Earth Science Vocabulary 2Nd Quarter

Front 1

condensation

Back 1

gas becomes liquid

Front 2

sublimation

Back 2

gas becomes solid or solid becomes a gas (skips the liquid stage)

Front 3

dew point

Back 3

when humidity is 100%

Front 4

adiabatic cooling

Back 4

cooling resulting from expansion

Front 5

condensation nuclei

Back 5

tiny suspended
particles, either solid or liquid, upon which water vapour condenses and forms precipitation

Front 6

frost

Back 6

frozen dew

Front 7

coalescence

Back 7

the merging of two things (two droplets become one)

Front 8

acid rain

Back 8

precipitation containing relatively high concentrations of acid-forming chemicals (sulfur dioxide) resulting from pollutants that have been released into the atmosphere and combined with water vapor: harmful to the environment.

Front 9

front

Back 9

boundary of air mass

Front 10

orographic lift

Back 10

when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it expands and cools adiabatically. This cooler air cannot hold the moisture as well as warm air can, which effectively raises the relative humidity to 100%, creating clouds and frequent precipitation.

When air is confronted by mountains, it cannot simply go through them, As the air ascends the mountain, the air cools as it rises and if it cools to its saturation point, the water vapor condenses and a cloud forms.

Front 11

hail

Back 11

? formed from adiabatic cooling and orographic lifting

precipitation falls, lifts, coalesces (droplets merge) and gets bigger

Front 12

frontal wedging

Back 12

The lifting of air resulting when cool air acts as a barrier over which warmer, lighter air will rise.

When warm and cold air collide at the surface, we call it a front, or frontal zone. Since the warmer air is less dense, it rises over the cold air. The rising warm air is capable of holding lots of water vapor, which fuels buoyancy and triggers stormy weather. Cloudy, stormy weather is common along a front. Frontal wedging is common in our winter, when cold air from the polar zones sweeps down to lower latitudes.

Front 13

condensation

Back 13

gas becomes liquid

Front 14

sublimation

Back 14

gas becomes solid or solid becomes a gas (skips the liquid stage)

Front 15

dew point

Back 15

when humidity is 100%

Front 16

adiabatic cooling

Back 16

cooling resulting from expansion

Front 17

frost

Back 17

frozen dew

Front 18

coalescence

Back 18

the merging of two things (two droplets become one)

Front 19

prevailing winds

Back 19

?

Front 20

front

Back 20

boundary of air mass

Front 21

frontal wedging

Back 21

The lifting of air resulting when cool air acts as a barrier over which warmer, lighter air will rise.

When warm and cold air collide at the surface, we call it a front, or frontal zone. Since the warmer air is less dense, it rises over the cold air. The rising warm air is capable of holding lots of water vapor, which fuels buoyancy and triggers stormy weather. Cloudy, stormy weather is common along a front. Frontal wedging is common in our winter, when cold air from the polar zones sweeps down to lower latitudes.

Front 22

convergence

Back 22

?

Front 23

global winds

Back 23

?

Front 24

atmosphere

Back 24

a mixture of different gases 78% nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% other

Front 25

oxygen

Back 25

gas necessary for breathing, relatively heavy, diatomic mass 32

Front 26

how does nitrogen contribute to the air

Back 26

It dilutes oxygen and it makes air light.

Front 27

troposphere

Back 27

weather layer, contains moisture, 5-8 miles high

Front 28

stratosphere

Back 28

layer above troposphere 31 miles from end of troposphere, gets warmer with greater altitude, has jet streams

Front 29

jet streams

Back 29

Strong air currents 11 kilometers high. There are usually four distinct jet streams, two each in the Northern and Southern hemisphere. They are caused by significant differences in the temperatures of adjacent air masses. These differences occur where cold, polar air meets warmer, equatorial air, especially in the latitudes of the westerlies.

Front 30

ozone layer

Back 30

in stratosphere, absorbs UV rays 99%, protects us from radiation

Front 31

magnetosphere

Back 31

causes solar winds and northern and southern lights light happens when atoms are stimulated

Front 32

greenhouse effect

Back 32

The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back into space and Earth’s average temperature would be about 60ºF colder. Because of how they warm our world, these gases are referred to as greenhouse gases.

Front 33

air mass

Back 33

glob of air

Front 34

source region

Back 34

where a region comes from

Front 35

monsoon

Back 35

? 1. A wind from the southwest or south (travels over the Indian ocean) that brings very heavy rainfall to southern Asia in the summer.

Front 36

sea breeze

Back 36

A cool breeze blowing from the cooler sea toward the warmer land.

Front 37

specific heat

Back 37

measure of the difficulty of raising the temperature or lowering the temperature of a substance

Front 38

trade winds

Back 38

Winds that blow steadily from east to west and toward the equator. The trade winds are caused by hot air rising at the equator, with cool air moving in to take its place from the north and from the south. The winds are deflected westward because of the Earth's west-to-east rotation.

Front 39

polar easterlies

Back 39

The polar easterlies are the prevailing winds that blow from the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the north and south poles towards the low-pressure areas of the polar fronts at around 60 degrees latitude (north and south). Cold air subsides at the pole creating the high pressure, forcing a southerly (northward in the southern hemisphere) outflow of air towards the equator; that outflow is then deflected eastward by the Coriolis effect. Unlike the westerlies in the middle latitudes, the polar easterlies are often weak and irregular. These prevailing winds blow from the east to the west.

