This is an OPEN BOOK Assignment. The questions are based on chapter 5 of the textbook. Have your answers ready by Class time on Tuesday, March 11, 2003.

 

1.   Water covers some ______ of Earth's surface.

      a. 50 percent

      b. 90 percent

      c. 25 percent

      d. 71 percent

 

2.   Which of the following is correct?

      a. A person can survive for 8 to 12 days without food.

      b. The human body is about 50% water by weight.

      c. Humans can survive only 2 or 3 days without water.

      d. Earth is covered some 50% by water.

 

3.   When water freezes, its density

      a. increases

      b. decreases

      c. remains the same as in the liquid state

 

4.   Much of the Earth's water supply originated from

      a. asteroids

      b. icy comets

      c. gases expelled from the sun, i.e., solar wind

      d. photosynthesis

 

5.   Eustasy refers to

      a. worldwide changes in land masses

      b. a steady-state equilibrium in the water system

      c. changes in water distribution related to the increase or decrease in quantities of ice

      d. worldwide changes in sea level

 

6.   Which of the following is true of the distribution of land and water on Earth?

      a. The Southern Hemisphere is dominated by water.

      b. The Northern Hemisphere is dominated by water.

      c. They are evenly distributed in both hemispheres.

      d. Most of the water on Earth is fresh water.

 

7.   The largest portion of fresh water today is located in

      a. clouds

      b. groundwater resources

      c. ice caps and glaciers

      d. the major rivers and lakes of the world

 

8.   Earth's oceans possess

      a. most of the fresh water on Earth

      b. about the same amount of water as is in the atmosphere

      c. fifty percent of Earth's waters

      d. ninety-seven percent of Earth's waters

 

9.   Which of the following is true regarding the amount of water in rivers, streams, and the atmosphere?

      a. They contain 0.033 percent of the world's fresh water supply.

      b. The total amount of water in these locations is equal to 14,250 km³ (3400 mi³).

      c. On average, a water molecule travels through the hydrologic cycle in less than two weeks.

      d. All of these are correct.

 

10. Other than ice sheets and glaciers, the largest repository of fresh water is located in

      a. lakes and saline seas

      b. groundwater

      c. soil moisture storage

      d. rivers and streams

 

11. Water molecules bind tightly to one another. This is a result of

      a. hydrogen bonding

      b. covalent bonding

      c. atomic friction

      d. molecular hold

 

12. Water is a good solvent because

      a. it expands when it freezes

      b. it has an asymmetrical charge distribution (one end is positive and the other negative)

      c. it undergoes phase changes over a relatively narrow range of temperatures

      d. it is transparent

 

13. Surface tension and capillarity are the result of

      a. hydrogen bonding between water molecules

      b. covalent bonding

      c. atomic friction

      d. molecular hold

 

14. Water movement through the soil and water held in a straw above the surface of the liquid you are drinking result from a common phenomenon. What is this phenomenon?

      a. barometric pressure

      b. surface tension

      c. capillarity

      d. vacuum suction

 

15. What is the heat energy involved in the change of state, or phase, in water?

      a. mechanical heat

      b. sensible heat

      c. fusion heat

      d. latent heat

 

16. Which of the following phase changes involves the greatest number of calories?

      a. melting

      b. evaporation

      c. sublimation

      d. condensation

 

17. When water condenses, it ________ heat energy and _________ the surrounding air.

      a. absorbs; cools

      b. absorbs; heats

      c. releases; cools

      d. releases; heats

 

18. The process of sublimation in the atmosphere produces

      a. fog

      b. freezing rain

      c. snowflakes

      d. sleet

 

19. In winter, freezing water can break pipes and even crack engine blocks. Why does this happen?

      a. Water expands in volume as it freezes in response to hydrogen bonding.

      b. Ice is denser than water.

      c. Water contracts as it cools and freezes.

      d. It occurs because of the latent heat of fusion.

 

20. Most of the precipitation and evaporation on Earth takes place over the

      a. land masses

      b. oceans

      c. poles of the planet

      d. ice caps and glaciers combined

 

21. Water vapor in the atmosphere is called

      a. water

      b. deposition

      c. sublimation

      d. humidity

 

22. Relative humidity is

      a. the amount of water vapor in the air compared to the normal amount

      b. the amount of moisture in the air relative to your own sensible feelings

      c. the amount of water vapor in the air at a given temperature expressed as a percentage of the moisture capacity of the air

      d. a basically unused concept when it comes to weather topics

 

23. The capacity of the air to hold water vapor is basically a function of

      a. the temperature of both the water vapor and the air

      b. the water vapor content

      c. freezing temperature

      d. latent heat

 

24. A mass of air always becomes saturated when it reaches the

      a. highest temperature of the day

      b. lowest temperature of the day

      c. specific humidity point

      d. dew-point temperature

 

25. As temperature increases during the day, relative humidity usually

      a. increases

      b. decreases

      c. remains the same

 

