Study Questions from Section I, Introduction to the Weather
1. What is the difference between weather and climate?
2. Why is midlatitude weather more variable than weather at the poles and the equator?
3. What is temperature?
4. What is heat?
5. A balloon is rising through the atmosphere without gaining or losing heat from outside.
a. Why does its temperature decrease as it rises?
b. How fast does its temperature decrease with height?
c. Why does it expand as it rises?
6. Suppose the balloon is warmer than its environment at a certain level, but its pressure is the same as that in the environment. Is the temperature inside it higher or lower than the environmental temperature at that point?
7. What is pressure?
8. Why don't air molecules fall down?
9. The air pressure at the top of Mt. Everest is about 300 mb. What fraction of the atmospheric mass lies between sea level and the top of the mountain? Is the 600 mb level more than, less than or just halfway up the mountain?
10. Suppose the temperature at 1 km altitude above a city is 0 C, and at 2km altitude it is -5 C. Will dry air move freely up and down between these two altitudes?
11. The air over a city is warmer than its environment. A bird flies horizontally toward the city.
a. Is the pressure higher behind it or in front of it?
b. Would the horizontal wind blow toward the city or away from it if it were responding to the pressure gradient force alone?