Front 40

doldrums

Back 40

a belt of no wind and light baffling winds north of the equator or 0 degrees; between the northern and southern trade winds in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, near the equator

Front 41

subpolar low-pressure belt

Back 41

around 60 degrees latitude near the poles

Front 42

polar low

Back 42

low pressure system creating a cyclone in the polar region, with arctic winds

Front 43

is Oxygen inert, and what does it mean to be inert

Back 43

no, it is not inert. Nitrogen in the air makes the air less inert, meaning it reacts less easily

Front 44

describe the relationship (direct, or inverse) between altitude and temp

Back 44

Inverse, as altitude goes up, temp goes down

Front 45

describe the relationship (direct, or inverse) between latitude and temp

Back 45

inverse, latitude up, temp goes down

Front 46

describe the relationship (direct, or inverse) between humidity and pressure

Back 46

inverse, greater the humidity, the lesser the pressure (water vapor is like the cheerleader vs. air molecules are like football players).

Front 47

describe the relationship (direct, or inverse) between pressure difference and wind

Back 47

direct, the greater the difference in air pressure between two areas, the greater the wind will be.

Front 48

How does humidity affect cloud height

Back 48

?

Front 49

name the steps in convection

Back 49

liquid or gas (such as air) is heated, expands, rises, cooler air sinks, heats, expands, rises, etc.

Front 50

why is the sky blue?

Back 50

?

Front 51

describe this cloud: cirrus

Back 51

high level cloud,generally quite thin with a hair like or filament appearance. Another name for cirrus is mares tails.

Front 52

describe this cloud: stratus

Back 52

Often the lowest of clouds, often appears as an over cast deck with little or no structure evident. thin layers of clouds

Front 53

describe this cloud: cumulus

Back 53

Usually puffy (think popcorn or cotton wool) with distinct edges & signs of vertical development. Vertical development can be further enhanced by thermal convection to push cumulus clouds into the multi layer category (see below), to form Towering Cumulus or even Cumulonimbus clouds

Front 54

cumulonimbus

Back 54

puffy rain clouds, great height (vertical development, not altitude).

Front 55

how does the air move at the equator?

Back 55

air is rising from the surface, causing winds to come towards the equator?

Front 56

do ocean currents affect the weather?

Back 56

yes

Front 57

What is room temperature in Celsius, ferenheit, and kelvin?

Back 57

20 c, 70 F, 293 K

Front 58

What is freezing temperature at Celsius, Ferenheit, and Kelvin

Back 58

0 C, 32 F, 273 K

Front 59

What is boiling temp in C, F, and K?

Back 59

100 C, 212 F, 373 K

Front 60

What is absolute zero?

Back 60

0 Kelvin, when all atomic movent completely ceases

Front 61

Does warm air hold more or less moisture

Back 61

more

Front 62

updraft

Back 62

a rising current of air

Front 63

which is heavier, dry or moist air?

Back 63

dry air, remember, water vapor are the cheerleaders

Front 64

what is thunder

Back 64

air expanding faster than the speed of sound, causing sonic booms

Front 65

what is the speed of sound:

Back 65

about 340 miles/second (345 miles/second)

Front 66

describe and name this air mass: CT

Back 66

Continental Tropical: warm dry

Front 67

homosphere

Back 67

the bottom layer of the earth's atmosphere, the top being the heterosphere. The homosphere is about the first 100 km from the earth's surface, and its composition is remains much the same (homo)

Front 68

heterosphere

Back 68

the top layer of the atmosphere, above the homosphere, starting at about 100 km. The composition of the atmosphere varies (hetero)

Front 69

vacuum

Back 69

absence of atoms

Front 70

weather

Back 70

the climactic conditions at a certain time and place

Front 71

pressure

Back 71

weight of gases

Front 72

is evaporation a cooling process?

Back 72

yes

Front 73

solid state

Back 73

rigid - particles locked into place
not easily compressible
little free space between particles
does not flow easily
rigid - particles cannot move/slide past one another

Front 74

gaseous state

Back 74

particles can move past one another
compressible
lots of free space between particles
flows easily
particles can move past one another

Front 75

liquid state

Back 75

particles can move/slide past one another
little free space between particles
particles move/slide past one another (flows easily)

Front 76

describe this air mass: CP

Back 76

Continental Polar, cold, dry

Front 77

describe this air mass: MP

Back 77

Maritime Polar, cold, moist

Front 78

describe this air mass: MT

Back 78

maritime tropical warm, moist

Front 79

lapse rate

Back 79

rate of temp drop for 5 degrees per 1000 feet

Front 80

humidity

Back 80

amount of water vapor in the air

Front 81

relative humidity

Back 81

how much water is in the air compared to how much it could be

Front 82

define winward

Back 82

the side the wind hits,

Front 83

what are the prevailing winds here, and what is our latitude?

Back 83

South west, 44 degrees

Front 84

What are various names for a hurricane, based on the region

Back 84

Indian ocean- cyclone, West pacific/philippines- typhoon, hurricane- Atlantic (here)

Front 85

where do hurricanes develop

Back 85

over warm oceans, they stop when they get to the land.

Front 86

define winward

Back 86

the side the wind hits,

Front 87

due to the rotation of the earth, the winds move which direction in each hemisphere

Back 87

Northern hemisphere they move right, in the southern hemisphere they move left.

Front 88

What are the three different ways for heat transfer to occur?

Back 88

conduction, convection, radiation

Front 89

describe conduction

Back 89

In heat conduction, energy is transferred from molecule to molecule by objects directly touching; the molecules themselves do not necessarily change position, but simply vibrate more or less quickly against each other. Conduction occurs primarily through solids

Front 90

describe radiation

Back 90

Radiation transfers heat through electromagnetic waves; occurs even in a vacuum (empty space).
Radiation transfers heat in all
directions—even down.
Convection currents always rise.
Radiation requires no contact—
convection and conduction
require touching.
Radiation can go through
transparent materials (barriers)
like glass.

Front 91

define these terms:
continental
maritime
polar
tropical

Back 91

continental- land, maritime-water, polar- from the poles/very cold, tropical- warm