chpt.3

Question 1

geosphere

Answer 1

any of the almost spherical concentric regions of matter that make up the earth and its atmosphere, as the lithosphere and hydrosphere

Question 2

hydrosphere

Answer 2

all the waters on the earth’s surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water over the earth’s surface, such as clouds.

Question 3

crust

Answer 3

the tough outer part of a loaf of bread.

Question 4

mantle

Answer 4

mantle is a layer inside a planetary body bounded below by a core and above by a crust. Mantles are made of rock or ices, and are generally the largest and most massive layer of the planetary body. Mantles are characteristic of planetary bodies that have undergone differentiation by density

Question 5

core

Answer 5

Earth’s inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 kilometres, which is about 20% of the Earth’s radius or 70% of the Moon’s radius. There are no samples of the Earth’s core available for direct measurement, as there are for the Earth’s mantle

Question 6

lithosphere

Answer 6

the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

Question 7

asthenosphere

Answer 7

the upper layer of the earth’s mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur.

Question 8

tectonic plate

Answer 8

Plate tectonics is a scientific theory describing the large-scale motion of seven large plates and the movements of a larger number of smaller plates of Earth’s lithosphere, since tectonic processes began on Earth between 3.3 and 3.5 billion years ago.

Question 9

chemical

Answer 9

relating to chemistry, or the interactions of substances as studied in chemistry.

Question 10

weathering

Answer 10

Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soils, and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with the Earth’s atmosphere, water, and biological organisms

Question 11

erosion

Answer 11

In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth’s crust, and then transports it to another location.

Question 12

atmosphere

Answer 12

the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet

Question 13

troposphere

Answer 13

he lowest region of the atmosphere, extending from the earth’s surface to a height of about 3.7–6.2 miles (6–10 km), which is the lower boundary of the stratosphere.

Question 14

stratosphere

Answer 14

the layer of the earth’s atmosphere above the troposphere, extending to about 32 miles (50 km) above the earth’s surface (the lower boundary of the mesosphere).

Question 15

ozone

Answer 15

a colorless unstable toxic gas with a pungent odor and powerful oxidizing properties, formed from oxygen by electrical discharges or ultraviolet light. It differs from normal oxygen (O2) in having three atoms in its molecule (O3).

Question 16

radiation

Answer 16

the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles which cause ionization.

Question 17

conduction

Answer 17

the process by which heat or electricity is directly transmitted through a substance when there is a difference of temperature or of electrical potential between adjoining regions, without movement of the material.

Question 18

convection

Answer 18

the movement caused within a fluid by the tendency of hotter and therefore less dense material to rise, and colder, denser material to sink under the influence of gravity, which consequently results in transfer of heat.

Question 19

greenhouse effect

Answer 19

the trapping of the sun’s warmth in a planet’s lower atmosphere, due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet’s surface.

Question 20

water cycle

Answer 20

the cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.

Question 21

evaporation

Answer 21

the process of turning from liquid into vapor.

Question 22

condensation

Answer 22

Condensation is the change of the physical state of matter from the gas phase into the liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. The word most often refers to the water cycle

Question 23

precipitation

Answer 23

In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail.

Question 24

salinity

Answer 24

the quality or degree of being saline.

Question 25

fresh water

Answer 25

Fresh water is any naturally occurring water except seawater and brackish water. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids.

Question 26

biosphere

Answer 26

The biosphere, also known as the ecosphere, is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on Earth, a closed system, and largely self-regulating.