44 Questions
What characterizes an air mass?
Large body of air with the same temperature and moisture at a given altitude
Which type of air mass originates over water?
Maritime tropical
Which air mass is likely to be dry?
Continental polar
Which type of air mass forms in high latitudes and is cold?
Continental polar
What is the diameter of Neptune in comparison to Earth?
Four times the size
What is the main component of Neptune's atmosphere?
Methane
How many moons orbit Neptune?
13
What is the surface temperature of Neptune?
-214 C
What type of front is characterized by warm air overriding a retreating mass of cooler air?
Warm front
Which type of front forms when cold air advances into a region occupied by warmer air?
Cold front
In the Northern Hemisphere, what is the circulation pattern of middle-latitude cyclones?
Inward flow of air
What type of weather event is typically spawned along the cold front of a middle-latitude cyclone?
Tornadoes
Which scientist presented the geocentric view of the universe in a refined form known as the Ptolemaic system?
Claudius Ptolemy
Who reconstructed the solar system with the Sun at its center during the 16th century?
Nicolaus Copernicus
What type of storm is associated with severe thunderstorms and takes the form of a rotating column of air extending downward from a cloud?
Tornado
What fuels hurricanes and helps them develop into powerful tropical storms?
Warm ocean water and condensing water vapor
What is the primary difference in the precipitation patterns between warm fronts and cold fronts?
Cold fronts produce more intense but shorter duration precipitation.
What type of front forms where cool air undercuts warm air, lifting it aloft?
Occluded front
Which planet in the solar system is known as the 'ice giant'?
Uranus
What unique quality does Earth possess that sets it apart from the other planets in the solar system?
Largest size among the terrestrial planets
Which planet is famous for having a system of rings surrounding it?
Saturn
Among the Jovian planets, which one has winds of up to 930 miles per hour and 'storms' similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot?
Saturn
Which planet exhibits a banded appearance, a Great Red Spot, and at least sixteen moons?
Jupiter
What notable feature characterizes Mars among the terrestrial planets?
Extensive dust storms
'Maria basins' on the lunar surface are described as what type of terrain?
'Dark, fairly smooth lowlands'
'Protoplanets' in the early solar system primarily accumulated what kind of debris?
'Hydrogen, ammonia, methane, and water'
'Neptune' is classified as which type of planet based on its composition and characteristics?
'Jovian planet'
'Lunar regolith' on the Moon's surface is derived from what source?
'Meteorite bombardment'
What did Edwin Hubble conclude from observing the redshifts of galaxies?
Galaxies are moving away from us at different velocities.
How did Edwin Hubble's observations support the idea of an expanding universe?
By indicating that galaxies have Doppler shifts towards the red end of the spectrum.
What event led to the creation of all matter and space according to the Big Bang theory?
A cataclysmic explosion about 20 billion years ago
How did the Doppler effect contribute to the understanding of galactic motion?
By showing the velocity and direction of galactic motion
What does a redshift in the light spectrum of a galaxy indicate?
Galaxy is moving away from us
Why did Edwin Hubble conclude that galaxies with greater redshifts were moving faster away from us?
Due to expansion of space between galaxies
What is used to determine the distance to a star?
Stellar parallax
Where are white dwarf stars located on an H-R diagram?
Lower-central
What type of stars are located in the upper-right position of an H-R diagram?
Giants
What marks the end of a red giant star's life cycle?
Consumption of hydrogen in the core
What determines the final fate of a star?
Mass
How do very hot stars appear in color?
Blue
What is the measure of a star's brightness?
Magnitude
'Hot, dense white dwarf stars' are formed from stars with what range of mass compared to the sun?
Less than one-half the mass of the sun
What causes hydrogen nuclei fusion into helium nuclei in stars?
Consumption of hydrogen in a main-sequence star
Which measure represents a star's 'true' brightness if it were at a standard distance of about 32.6 light-years?
Absolute magnitude
Learn about air masses, large bodies of air that influence weather patterns across continents. Explore how air masses are classified based on temperature, moisture, and source regions.
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