ATS 350 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS WITH
100% CORRECT ANSWERS | LATEST
VERSION 2025/2026.
The most abundant gas in earth's atmosphere is what? - ANS Nitrogen
If you're standing on top of Long's Peak, about what percentage of air do you have to breathe
compared to someone at sea level? - ANS 60% because the person at sea level has 100%.
A typical value of atmospheric pressure in Los Angeles (elevation 46 meters or 151 ft above sea
level) would be what? - ANS 1000 millibars
Imagine that the temperature in Fort Collins is equal to that in Greeley. Fort Collins is about 300
feet higher in elevation than Greeley. Which of the follow is true? - ANS Both the pressure
and density at Fort Collins are lower than at Greeley.
Which layer of the atmosphere do we live in? - ANS Troposphere
In the stratosphere, the air temperature generally what? - ANS Increases with increasing
height
The fact that the air on higher floors of a building tends to be warmer than on lower floors is
primarily a result of what? - ANS Convection
1 | Page @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
, The set of instruments attached to a weather balloon and launched twice per day to measure
the atmosphere is known as a what? - ANS Radiosonde
If you doubled the temperature of an object, how many times stronger is the radiation? -
ANS 16 (if you double the temperature, there's 16 times more radiation, because the Stefan-
Boltzmann law states that the intensity of radiation is proportional to temperature to the 4th
power, so 2^4= 16.
If, by some process, the sun got much hotter, the wavelength of the radiation it emitted would
be? - ANS Shorter
The gases in the atmosphere that are primarily responsible for absorbing outgoing longwave
radiation are? - ANS Water vapor and carbon dioxide
Latent heat gets released into the environment when these processes occur. -
ANS Condensation and freezing (and deposition)
The tropics (low latitudes) receive more radiation than the poles (high latitudes). The main
reason the tropics don't keep getting hotter and the poles getting colder is due to what? -
ANS Cyclones and ocean currents transport heat towards the poles
Why do we have seasons? - ANS The earth is tilted on its axis (and earth rotates around the
sun, so the areas tilted away/ toward the sun change as the earth orbits)
If Earth's tilt decreased (became less tilted), what would we expect in the mid-latitudes? -
ANS Cooler summers and warmer winters (lesser range of temperatures)
On June 21, which of these latitudes has the fewest hours of sunlight? - ANS 60 degrees
South (the furthest degree south is darkest because it is the summer solstice
In Fort Collins, the warmest month (in the long-term average) is? - ANS July
2 | Page @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
100% CORRECT ANSWERS | LATEST
VERSION 2025/2026.
The most abundant gas in earth's atmosphere is what? - ANS Nitrogen
If you're standing on top of Long's Peak, about what percentage of air do you have to breathe
compared to someone at sea level? - ANS 60% because the person at sea level has 100%.
A typical value of atmospheric pressure in Los Angeles (elevation 46 meters or 151 ft above sea
level) would be what? - ANS 1000 millibars
Imagine that the temperature in Fort Collins is equal to that in Greeley. Fort Collins is about 300
feet higher in elevation than Greeley. Which of the follow is true? - ANS Both the pressure
and density at Fort Collins are lower than at Greeley.
Which layer of the atmosphere do we live in? - ANS Troposphere
In the stratosphere, the air temperature generally what? - ANS Increases with increasing
height
The fact that the air on higher floors of a building tends to be warmer than on lower floors is
primarily a result of what? - ANS Convection
1 | Page @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
, The set of instruments attached to a weather balloon and launched twice per day to measure
the atmosphere is known as a what? - ANS Radiosonde
If you doubled the temperature of an object, how many times stronger is the radiation? -
ANS 16 (if you double the temperature, there's 16 times more radiation, because the Stefan-
Boltzmann law states that the intensity of radiation is proportional to temperature to the 4th
power, so 2^4= 16.
If, by some process, the sun got much hotter, the wavelength of the radiation it emitted would
be? - ANS Shorter
The gases in the atmosphere that are primarily responsible for absorbing outgoing longwave
radiation are? - ANS Water vapor and carbon dioxide
Latent heat gets released into the environment when these processes occur. -
ANS Condensation and freezing (and deposition)
The tropics (low latitudes) receive more radiation than the poles (high latitudes). The main
reason the tropics don't keep getting hotter and the poles getting colder is due to what? -
ANS Cyclones and ocean currents transport heat towards the poles
Why do we have seasons? - ANS The earth is tilted on its axis (and earth rotates around the
sun, so the areas tilted away/ toward the sun change as the earth orbits)
If Earth's tilt decreased (became less tilted), what would we expect in the mid-latitudes? -
ANS Cooler summers and warmer winters (lesser range of temperatures)
On June 21, which of these latitudes has the fewest hours of sunlight? - ANS 60 degrees
South (the furthest degree south is darkest because it is the summer solstice
In Fort Collins, the warmest month (in the long-term average) is? - ANS July
2 | Page @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
