of water
Radiation: the transfer of energy through electromagnetic waves
Sun's energy reaching Earth
