GEO 121 1st Edition Exam 2 Study Guide Lectures 11 20 Lecture 11 February 23 I Galaxy Like an enormous island in the universe An almost incomprehensible cluster of stars dust and gases surrounded by space Solar System a All of the heavenly bodies surrounding a particular star due to the stars dominant mass and gravity Gravity a The attractive force that one body has for another Planet a A celestial body in orbit around the sun with sufficient gravitational attraction to overcome rigid body forces and assume a nearly spherical shape and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit b Terrestrial Planet i Composed of rock and metallic materials ii Mercury Venus Earth and Mars c Gas Planets i Also known as giant planets ii Composed of lighter ices liquids and gases iii No solid surface on which to walk iv Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Fusion Reactions a Thermonuclear i The fusing together of 2 hydrogen atoms to create one helium atom ii This process releases tremendous amounts of energy a b II III IV V VI VII VIII Solar Winds a Streams of hot ions travelling outward from the sun Atmosphere a Blanket of air composed of various gases that envelopes Earth Barometer a Measures Pressure i 29 92 inches of mercury 1013 millibars 14 7 psi Lecture 12 February 25 I Atmosphere Gases that are compressible Troposphere i Closest to Earth c Stratosphere i Second closest to Earth d Tropopause i Boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere e As we go up into the atmosphere pressure decreases Standard Barometric pressure a At sea level i Mercurial 29 92 inches of mercury Refraction a Sky is blue b The visible light wave matches the incoming solar energy and produces the color blue to our eye Absorption a How much heat Stays in the Earth hot air rises and leaves the earth Types of precipitation a Orographic b Convectional c Frontal a b II III IV V Lecture 13 February 27 I II III IV V VI VII VIII Everything always moves from high pressure to low pressure Tropic cone a Area between the 2 tropics b Those areas see direct sunlight twice a year Analemma a A plot or graph of the position of the sun in the Sky at a certain time Solar radiation a Lifts energy b Increases pressure Atmospheric moisture a The higher the temperature the more moisture the atmosphere can hold Absolute moisture humidity a Amount of water present per unit of volume of air expressed as grams per cubic meter or grams Per cubic foot or percent Relative Humidity a Ratio between the amount of water vapor in the air and the maximum amount of water vapor that the air could hold at that temperature if saturated usually expressed as a percentage Equilibrium 100 relative humidity Saturation Dew Point Precipitation What kind of conditions cause precipitation a Passage of cold and warm fronts along with clouds b Rising air cools and comes back down as it reaches dew point a b c d IX Lecture 14 March 2 I Earth as a Planet a Mechanics i Rotation 1 A circular movement of an object around a center or point of rotation A three dimensional object always rotates around an imaginary line called a rotation axis ii Revolution 1 revolution one full turn one full spin instance of revolving or spinning set order in which events take place iii Inclination 1 The magnetic field around Earth causes not only a compass needle to point north but also to tip downward in a straight line direction to north iv Parallelism 1 As Earth rotates around the sun the planetary axis remains parallel to all its former positions b Solstices and Equinoxes i Summer Solstice June 21 23 5 degrees N ii Winter Solstice December 21 23 5 degrees S iii Fall Equinox September 23 180 degrees E W iv Spring Equinox March 20 180 degrees E W Lecture 15 March 4 I Moisture Clouds and Precipitation a Normal environmental Lapse Rate i Decrease in temperature with altitude under normal atmospheric conditions 6 5 C 1 000 m or 3 6 F 1 000 ft b Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate i The rate at which a rising mass of air is cooled by expansion when no condensation is occurring 10 C 1 000 m or 5 6 F 1 000ft c Wet Adiabatic Lapse Rate II III IV V VI i Rate at which a rising mass of air is cooled by expansion when condensation is present 5 C 1 000 m or ii 3 2 F 1 000 ft Absolute Humidity a Mass of water vapor per unit volume of air expressed as g m3 or g ft3 Cubed Relative Humidity a Ratio between the amount of water vapor in the air and the maximum amount of water vapor the air can hold Latent Heat of Vaporization a Amount of heat absorbed by water to evaporate from the surface 590 calories of heat 1g of water Latent Heat of Condensation a Energy released in the form of heat as water is converted from gas to liquid Precipitation Causing Conditions a Convectional i Lifting associated with excessive radiation ex equatorial low ii Precipitation resulting from condensation of water vapor in an air mass that is rising as it s heated b Orographic i Windward side and leeward side c Frontal i Lifting associated with warm front and cold front air mass flow ex American mid west ii Precipitation resulting from condensation of water vapor by the rising of warmer lighter air above cooler denser air along a frontal boundary Lecture 16 March 6 I II III IV V Planetary mechanics a Rotation b Revolution c Parallelism d Inclination Duration Intensity of Energy a Insolating b Atmosphere c Reflection Pressure moves from low to high Deflection a Specifically the deflection of objects from the Earth s surface Coriolis Effect a A deflection of moving objects when the motion is described relative to a rotating reference frame In a reference frame with clockwise rotation the VI deflection is to the left of the motion of the object in one with counter clockwise rotation the deflection is to the right Hadley cell a Named after George Hadley is a tropical atmospheric circulation that is defined by the average over longitude which features rising motion near the equator poleward flow 10 15 kilometers above the surface descending motion in the subtropics and equatorward flow near the surface This circulation is intimately related to the trade winds tropical rainbelts and hurricanes subtropical deserts and the jet streams Lecture 17 March 9 High pressure Low pressure Warm Front Cold Front Stationary Front Occluded Front I mT Maritime Air Mass a Air mass that forms over extensive ocean areas of the low latitudes Around North America these system form over the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern tropical Pacific Maritime Tropical air masses are