ESS Semester 1 exam TEST B
Write all your answers on the answer sheet provided. You may use your reference sheet.
Unit 1: Working like a scientist
Use the letter code on the top of your answer sheet to show which column of values you convert
1
2
3
B
2.543 kg = __________ g
A. 2543
B. 2.543
C. 25.43
D. 25430
5672 m = __________ km
A. 5672
B. 567.2
C. 5.672
D. 5672000
3982 ml = __________ L
A. 3.982
B. 39.82
C. 0.3982
D. 3982000
Using a ruler, measure h and w on the figure to the right and match them to the correct answers:
4.
h = ___________________
a. 7.0
b. 4.1
c. 6.0
d. 6.5
5.
a. 3.2
w = ___________________
b. 2.6
c. 4.7
6. What are the correct units for h and w?
a. g
b. mL
c. s
d. 3.0
d. cm
h
7. Calculate the volume of the cylinder (V = h x w2)
a. 54
b. 18
c. 117
d. 216
8. The mass of the rectangular box was measured to be 235 g. Calculate the density:
a. 4.35
b.0.23
c. 0.004
d. 28.9
w
The table below shows the results of a student’s experiment. Use it to answer questions 9-11
Plant
Group
1
2
3
4
5
6
Oxygen
(%)
21
21
21
21
21
21
Experiment
Carbon
dioxide
Nitrogen
(ppm)
(%)
350
78
400
69
450
59
500
49
550
39
600
29
Growth
Rate
(mm/day)
15
25
35
43
44
44
9. Which graph correctly plots the experimental data collected above?
a.
b.
c.
d.
10. Choose the best explanation to describe the relationship between the growth rate of plants and
atmospheric carbon dioxide
a. As Carbon dioxide increases, Nitrogen levels decreases
b. As Nitrogen increases, growth rate increases
c. Plant growth rate had no impact on oxygen levels
d. As Carbon dioxide increases, growth rate increases
11. The growth rate of plants depends on other factors, including air temperature, soil moisture, amount of light
and soil nutrients. What should the students do to test all these variables?
a. Conduct the experiment with varying amounts of oxygen so that all three gases are changed
b. Conduct the same experiment multiple times to account for the multiple variables
c. Conduct the experiment using digital probes to ensure more accurate measurements
d. Conduct the experiment multiple times, only changing one variable at a time
Read the Abstract of Alexandra D. Singer’s experiment and then answer the questions 12 to 18
Name(s) Project Number: Alexandra D. Singer
Project Title: How Do Increased Carbon Dioxide Levels Affect Plant Growth?
Abstract
Objectives/Goals: I am concerned about global warming and its impact on the environment. Carbon dioxide
is one of the greenhouse gases increasing in concentration in the atmosphere due to the human action of
burning fossil fuels. The purpose of my experiment was to find out how increased carbon dioxide levels affect
plant growth.
Methods/Materials: I conducted this experiment using two sets of plants. Each set had the same glass jar,
plant type, amount of soil, and amount of water. For each set of plants, one of the plants was in a sealed glass
jar with air and the other was in a sealed glass jar with increased carbon dioxide levels. Plant height was
measured every few days for approximately three weeks.
Results: At the end of the experiment increased carbon dioxide levels had a negative effect on plant growth. In
other words, the plants in the jars with high levels of carbon dioxide did not grow as well as the plants in the
jars with regular air.
Conclusions/Discussion: I predicted that higher carbon dioxide levels would help plant growth but my
experiment showed the opposite, that higher carbon dioxide levels actually hurt plant growth. I believe higher
carbon dioxide levels have both positive and negative effects on plant growth. The positive part is that plants
need carbon dioxide to make their food. On the negative side, carbon dioxide can reflect sunlight and so less
sunlight reaches the plant. Plants need sunlight to make their food and so by blocking sunlight, carbon dioxide
hurts plant growth. I have concluded that overall, carbon dioxide hurts plants. However, my experiment is one
that many scientists who are concerned about global warming have studied with uncertain results.
Summary Statement: This study will try to determine how increased carbon dioxide levels affect plant
growth
Answer the following question:
12. True / False: Ms. Singer’s conclusion agrees with the experiment from the other student above.
13. True / False: Based ONLY on the data in questions 12-14 compared to the abstract provided, you should have
more confidence in Ms. Singer’s results and conclusion than the student who designed the previous
experiment.
