click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Weather Vocab
Part 1
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| air pressure | The measure of the force with which air molecules push on a surface. |
| altitude | Elevation (height) above sea level. |
| troposphere | The lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. |
| stratosphere | The 2nd layer of Earth's atmosphere. |
| thermosphere | The 4th layer of the atmosphere, in which temperature increases as altitude increases. |
| exosphere | The outer layer of the thermosphere, extending out ward into space. |
| atmospheric gases | Nitrogen makes up 78%, 21% oxygen, and the remaining 1% is carbon. |
| nitrogen (n2) | Most abundant gas in the atmosphere (78%). |
| oxygen (o2) | Gas that makes up 21% of the air in Earth's atmosphere. It passes into the bloodstream at the lungs and travels to all body cells. |
| carbon deoxide (co2) | A greenhouse gas, a gas that absorbs and radiates heat. |
| trace gases | Gasses such as hydrogen, helium, carbon diaxide and argon that exist in very small quantities in the atmosphere, gasses that make up less than 1% of Earth's atmosphere. |
| water vapor | water in the form of a gas. |
| fossil fuels | A natural substance formed from the buried remains of ancient organisms that can be used as a source of energy. |
| greenhouse gases | gases in earths atmosphere that trap heat near the surface . |
| water cycle | the continuous process by witch water moves from earths surface to the atmosphere and back . |
| evaporation | the change from a substance from a liquid to a gas. |
| condensation | the change from a gas to a liquid . |
| precipitation | any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches the earth's surface (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist). |
| transpiration | evaporation of water from the leaves of a plant . |
| crystallization | the process by which a substance becomes a solid, sort of like freezing. |
| surface runoff | water that flows over land until it reaches lakes, rivers, or other areas . |
| groundwater flow | water that is flowing beneath earth's surface . |
| dew | water that has condensed on a cool surface overnight from water vapor in the air. |
| frost | ice formed when water vapor changes derectly into ice crystals . |
| ozone (030) | part of earth's upper atmosphere; it protects people by absorbing harmful rays from the sun. |
| greenhouse effect | a warming of earth's surface and the air above it. is caused by gasses in the air that trap energy from the sun. |