Earth Science Fall Semester Exam

Study Guide

• What is the first step in the scientific method?• Identify the problem and determine

what you want to know.

•What is a component of the atmosphere that changes very little?• Nitrogen

•When moist winds encounter mountains, what happens?• Clouds form

•What is the constant movement of water between the atmosphere and Earth’s surface?•Water cycle

•What type of air mass causes the hot and humid weather in Texas during the summer?•Maritime tropical

•What kind of weather forms when cold air collides with warm air?• Thunderstorms!

•What is weather?• Short term variations in the

atmosphere.

• What happens to the accuracy of a weather forecast when the forecast becomes longer?• It becomes less accurate.• What is the optimal time frame for

predicting weather the most accurately?• The shorter the forecast, the more

accurate. So, one or two or three days. (1-3)

•What is air mass modification?• The exchange of heat or

moisture with the surface over which an air mass travels.

•Where are the strongest winds of a hurricane located?• The calmest part is the eye and

the strongest part is the eyewall.

• Which would be the warmest—a city, a park, a farm, or a suburb? Which of them would be the coldest?• The city because the concrete and black

top absorbs the heat and it is trapped by the pollution and the buildings.• The coldest would be the farm because

it is more open to the wind and there is nothing to trap the heat there.

•What happened to oxygen levels during the Proterozoic?• They steadily increased. If

you drew a line graph of this, the line would have a positive slope.

•Be able to read a graph and make predictions from it!

•What is outgassing?• The process by which

volcanoes vent water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and other substances.

•What process does cyanobacteria use to produce energy?•photosynthesis

•What force draws the matter in an interstellar cloud together to form a star?•Gravity

• What are the characteristics of a dwarf planet?• It must have a spherical shape.• It has not cleared the

neighborhood around its orbit (other objects are close indicating it doesn’t have enough mass to have the gravity necessary to pull it in to its mass).

• What are the stages in the formation of a star?• Nebula• Protostar• Star *must get hot enough for

fusion!

• Be able to identify the control, independent variable, dependent variable, and constants in an experiment.

• How would you model:• Radiation?• —sun lamp radiates heat outwards• Convection?• —boiling pot…hot water rises and

cool sinks• Conduction?• Stove top—heats the pan that comes

in contact with it.

• Explain why heating water from the top will heat it slower than heating it from the bottom.• Because warm water (and air)

rises and cool sinks. If you heat it from the top, then the warm water is already hot and at the top. The cool water will not come in contact with the source of heat.

• Identify where the strongest winds would be found:–Forest–Desert–Mountains–city

• Desert

•Classify clouds as being high, middle, or low.•Low—stratus•Middle—cumulus•High--cirrus

• Describe the formation of:• Hail• Forms as ice moves up and down in

the atmosphere, accumulating more ice to form the lumps known as hail.• Sleet• Forms as rain droplets move up and

down through freezing and nonfreezing air.

•What are the most abundant gases in the atmosphere?• Nitrogen and Oxygen

• What happens in the temperature of the atmosphere reaches the dew point?

• Condensation

• How does a temperature inversion affect air pollution? Why?• It traps the pollution, thus

worsening it.

•What is condensation nuclei?• Particles of atmospheric dust.•What is the purpose of

condensation nuclei?• Cloud droplets form around

them.

•How long does it take for an area’s weather to become its climate?•30 years

• Be able to read a table given information about air masses and winter weather.

•What causes the Coriolis effect?• Earth’s rotation.

•What is a storm surge?•A mound of water driven

toward coastal areas by hurricane winds.

•What is the wind chill factor?• The phenomenon in which the

effects of cold air are worsened by wind.

•What is parallax?• The apparent shift in a star’s

position caused by the motion of the observer.

•What property of a star determines its temperature, luminosity, and diameter?•Mass

•What is climatology?• A subspecialty of Earth science

that studies patterns of weather over a long period of time.

• Define the big bang theory.• The Big bang theory says the universe started

as a point and has been expanding ever since.• What evidence supports the big bang theory?• Background radiation—• indicates there was an explosion• Red Shift—• Indicates that an object is moving away from

us.