14. Identify Ms. Singer’s independent variable in the experiment
a. Plant Height
c. Carbon Dioxide
b. Time in weeks
d. Air
15. Identify Ms. Singer’s dependent variable in the experiment
a. Carbon Dioxide
c. Air
b. Plant Height
d. Time in weeks
16. Identify Ms. Singer’s experimental group
a. Glass jars with air
b. Human action of burning fossil fuels
c. Glass jars with Carbon Dioxide
d. Measurement of plant height
17. Identify Ms. Singer’s control group
a. Glass jars with air
b. Human action of burning fossil fuels
c. Glass jars with Carbon Dioxide
d. Measurement of plant height
18. State Ms. Singer’s original prediction as a formal hypothesis.
a. If carbon dioxide is placed in jars with a plant then plant height will increase over time.
b. If air and carbon dioxide are placed in separate jars with a plant then the jars with air will produce
taller plants.
c. If air is placed in jars with a plant then plant height will decrease.
d. If carbon dioxide is produced by fossil fuels then plant height will decrease.
Unit 2: The Atmosphere
19. Most of the sun’s radiation is first absorbed by clouds in the atmosphere.
a. True
b. False
20. The hottest layer of the atmosphere is closest to the Earth’s surface.
a. True
b. False
21. What is the proportion of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere as of 2017?
a. 30 ppm
b. 150 ppm
c. 1015 ppm
d. 400 ppm
22. What is the proportion of Nitrogen in the atmosphere?
a. 21%
b. 34%
c. 78%
d. 1%
23. Oxygen makes up most of the atmosphere’s composition because organisms need it for life.
a. True
b. False
24. What is the force that moves a parcel of air horizontally as wind?
a. Differences in Carbon Dioxide concentrations
c. Differences in humidity
To the right is a figure representing a parcel of air moving
vertically through the atmosphere. Use it to answer questions 25
and 26
25. Describe the method of heat transfer that causes
the air mass to rise through the atmosphere.
a. Convection
b. Conduction
c. Absorption
d. Radiation
26. At which altitude will condensation occur in the
parcel of air?
a. Evaporation will not occur at any of the altitudes
b. Surface
c. 2000 feet
d. 4000 feet
27. ___________________ is the method through which
energy from the sun reaches the Earth.
a. Radiation
b. Adiabatic heating
c. Conduction
d. Convection
28. ___________________ is the method through which
heat is transferred by molecules coming into direct
contact with each other.
a. Radiation
b. Adiabatic Heating
c. Conduction
d. Convection
b. Differences in human activity
d. Differences in air pressure
Using the diagram below, answer questions 29 and 30
29. The changes in wind direction between day and night are due to differences in _________________ between the
land and the ocean.
a. density
b. latitude
c. specific heat
d. friction
30. During the daytime, where can an area of lower pressure be found?
a. atmosphere over water
b. atmosphere over land
c. photosphere
d. hydrosphere
Unit 3: Causes of Climate
31. Which pair of factors affect the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the Earth’s surface?
a. prevailing winds and mountains areas
b. ocean currents and amount of the Earth’s surface that is covered by glaciers
c. surface the tilt of Earth on its axis, and the path Earth follows as it revolves around the Sun?
d. whether the area is close to a large body of water, and the tilt of the Earth on its axis
32. What causes the Coriolis effect?
a. Earth’s shape
c. poles Earth’s rotation
b. Redistribution of energy from Equator to the
d. Earth’s revolution around the Sun
33. Greenhouse gases behave similarly to the glass in a greenhouse because
a. They trap heat energy
b. They trap water vapor
c. They trap ultraviolet radiation
d. They keep plants alive in winter
Base your answers to questions 34 & 35 on the diagram to the right
34. Based on the diagram, we can infer that winds blow
from areas of ______________.
a. high latitude to regions of low latitude
b. high pressure to regions of low pressure
c. high altitude to regions of low altitude
d. high temperature to regions of low temperature
35. The paths of surface winds shown in the diagram
curve due to Earth’s ___________.
a. gravitational field
b. magnetic field
c. revolution
d. rotation
Base your answers to questions 36 &37 on the diagram to the left
36. Which type of air mass is cold and dry?
a. polar continental
b. polar maritime
c. tropical continental
d. tropical maritime
37. Identify how the mP air mass would likely be modified as it
travels across North America in December.
