Physical Geography Chapters 1,2,3,4 – Flashcards
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Natural Selection
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Process by which organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable physical or behavioral traits.
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Law of Segregation
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Established that there are dominant and recessive traits passed on randomly from parents to offspring.
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Lithosphere
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(stone) comprising of rocks and earths crust.
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Atmosphere
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(air) mixtures of gases needed to sustain life.
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Hydrosphere
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(water) water in all of its forms.
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Cryosphere
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(cold) water frozen as snow and ice.
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Biosphere
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(life) where living organisms can exist.
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Milky Way
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200,000,000,000 stars. spiral that is about 100,000 light years in diameter and 10,000 light years thick at the center.
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Big Bang
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13.7 billion years ago.
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Earths Circumfrance
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40,000 Km
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Earths Diameter
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12,756 Km
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Circle of Illumination
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Dividing line between the daylight half of earth and nighttime. Half of earth is a great circle.
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Latitude
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Discription of locations expressed as an angle north or south of the equator.
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Tropic of Cancer
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23.5'N
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Tropic of Capicorn
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23.5'S
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Arctic Circle
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66.5'N
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Antarctic Circle
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66.5'S
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Longitude
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Angular description of east west location.
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Meridian
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0'to180'
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Prime Meridian
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Greenwich meridian as the prime meridian, more than 2/3 of the worlds shipping line already used the greenwich meridian as a navigational base.
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International Date Line
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Line marking a time difference of an entire day from one side of the line to the other.
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Earths Rotation on its axis
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rotates from west to east.
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Elliptical Orbit
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counterclockwise 365.25 days
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Perihelion
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January 3, closest distance to the sun
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Aphelion
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July 4, farthest distance from the sun.
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Plane of Ecliptic
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Imaginary plane defined by the orbital path of earth around the sun.
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Inclination of Earths Axis
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The axis is tilted about 23.5' from the perpendicular.
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Polarity of Earths Axis
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Anytime during the year earths rotation axis is parallel to its orientation at all other times.
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June Solstice (Summer Solstice)
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June 21 earth reaches the position in its orbit where the north pole is oriented most directly toward the suns vertical rays.
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September Equinox (Autumnal Equinox)
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On this day all locations on earth experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.
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Equinox
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the time of equal days and nights.
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Winter Solstice
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Dec 21, earth reaches the position in its orbit where the north pole is oriented most directly away from the sun, vertical rays now strike the tropic of Capricorn.
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Vernal (Spring) Equinox
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Earth and the sun are vertically identical.
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Standard Time
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24 standard time zones, each extending over 15' of longitude.
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180th Meredian
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Transiting of sparsely populated mid pacific, was chosen as the meridian at which new days begin and old days exit.
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Map Scale
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relationship between distance measured on a map and the actual distance on earths surface.
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Graphic Map Scale
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Uses a line marked off in distances to represent actual distance on earths surface. Advantage is its simplicity.
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Fractional map Scale
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Conveys the relationship between distance measured on a map and the actual distance that represent on earth with a fraction or ratio called a representative fraction.
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Verbal map Scale
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"One inch equals five miles"
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Map projections
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System in which the spherical surface of earth is transformed for displays on a flat surface.
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Cartographers
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Science of making maps.
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Equivalence
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An equal area projection.
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Conformality
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a correct shape map projection.
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isolines
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Any line that joins points of equal value of something, always closed lines, have no ends, can never touch one another or cross, close together steep gradient, far apart gradual gradient.
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Isotherm
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A line joining parts of equal temperatures.
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Isobar
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A line joining points of equal atmospheric pressures.
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Ozone
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Molecule made up of 3 oxygen atoms. 15 to 48 km above earths surface, absorber of ultra violet solar radiation.
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Troposphere
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Lowest layer of the atmosphere-in contact with earths surface, deepest over tropical areas and shallowest over the poles. Deeper in summer then in winter.
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Stratosphere
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(a cover) right above the troposphere.
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Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC`s)
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Odorless, nonflammable, noncorrosive, and generally non reactive.
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Primary Pollutants
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Contaminants released directly in the air. Such as particles, sulfur compounds, nitrogen compounds, carbon oxides, and hydrocarbons.
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Secondary Pollutants
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Not released directly in the air but instead form as a consequence of chemical reactions or other in the atmosphere.
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Latitude'
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Most fundamental control of climate.
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Ocean circulation
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warm water poleward and cool water equator ward.
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Altitude
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Latitude, Distribution, Ocean Circulation, decrease in an increase of altitude.
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Energy
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What makes stuff move.
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Temperature
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Description of the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a substance.
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Radiation
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Process by which electromagnetic energy is emitted from an object.
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Conduction
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Transfer of heat from one molecule to another without changes in their relative positions.
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Condensation
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Water vapor is converted into a liquid.
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Evaporation
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Liquid water is converted into gaseous water vapor.
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Greenhouse Effect
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Warming in the lower troposphere because of differential transmitting for shortwave and long wave radiation through the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
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Eratosthenes
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Astronomer who calculated the circumference of the earth by observing the angle of the suns rays at different places.
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Direction
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Shown on a map by means of geographic grid of parallels and meridians.
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Title
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Brief summary of the maps content or purpose.
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Date
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Timespan over which the information was collected.
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Legend
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Symbols, colors,shadings to represent features,degree or portions of some quantity.
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Projection Type
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Indicated to help the user access the kinds of distortions on the map.
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Geographic Information System (GIC)
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System designed to capture,store,manipulate,analyze,manage, and present all types of special or geographical information.
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Angle of Incidence
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Angle at which the suns rays strike earths surface.
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Albeto
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The fraction of solar energy reflected from the earth back into space. It is a measure of the reflectivity of the earths surface.
