chapta 12 – Flashcards
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If the earth were to warm up a bit, what would happen?
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Carbonate materials would form in the oceans more rapidly, the atmospheric carbon dioxide content would decrease, and the greenhouse effect would weaken.
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The atmosphere on Mercury is due to
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bombardment
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Of the four gases CO2, H2O, N2, and O2, which are greenhouse gases?
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carbon dioxide and water
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Why does Mercury have such a great change in temperature between its day and night?
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It has a slow rotation.
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Earth's stratosphere is heated primarily by which process?
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Ozone is broken apart by ultraviolet radiation.
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Suppose the earth's atmosphere had no greenhouse gases. Then the earth's average surface temperature would be
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250 K, which is well below freezing.
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Which of the following gases absorbs ultraviolet light best?
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ozone
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How does the greenhouse effect work?
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Greenhouse gases transmit visible light, allowing it to heat the surface, but then absorb infrared light from the earth, trapping the heat near the surface.
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How is the atmosphere of a planet affected by the rotation rate?
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Faster rotation rates produce stronger winds.
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Which of the following factors could explain a gradual warming trend in a planet's climate?
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a decreasing albedo
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Why doesn't Venus have seasons like Mars and Earth do?
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Its rotation axis is not tilted.
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Why does Mars have more extreme seasons than Earth?
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because it has a more eccentric orbit
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Which of the following is not one of the four major factors that can cause a long-term change in a planet's climate?
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a change in the strength of the planet's magnetic field
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Why isn't the earth's atmosphere mostly hydrogen?
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Light gases such as hydrogen move faster than heavier gases and escape from the earth's gravitational field.
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venus may have started with an ocean's worth of water. Where is its water now?
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the water was lost when ultraviolet light broke apart water molecules and the hydrogen escaped to space.
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Deuterium is more abundant on Venus than elsewhere in the solar system. What do we think this fact tells us about Venus?
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It once had huge amounts of water in its atmosphere.
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Which of the following is not a product of outgassing
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oxygen
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Why does the burning of fossil fuels increase the greenhouse effect on Earth?
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Burning releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
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Why would the weather become more severe as the greenhouse effect increased?
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Warming would increase the evaporation of the oceans, leading to more water in the atmosphere and more frequent and severe storms.
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What are oxidation reactions?
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reactions that remove oxygen from the atmosphere, such as fire and rust
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What are fossil fuels?
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the carbon-rich remains of plants that died millions of years ago
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The most recent ice age ended
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about 10,000 years ago.
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From where did the molecular oxygen in the earth's atmosphere originate?
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photosynthesis from life
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Which of the following worlds has the most substantial atmosphere?
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Venus
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Which of the following planets has the least substantial atmosphere?
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mercury
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Why does Venus have such a great difference in temperature between its "no atmosphere" temperature and its actual temperature?
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It has a large amount of greenhouse gases in its atmosphere.
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What are greenhouse gases?
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gases that absorb infrared light
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The proper order of the layers of a generic atmosphere from lowest altitude to highest is
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troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere, exosphere.
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What is the exosphere?
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highest layer in the atmosphere
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Which of the following planets has a stratosphere?
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earth
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Which of the following planets has an exosphere?
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all of the above
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Ultraviolet light is absorbed in the
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stratosphere
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The sky is blue because
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molecules scatter blue light more effectively than red light.
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Convection occurs in the troposphere but not in the stratosphere because
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lower altitudes of the troposphere are warmer than higher altitudes, unlike in the stratosphere.
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Which of the following is not caused by the Coriolis effect on Earth?
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Water going down a drain swirls in opposite directions in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