a. carbon will be transferred from the air mass to the ground
b. heat will be transferred from the air mass to the ground
c. cold will be transferred from the ground to the air mass
d. moisture will be transferred from the ground to the air mass
38. In which region does incoming sunlight spread at the shallowest angle?
a. polar zone
b. equatorial zone
c. tropical zone
d. temperature zone
39. What happens to air in the tropics as it is warmed and water evaporates?
a. It spreads out horizontally near the ground forming fog
b. It becomes saturated with water vapor, which increases its density, keeping the air trapped in that zone
c. It is cooled again by falling rain
d. The resulting warm, moist air rises and cools
40. Polar and tropical regions stay at fairly constant average temperatures because
a. the constant motion of air and water redistributes heat over the Earth
b. the Sun always strikes these regions at the same angle
c. air masses remain stationary near the poles and equator, maintaining constant temperatures
d. the surface of these regions re-radiates extra energy back into space
41. Why does the windward side of this mountain range
have a wet climate?
a. Rising air expands and warms, causing water droplets
to evaporate
b. Rising air is compressed and cools, causing water
droplets to evaporate
c. Rising air is compressed and warms, causing water
vapor to condense
d. Rising air expands and cools, causing water vapor
to condense
Unit 4: Climate Change
42. Which of the following is NOT a
concerning consequence of the continued
trend illustrated by the graph to the left?
a. The mass migration of people displaced
by the loss of coastal cities
b. Increased carbonic acid in the world’s
oceans
c. The extinction of species that are not
well adapted for rapid climate change
d. Loss of ozone in the atmosphere
Use the excerpt to answer
number 43
In the 19th century, English
astronomer E.W. Maunder and
his wife, analyzed data collected
during the 17th century during
which time Europeans were
famously (and unusually)
skating on the major rivers
running through their cities.
(“Winter landscape with iceskaters”
c. 1608, Hendrick Avercamp).
43. Identify the factor attributed to this climate change event
a. The eruption of Mt St.Helen’s
b. Sun spot cycles
c. Change in the obliquity of the Earth’s axis
d. Extended El Nino events
Organize the following climate change events on the relevant time scale (You will use one answer more than once!)
45. Changes in shape of Earth’s orbit
A Months
46 Wobble in Earth’s axis
B Years
47. Mt Pinatubo
D Centuries
48. Plate tectonics
E Thousands of years
49. Burning fossil fuels
F Millions of years
50. Seasons due to obliquity
44. Choose the angle of tile of Earth’s axis which is most likely to result in extreme changes between the
seasons.
a. 23.5o
b. 24.5o
c. 10o
d. 22.1o
45. What role do modern day forests play in the carbon cycle?
a. Breathing out oxygen in photosynthesis
b. Making coal used to burn for energy
c. Making shade
d. Taking in carbon dioxide through photosynthesis
Read the passage below, analyze the graph and answer question 54.
In the spring and summer of 1816, a persistent "dry fog" was observed in parts of the eastern United States. The
fog reddened and dimmed the sunlight and neither wind nor rainfall dispersed it. The weather was not itself a
hardship for those accustomed to long winters. The real problem lay in the weather's effect on crops and thus
on the supply of food and firewood.
In Cape May, New Jersey, frost was reported five nights in a row in late
June, causing extensive crop damage. At the Church Family
of Shakers near New Lebanon, New York, Nicholas Bennet wrote in May
1816, "all was froze" and the hills were "barren like winter". Temperatures
went below freezing almost every day in May. The ground froze on June 9.
On June 12, the Shakers had to replant crops destroyed by the cold. On July
7, it was so cold, everything had stopped growing.
The Berkshire Hills had frost again on August 23, as did much of the upper
northeast. In July and August, lake and river ice was observed as far south as
northwestern Pennsylvania. Frost was reported as far south as Virginia on
August 20 and 21.
Thomas Jefferson, retired from the presidency and farming at Monticello,
sustained crop failures that sent him further into debt. On September 13, a
Virginia newspaper reported that corn crops would be one half to twothirds short and lamented that "the cold as well as the drought has nipt
the buds of hope".
(Source: Wikipedia “A year without a summer”)
SULFATE SOLID PARTICLES
IN ICE CORE DATA FROM GREENLAND
46. Choose the most likely candidate for this 19th century climate change event
a. An El Nino event
b. Wobble in the Earth’s axis
c. Sun spot cycles
d. Large volcanic eruption
47. Scientists hypothesize that an increase in atmospheric CO2 leads to an increase in the atmosphere’s
absorption of
a. oxygen
b. volcanic ash
c. solar radiation
d. water vapor
Use the following climograph to answer questions 48-50
48. What is the driest month at this particular location?
a. January
b. May
c. July
d. December
49. What is the warmest month at this particular location?
a. July
b. May
c. August
d. April
50. What is the average temperature of the coldest month at this particular location?
a. 40 degrees Celcius
b. -20 degrees Celcius
c. 20 degrees Celcius
d. 0 degrees Celcius