Question | Answer |
What form does solar energy travel to Earth? | visible, UV, and IR |
Which three gases contribute most to the greenhouse effect? | water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane |
How much of the radiation from the sun is absorbed by particles and gases in the atmosphere? | 20% |
How much of the radiation from the sun reflected by the clouds and the atmosphere? | 25% |
How much of the Sun's rays reach and are absorbed by Earth's surface? | 5% |
What is absorbed radiation re-emitted as? | IR |
What is radiation balance? | when the amount of energy that is absorbed is equally re-emitted as IR |
What layer is between the stratosphere and the thermosphere? | mesosphere |
Birds, bats, and insects fly in what layer of the atmosphere? | troposphere |
Which layer of the atmosphere contains the ozone layer? | Stratosphere |
What does earth's atmosphere contain? | water vapor, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and other gases |
What layer extends from the mesosphere to the exosphere? | thermosphere |
What are the three types of energy transfer? | latent heat, conduction, and convection |
What is an ordered series of actions? | process |
How do bright surfaces on Earth affect what happens to incoming sunlight? | the surfaces reflect the light |
What is conduction? | the temperature change when two things touch |
What is convection? | the heat that occurs when something circulates in order to heat the entire substance |
What is stable air? | air that is almost the same temperature in higher areas as lower areas |
What is unstable air? | air that forms clouds as warm air rapidly rises |
What is a mountain wave? | air the moves all over a mountain range |
What is stability? | how weak or strong something is |
What is temperature inversion? | as altitude increases, temperature increases |
Does water freezing involve the absorption or the release of thermal energy? | release |
Does ice melting involve the absorption or the release of thermal energy? | absorption |
Does water evaporating involve the absorption or the release of thermal energy? | absorption |