Exam # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 1 - 8Lecture 1 (August 27)What is the atmosphere, why is it vital, and what is it made up of?The atmosphere is a thin layer of air surrounding the earth in which 99% of itis 30 km from the surface. The atmosphere is vital for life in order for air to breathe and liquid water. It is made up of mainly Nitrogen (78%) and Oxygen(21%) The water vapor concentration varies between 0-4%, but depends on weather (the more humid, the more water vapor)What are aerosols?Aerosols are small liquid and solid particles in the atmosphere which are nat-ural and man made pollutants. They are components of smog and reduce visibility.What is weather and what are some elements and events of it?ATMS 100 1st EditionWeather is atmospheric conditions at a particular time and place. Some ele-ments could be temperature, pressure, humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, visibility, wind speed and direction. Some events of weather could be droughts which are the most deadly, floods which are the second most deadly, hurricanes, tornadoes, and mid-latitude cyclones.What is climate?Climate is the average weather over long periods of time. Things that are considered climate could be weather records or changes of over long periodsof time. You can’t see climate by looking out the window.What are some ways to observe weather?Satellites view clouds from space and radars view precipitation from the ground. Dopler radars sense motion of precipitation toward/away from radar. Reflectivity radars show rain.How do you determine wind direction?You determine the direction from which the wind blows from. The stick on station models points in the direction wind comes from.Lecture 2 (September 3)What are molecules in?Molecules are in everything. You, me, the chairs, everything. The more vol-ume of air, the more molecules there are, meaning the more it weighs.What happens to atmospheric pressure as you go up?As you go up in a column of air there are less and less molecules above you, so therefore atmospheric pressure decreases as you go up.How much does air weigh and what does it depend on?The weight of air depends on how many air molecules ar ein the air column. You weigh air by the weight/area and columns of air above lower elevations always weigh more than columns above higher elevations. What is the pressure difference due to both weather and elevation?Pressure difference due to temperature varies day to day but is typically 30 mb across the US. The pressure difference due to elevation is roughly con-stant with time at about 300 mb between sea level and the top of the high-est mountains.What happens to air density when changing height?Density always decreases with height because gravity pulls most air mole-cules closer to the surface.How do you measure pressure?You measure pressure using a barometers and its units are usually either mil-libars (mb), pounds per square inch, or inches of mercury.What does “lapse rate” mean?Lapse rate is the rate at which temperature decreases with heightWhat is the inversion layer of the atmosphere?The inversion layer of the atmosphere is the layer in which the temperature increases with height.What is the troposphere?The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere and contains all of earth’s weather. Here, the temperature usually (but not always) decreases with height in which the sun heats the ground and the ground heats the air.What is the tropopause?The tropopause marks the top of the troposphere. It acts as a lid on the weather meaning the inversion layer is very stable.What is the stratosphere?The stratosphere is the ozone layer where temperature increases with heightotherwise known as the inversion layer. The ozone absorbs UV radiation which warms the stratosphere. If you look up into this you’d see a black space and there’s no well-defined top of the atmosphere meaning it slowly fades to space.What is the mesosphere?The mesosphere means the middle atmosphere. Here, temperature de-creases with height because there is a lack of ozone layer. The air is very thinhere and the mesopause marks the top of the mesosphere.What is the thermosphere?In the thermosphere temperature increases with height because oxygen ab-sorbs gamma and cosmic rays. Here the air is very thin and if you went hair you would freeze.Lecture 3 (September 8)What does the conservation of energy mean?Conservation of energy means energy can neither be created or destroyed. Energy can be transferred between different forms.What is temperature?Temperature is the measure of average speed of the molecules of a sub-stance. When the molecules within an object absorb energy, they move faster and the temperature of the object increasesWhat is the relationship between temperature and density?Warmer temperatures is less dense and colder air is more dense.What is sensible heat?Sensible heat is heat that can be sensed or measured with a thermometer.What is latent heat?Latent heat is “hidden energy” which means energy is absorbed or released during a phase change.What is evaporation, condensation, sublimation, and deposition?These are all phase changes of water. Evaporation means changing from wa-ter to gas, condensation means gas to liquid(rain), sublimation means ice to gas(frost going away on its own), deposition means gas to solid(scraping frost from window).Which phase changes are the cooling processes and which are the warming processes (in terms of energy)?Melting, evaporation, and sublimation are the cooling process meaning latentheat is absorbed. Freezing, disposition, and condensation are the warming processes meaning latent heat is releasedWhat is conduction, convection, and advection? These are all types of heat transfers. Conduction is the direct transfer of heatwithin the substance (or from on to another). In conduction heat always flowsfrom hot to cold. Some good conductors would be metals. Some bad heat conductors(good insulators) would be air, water, wood, plastic, fiberglass. Convection is the transfer of heat through fluid flow (generally refers to verti-cal motions only--air or water currents). Advection is the transfer of heat through horizontal movements of air(sea or lake breeze).What is solar heating?Solar heating means the air is largely tansparent to sunlight. The Sun doesn’theat the air directly, it heats the surface. The thing layer of air above the sur-face is heated by conduction. THis hot air expands, becomes less dense, and rises. The rising hot air