METEOROLOGY: CHAPTER 2 Vocabulary and assessment questions: “WEATHER FACTORS”
Section 2.1: Energy in Earth’s Atmosphere
I. Vocabulary: Define the following terms from Section 2.1.
a. Electromagnetic waves
b. Radiation
c. Infrared radiation
d. Ultraviolet radiation
e. Scattering
f. Greenhouse effect
Section 2.1: Energy in the Earth’s Atmosphere
II. Assessment Questions
1. List three forms of radiation from the Sun.
2. Which form of radiation from the Sun has the longest wavelength? The shortest wavelength?
3. What happens to most of the sunlight that reaches Earth?
4. What percentage of incoming sunlight is reflected by clouds, dust, and gases in the atmosphere?
5. Why are sunsets red?
6. What happens to the energy from the sun that is absorbed by Earth’s surface?
7. How might conditions on Earth be different without the greenhouse effect?
Section 2.2: Heat Transfer
III. Vocabulary: Define the following terms from Section 2.2.
a. Temperature
b. Thermal Energy
c. Thermometer
d. Heat
e. Conduction
f. Convection
g. Convection Currents
Section 2.2: Heat Transfer
IV. Assessment Questions
1. What is TEMPERATURE?
2. What instrument is used to measure air temperature?
3. A pail of water is the same temperature as a lake. Compare the amount of thermal energy of the water in the lake and the water in the pail.
4. Name three ways that heat can be transferred.
5. How do the three types of heat transfer work together to heat the troposphere?
6. What is the major way that heat is transferred in the troposphere?
7. Explain how a hawk or eagle can sometimes soar upward without flapping its wings.
Section 2.3: Winds
V. Vocabulary: Define the following terms from Section 2.3.
a. Wind
b. Anemometer
c. Wind-chill factor
d. Local winds
e. Sea breeze
f. Land breeze
g. Global winds
h. Coriolis effect
i. Latitude
j. Jet streams
Section 2.3: Winds
VI. Assessment Questions
1. What causes wind to form?
2. What do you use to measure the speed of wind?
3. What is the difference between global winds and local winds? Are there any similarities?
4. What are global convection currents produced by?
5. List three major global wind belts.
6. What turns trade winds toward the west and prevailing westerlies toward the east?
7. How close are jet streams to the Earth’s surface?
Section 2.4: Water in the Atmosphere
VII. Vocabulary: Define the following terms from Section 2.4.
a. Water cycle
b. Evaporation
c. Humidity
d. Relative humidity
e. Psychrometer
f. Condensation
g. Dew point
h. Cirrus
i. Cumulus
j. Stratus
Section 2.4: Water in the Atmosphere
VIII. Assessment Questions
1. What does air’s ability to hold water vapor depend on?
2. Which part of the psychrometer tells you about the relative humidity?
3. How do clouds form?
4. What are the 3 main shapes that scientists classify clouds into?
5. Which type of cloud only forms at high levels in the sky?
6. What do stratus clouds look like?
7. What gets rid of fog in the morning?
Section 2.5 Precipitation
IX. Vocabulary: Define the following terms from Section 2.5.
a. precipitation
b. rain guage
c. droughts
X. Assessment Questions
1. Name the five common types of precipitation.
2. Compare and contrast freezing rain and sleet.
3. A thunderstorm produces precipitation in the form of ice particles that are about 6 millimeters in diameter. What type of precipitation would this be?
4. How do hailstones become so large in cumulonimbus clouds?
5. How can a rain gauge be used to measure precipitation?
6. How does the funnel in a rain gauge increase the accuracy of the measurement?
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