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Subject Area Standards Assessment Guide, Quarter 3 “Maps, Structure & Composition of the Atmosphere, Thermal Struct
ure, Composition and Ocean Circul
ation, Air Pressure and Winds”
Standards
What should be taught?
[According to the Science Frameworks]
KEY IDEAS/
VOCABULARY LIST
Sample Test Question
4a. Students know the relative amount of incoming solar energy compared with Earth’s internal energy and the energy used by society.
Most of the energy that reaches Earth’s surface comes from the
Sun as electromagnetic radiation
concentrated in infrared, visib
le,
and ultraviolet wavelengths. The energy avai
lable from the Sun’s radiation exceeds all
other sources of energy available at Ear
th’s
surface. There is energy within Earth, some of which is primitiv
e, or original, heat from the pl
anet’s formation and some that
is
generated by the continuing decay of radioactive elements. Over sh
ort periods of time, however, only a small amount of that ene
rgy
reaches Earth’s surface. The enormous amount of en
ergy remaining within Earth powers plate tectonics.
Human societies use energy for heating, lighti
ng, transportation, and many other modern
conveniences. Most of this energy came
to
Earth as solar energy. Some has been stored as fossil fu
els, plants that stored energy through photosynthesis.
Fossil fuels, including oil, natural gas, and
coal, provide the majority of energy used
by contemporary economies. This energy,
which has been stored in crustal rocks during hundreds of millions
of years, is ultimately limited. On average a U.S. household
consumes energy at the rate of about 1 kilowatt, or 1,000 joules
of energy, per second. The Sun delivers almost this much power
to every square meter of the illuminated side
of Earth. For this reason total energy u
se by humans is small relative to the tot
al
solar energy incident on Earth every day,
but harvesting this energy economically po
ses a challenge to modern engineering.
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM INCOMING SOLAR RADIATION WAVELENGTHS OF LIGHT REFLECTION ABSORPTION ABSORPTION PHOTOSYNTHESIS INFRARED LIGHT [HEAT] ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT
4b. Students will describe and diagram the fate of incoming solar radiation in terms of reflection, absorption, and photosynthesis.
The fate of incoming solar radiation, whic
h is concentrated in the visible region of
the electromagnetic sp
ectrum, is determine
d by
its wavelength. Longer wavelength
radiation (e.g., infrared) is absorbed by
atmospheric gases. Shorter wavelengths of solar
electromagnetic energy, particularly in the visible range, are no
t absorbed by the atmosphere, except for the absorption of ult
raviolet
radiation by the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere. Some of th
e incident visible solar radiation is reflected back into space
by
clouds, dust, and Earth’s surface,
and the rest is absorbed.
Plants and other photosynthetic or
ganisms contain chloroph
yll that absorbs light in the oran
ge, short-red, blue, and ultraviole
t
portions of the solar radiation spectrum. The absorption of visi
ble light is less for green and yellow wavelengths, the reflect
ion of
which accounts for the color of leaves. The plant uses the absorbed
light energy for photosynthesi
s, in which carbon dioxide an
d
water are converted to sugar, a process that
is used to support plant growth and cell
metabolism. A by-product of photosynthesi
s is
oxygen. The amount of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere declines slightly during th
e summer growing season and increases again
in the winter. The solar energy stor
ed in plants is the
primary energy source
for life on Earth.
VISIBLE REGION OF THE EM SPECTRUM INVISIBLE REGION ATMOSPHERIC GASES FATE OF INCOMING RADIATION WAVELENGTHS OF LIGHT USED FOR PHOTOSYNTHESIS CARBON DIOXIDE AND OXYGEN
Earth receives energy from the sun through what method of heat transfer? A
conduction
B
convection
C
radiation
D
none of the above
SOURCE: Old Test Bank DIFF: Level 1 NOTE: “None of the above” as an op
tion is highly discouraged and never
appears in CST questions.
4c. Students will describe the different atmospheric gases that absorb the Earth’s thermal radiation and explain the mechanism and significance of the greenhouse effect.
Every object emits electromagnetic radiation
that is characteristic of the temperature of the object. This phenomenon is called
“blackbody” radiation. For example, an iron bar heated in a fi
re glows red. At room temperat
ures the radiation emitted by the
bar is in the far infrared region of the
electromagnetic spectrum and cannot be seen
except with cameras with infrared imaging
capability. The Sun is much hotter than Earth; theref
ore, energy reaching Earth from the Sun ha
s, on average, much shorter wavelengths
than the infrared wavelengths that Earth em
its back into space. Energy reaching Eart
h is mostly in the visible range, and a
portion of this energy is absorbed. However, for the planet to
achieve energy balance, all the in
coming solar energy must be ei
ther
reflected or reradiated to space. Eart
h cools itself as the Sun does, by emit
ting blackbody radiation; but because
Earth is cooler than the Sun, Earth’s radiation peaks in
the infrared instead of in the visible wavelengths.
Certain gases, particularly
water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and some ni
trogen oxide pollutants, transmit visible light bu
t
absorb infrared light. These atmo
spheric constituents, therefore,
admit energy from the Sun but inhibit the loss of that energy
back
into space. This phenomenon is known as
the greenhouse effect, and these constituents
are called greenhouse gases. Without them
Earth would be a colder place in which to live. Human activity,
such as the burning of fossil fu
els, is increasing the concentr
ation
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Th
is buildup can potentially cause a significa
nt increase in global temperatures and aff
ect
global and regional weather patterns. Pred
icting the precise long-term impact is diff
icult, however, because the influence of c
loud
cover and other factors is poorly understood.
“BLACK BODY” RADIATION GREENHOUSE GASES GREENHOUSE EFFECT WATER VAPOR METHANE NITROGEN OXIDE POLLUTANTS
Which of these could increase average global temperatures? A
increased use of fossil fuels
B
increased ocean algal blooms
C
decreased carbon dioxide emissions
D
increased numbers of animal species
SOURCE: Old Test Bank DIFF: Level 1
8a. Students will describe the thermal structure of the atmosphere and the chemical composition of the layers of the
atmosphere.
The atmosphere is a mixture of gases: nitrogen (78 percent), ox
ygen (21 percent), argon (1 perc
ent), and trace gases, such as
water vapor and carbon dioxide. Gravity pulls air toward Earth,
and the atmosphere gradually be
comes less dense as elevation
increases. The atmosphere is classified into
four layers according to the temperatur
e gradient. The temperature decreases with
altitude in the troposphere, the first laye
r; then similarly increases in the stratosp
here, the second layer; decreases in the
mesosphere,
the third layer; and increases in the thermo
sphere (ionosphere), the fourth layer.
The troposphere, the layer in which weather occurs, supports life
on Earth. The stratosphere is less dense than the troposphere
but
has a similar composition except
that this second layer is nearly devoid of wate
r. The other difference is that solar radiation
ionizes atoms in the stratosphere and dissociates oxygen to form
ozone, O3. This process is impo
rtant to life on Earth because
ozone absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation that would otherwis
e cause health problems. Air in the mesosphere has very low
GASEOUS COMPOSITION OF THE ATMOSPHERE DENSITY VS. ELEVATION LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE TROPOSPHERE MESOSPHERE IONOSPHERE STRATOSPHERE OZONE LAYER
The form of oxygen that combines thre
e oxygen atoms into each molecule is
called ____. A
argon
B
thermopause
C
chlorofluorocarbon
D
ozone
SOURCE: Old Test Bank DIFF: Level 1