Chapter 6

Question 1

What does weather mean?

Answer 1

the condition of the atmosphere as it is affected by temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, and water.

Question 2

What does air mass?

Answer 2

a large body of air with consistent temperature and moisture content throughout.

Question 3

What does wind mean?

Answer 3

the horizontal movement of air that occurs as a result of pressure differences between two air masses.

Question 4

What does the temperature of air determine?

Answer 4

Whether it rises or sinks.

Question 5

What is thermal?

Answer 5

a small, upward flow of warm air.

Question 6

How does specific heat play a role between sea breeze and land breeze?

Answer 6

Convection near coastlines causes SEA BREEZES during the day and land breezes at night.

Question 7

What are convection cells?

Answer 7

large wind patterns in Earth’s atmosphere caused by convection.

Question 8

What is the Coriolis Effect?

Answer 8

the bending of currents of air or water due to Earth’s rotation.

Question 9

What changes the direction of airflow?

Answer 9

Earth’s rotation.

Question 10

What are the three important global patterns?

Answer 10

trade winds, prevailing westerlies, and polar easterlies.

Question 11

What is water vapor?

Answer 11

The result of liquid water after evaporation.

Question 12

Air that contains the maximum amount of water is _______

Answer 12

Saturated.

Question 13

What is relative humidity?

Answer 13

a measure of how much water vapor an air mass contains relative to the total amount of water vapor it could contain at a certain temperature.

Question 14

What is a meteorologist?

Answer 14

an individual who uses scientific principles to forecast the weather.

Question 15

What do meteorologists use to inform about the weather?

Answer 15

satellites and computer technology.

Question 16

What is dew point?

Answer 16

the temperature at which more water condenses than evaporates in an air mass at a constant atmospheric pressure.

Question 17

What is a cloud?

Answer 17

a group of water droplets or ice crystals that you can see in the atmosphere.

Question 18

Types of clouds?

Answer 18

Look on page 130-131.

Question 19

What types of precipitations are there?

Answer 19

rain, snow, sleet, dew, frost, and fog. Look on page 132 for descriptions of these precipitations.

Question 20

What is a front?

Answer 20

the border between two different air masses.

Question 21

What is a cold front?

Answer 21

a front that occurs when a cold air mass moves in and replaces a warm air mass.

Question 22

What is a warm front?

Answer 22

a front that occurs when a warm air mass moves in and replaces a cold air mass.

Question 23

What are jet streams?

Answer 23

high-altitude, fast- moving winds.

Question 24

What is a low-pressure center?

Answer 24

a low- pressure area created by rising warm air.

Question 25

What high- pressure center?

Answer 25

a high- pressure area created by sinking cold air.

Question 26

What is an isobar?

Answer 26

a line on a weather map that connects place that have the same atmospheric pressure.

Question 27

What is a storm cell?

Answer 27

a convection cell within cloud that is associated witha storm.

Question 28

Whag is lightning?

Answer 28

a bright spark of light that occurs inside a storm cloud, between a cloud and Earth's surface, or between two clouds.

Question 29

What is thunder?

Answer 29

a sound that occurs when a lightning spark heats air and the air expands.

Question 30

What is a cyclone?

Answer 30

a low-pressure center surrounded by rotating winds.

Question 31

What is a hurricane?

Answer 31

a tropical cyclone with wind speeds of at least 74 miles per hour (119 kilometers per hour.)

Question 32

What is a tornado?

Answer 32

a system of rotating winds around a low-pressure center; a tornado is smaller than a hurrican, but has faster winds.

Question 33

What does climate mean?

Answer 33

the long term record of weather patterns and includes the temperature, precipitation, and wind for a region.

Question 34

Whag does biome mean?

Answer 34

a major climate region with particular plants and animals. Earth has six major biomes.

Question 35

What is a desert?

Answer 35

a climate region that averages less than 35 centimeters of rainfall per year.

Question 36

What are grasslands?

Answer 36

climate regions with too little rainfall to support a forest. Grasslands have grasses as the main vegetation.

Question 37

What are temperate deciduous forests?

Answer 37

-climate regions in the mid- latitudes that have four seasons.

Question 38

What are tropical rainforests?

Answer 38

climate regions found near the equator that have a lot of rainfall and high biodiversity.

Question 39

What is a taiga?

Answer 39

the largest climate region, found in the higher latitudes; also known as a boreal or coniferous forest.

Question 40

What is a tundra?

Answer 40

a climate region located in high latitudes; the coldest land biome.