8.

1 Understanding Weather
pp. 233-239

Factors Causing Weather

Three main factors
Heat energy
Comes directly from the sun Insolation and convection contribute to warmth of the atmosphere

Uneven distribution of heat energy affected by:

Earths 23.5 tilt Spherical shape Day and night Land and water temperature differences

 Three main factors (contd)

Water vapor in the atmosphere
Troposphere may hold up to 4% water vapor Clouds are tiny suspended water droplets This is the source of all precipitation
Rain: conjoined water droplets Snow: frozen water vapor Hail: giant ice chunks Sleet: frozen raindrops

Fill in the verb

Ice ________ to liquid water Ice ________ to vapor Vapor ________ to liquid water Vapor ________ to ice Liquid water ________ to vapor Liquid water ________ to ice

Atmospheric Water Pressure

Molecular motions
Gas (water vapor)
High-energy (hot) molecules bouncing around Gas to liquid - condensation Gas to solid deposition (or sublimation)

Solid (ice)
Low energy molecules locked into crystal patterns Solid to gas sublimation Solid to liquid - melting

Liquid (rain)
Medium energy molecules with fluid movements Liquid to gas - evaporation Liquid to solid - freezing

 Full air
Water is constantly cycling: evaporating and condensing Saturated air is the point at which the air cannot hold any more water vapor Vapor will begin condensing as quickly as water evaporates Hot air holds more vapor than cold air
10 lbs of dry air can hold 4.5 oz vapor at 86 F 10 lbs of dry air can hold 0.61 oz vapor at 32 F

 Humidity
Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air When actual humidity is compared fully to saturated air it is called relative humidity
Written as a percentage 100% relative humidity means air is fully saturated Varies depending upon temperature
High temperatures have lower relative humidity Lower temperatures have higher relative humidity

Dew and Frost Points

Condensation conditions
As air cools and reaches its saturation point, dew forms called the dew point Fully saturated air requires a cool surface to condense upon forming dew Clouds are giant puffs of dew droplets that have formed on the surfaces of condensation nuclei (dust, soot, smoke, etc.)

Dew and Frost Points (contd)

Water vapor to ice
If dew point is below freezing it is called frost point Instant freezing of vapor molecules to a surface is called deposition If there is no surface, water will not freeze but will be considered supercooled