Climate and Weather in Building Design Quiz

Climate can be defined as the integration in time of weather conditions, characteristic of a certain geographical location.

The climate of Earth is driven by the energy input from the sun.

The two essential aspects for designers to understand are the apparent movement of the sun (solar geometry) and the energy flows from the sun and how to handle it (solar heat prevention in hot climates).

Weather is the set of atmospheric conditions prevailing at a given place and time.

Climate can be distinguished from weather as it is the integration in time of weather conditions, characteristic of a certain geographical location, whereas weather is the atmospheric conditions prevailing at a given place and time.

Heat is a form of energy, contained in substances as molecular motion or appearing as electromagnetic radiation in space. Energy is the ability or capacity for doing work. Temperature is the symptom of the presence of heat in a substance.

The Celsius scale is based on water: its freezing point is 0°C and its boiling point (at normal atmospheric pressure) is 100°C. The Kelvin scale starts with the ‘absolute zero’, where 0°C = 273.15°K or 0°K = -273.15°C. The temperature interval is the same in both scales.

Specific heat relates heat and temperature. It is the quantity of heat required to elevate the temperature of unit mass of a substance by one degree, measured in units of J/kg.K. Its magnitude is different for different materials and it varies between 100 and 800 J/kg.K for met.

The Kelvin scale starts with the ‘absolute zero’, the total absence of heat, which is -273.15°C. This point is significant in understanding temperature and heat in environmental physics.

The Kelvin scale provides a absolute temperature measurement, starting from the ‘absolute zero’ with 0°K = -273.15°C. It is essential for precise temperature measurements in environmental physics.