Question | Answer |
The movement of heat in the atmosphere causes what? | temperatures to change, winds to blow, and rain to fall |
Where does nearly all of the energy in Earth's atmosphere come from? | the sun |
How are electromagnetic waves classified? | according to wavelength, or distance between waves |
Most of the energy from the sun travels to Earth in what 2 forms? | visible light and infrared radiation |
What colors does visible light include? | all of the colors you see in a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet |
Which 2 colors of visible light have the longest wavelengths? | red and orange |
Which 2 colors of visible light have the shortest wavelengths? | blue and violet |
What can ultraviolet radiation cause | sunburns, skin cancer and eye damage |
What percentage of the suns energy is absorbed by Earth's surface? | 50% |
What percentage of the suns energy is absorbed by gases and particles in the atmosphere? | 20% |
What percentage of incoming sunlight is reflected by clouds, dust, and gases in the air? | 25% |
What percentage of the suns energy is reflected by the surface back into the atmosphere? | 5% |
What does the ozone layer in the stratosphere absorb? | most of the ultraviolet radiation |
What absorbs some of the infrared radiation? | water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and other gases |
Why does scattered light look bluer than ordinary sunlight? | gas molecules scatter short wavelengths of visible light (blue and violet) more than long wave-lengths (red and orange) |
When Earth's surface is heated, it radiates most of the energy back into the atmosphere as what? | infrared radiation |
What is the name of the natural process that keeps Earth's atmosphere at a temperature that is comfortable for most living things? | greenhouse effect |