26. Which of the following is used to measure relative humidity?

      a. wet and dry barometers

      b. a damp piece of paper

      c. instruments using human hair, or wet and dry bulb thermometers

 

27. The greater the difference in temperature between the wet bulb and dry bulb on a sling psychrometer, the ____________ the air is and the __________ the relative humidity.

      a. drier; higher

      b. drier; lower

      c. wetter; higher

      d. wetter; lower

 

28. The elevation at which the bottoms of clouds begin to form represents the elevation at which

      a. dew point occurs

      b. relative humidity reaches 100%

      c. absolute humidity reaches 100%

      d. both a and b

      e. both a and c

 

29. The general term that refers to the tendency of a parcel of air to either remain in place or change its initial position is ___________.

      a. adiabatic

      b. stability

      c. conditional instability

      d. stasis

 

30. An air parcel is considered unstable when it

      a. either remains as it is, or changes its initial position

      b. continues to rise until it reaches an altitude at which the surrounding air has a similar density

      c. resists displacement upward

      d. ceases to ascend

 

31. A dry air parcel that is rising because of heat energy derived from the surface is

      a. stable

      b. unstable

      c. conditionally unstable

 

32. All adiabatic temperature changes occur as a result of

      a. the addition or removal of heat energy from the air

      b. changes in the absolute humidity of the air

      c. expansion or compression of the air

 

33. Assume a warm air parcel near Earth's surface has a temperature of 21ø C (70ø F) and begins to rise upward. Assume it becomes saturated at 1000 m (3300 ft) altitude, and continues to rise to 2000 m (6600 ft) altitude. What would the approximate temperature of the parcel be at an elevation of 2000 m (6600 ft)?

      a. 7ø C (44.6ø F)

      b. 8ø C (46.4ø F)

      c. 9ø C (48.2ø F)

      d. 5ø C (41.0ø F)

 

34. Areas between 25ø to 35ø latitude usually become __________ because this area is dominated by air that is sinking and being _____________.

      a. deserts; cooled by expansion

      b. deserts; heated by compression

      c. rain forests; cooled by expansion

      d. rain forests; heated by compression

 

35. An individual raindrop consists of approximately _____ moisture droplets.

      a. 2

      b. 100

      c. 1 million

      d. 1 trillion

 

36. The condensation process requires

      a. dew-point temperatures alone

      b. condensation nuclei and saturated air

      c. moisture droplets

      d. condensation nuclei alone

 

37. The principal process for raindrop formation in tropical warm clouds is

      a. collision-coalescence process

      b. compressional heating

      c. ice-crystal process

      d. sublimation

 

38. In the Bergeron process, water droplets move from

      a. small water droplets to large water droplets

      b. large water droplets to small water droplets

      c. ice crystals to water droplets

      d. water droplets to ice crystals

 

39. Collision-coalescence and the Bergeron process both act to

      a. increase the relative humidity of the air

      b. increase the specific humidity of the air

      c. increase the size of water droplets and ice crystals

      d. none of the above

 

40. Clouds that have vertical development and produce precipitation are called

      a. stratocumulus

      b. cumulonimbus

      c. nimbostratus

      d. cumulus

 

41. Which type of cloud would dominate the weather in a region of tropical rain forests?

      a. cirrus

      b. altostratus

      c. cumulonimbus

      d. cirrocumulus

 

42. Which of the following are correctly matched?

      a. flat or layered clouds = cumulus

      b. puffy or globular clouds = cirroform

      c. puffy or globular clouds = cumuliform

      d. wispy clouds = water droplets

 

43. Which of the following is a middle-level cloud type?

      a. cirrostratus

      b. stratocumulus

      c. cumulonimbus

      d. altostratus

 

44. Which of the following is true regarding cirrostratus clouds?

      a. They look like patches of cotton balls, or cotton balls arranged in lines.

      b. The sun's outline is just visible through these clouds.

      c. They form a veil of ice crystals that creates a halo around the Moon.

      d. They are sharply outlined, and billowy.

 

45. Florida has the highest thunderstorm frequency in the U.S. because

      a. the Florida peninsula heats to high temperatures during the day

      b. mT air masses surround the peninsula

      c. frequent, strong cold fronts occur in the Florida area

      d. all of the above

      e. a and b only

 

46. Which type of cloud would you most likely see on a regular basis in a subtropical desert during the summer?

      a. nimbostratus

      b. cirrus

      c. cumulonimbus

      d. altostratus

 

47. Cooling of a surface overnight that chills the air layer directly above that surface may form

      a. an advection fog

      b. an upslope fog

      c. an evaporation fog

      d. a radiation fog

 

48. A fog that develops when warm, moist air blows over a cold current (such as the California Current) is an example of ___________ fog.

      a. radiation

      b. convection

      c. advection

      d. evaporation

 

49. Weather is

      a. the climate of a region

      b. the short-term condition of the atmosphere

      c. the long-term atmospheric condition, including extremes that may occur

      d. a reference to temperature patterns only

 

50. The scientific study of the atmosphere is

      a. weather

      b. climate

      c. meteorology

      d. geography