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Ch. 8 Science
watching the weather
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| a scientist who studies weather | meteorologist |
| basic cause of all weather | the sun |
| air we live in receives most of its warmth | from the ground |
| imaginary line running through the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole | axis |
| reason for the earth's seasons | tilt |
| an imaginary line circling the earth midway between the North and South poles | equator |
| the reason why winds are produced | temperature differences found on the earth |
| warm air is ____________ that cooler air | lighter |
| how fast the earth travels per hour to keep up with a 24 hr. day schedule | 1,000 |
| the amount of water vapor that the air can hold at a given temperature | relative humidity |
| the lowest possible temperature at which air is able to hold all of its water vapor | dew point |
| the process in which water vapor leaves the air and changes into liquid water | condensation |
| water vapor that condenses to form liquid water on the ground | dew |
| water vapor that condenses and forms frozen water on the ground | frost |
| single large unit of air with uniform temperatures and humidity characteristics is called a ____________ | air mass |
| boundary between 2 air masses | front |
| warm air pushing cold air | warm front |
| cold air pushing warm air | cold front |
| puffy, bulgy cloud, occur in good weather | cumulus |
| layer or flat clouds, low blanket or sheet, are a sign that rain is approaching | stratus |
| wisp or curl, occur at very top of atmosphere, made of very small ice crystals | cirrus |
| ground level cloud | fog |
| term used to describe a cloud from which rain is falling | nimbus |
| an ice crystal in a cloud that becomes too heavy, falls, melts, and lands on the earth as liquid water | rain |
| falling ice crystals that melt slightly, stick, and freeze together into snowflakes | wet snow |
| falls when the temperature of air is well below freezing does not melt and stick together to form large, wet snowflakes | dry snow |
| falling ice crystals that melt into raindrops, then refreeze and land on earth as tiny pieces of ice | sleet |
| falling ice crystals melt, hit the earth as liquid rain, but refreeze as soon as they land | freezing rain |
| another name for a cumulonimbus cloud which produces a thunderstorm | thunderhead |
| small pieces of ice is tossed up and down inside a cloud, forming several layers of ice, until it is too heavy and falls to the ground | hail |
| produced by very tall clouds such as cumulonimbus | lightning |
| occurs when opposite electric charges build up | lightning |
| zigzags downward from a cloud. It is a thin channel of charged air through which the lightning bold can travel | step leader |
| superheated air expands rapidly, causing sound waves we hear as ... | thunder |
| lightning bolts that don't touch ground, stay inside cloud, bright flash | sheet lightning |
| type of storm that packs most destructive power into the smallest space | tornado |
| calm region of extremely low air pressure | eye |
| occurs when a tornado has been spotted | tornado warning |
| row of cumulonimbus thunderheads that builds up to form a ___________ line | squall |