Atmosphere: Composition and Layers Study Guide
Quiz: Wednesday, January 26th
Use the Air Around You book Chapter 1 section1, Air Bags lab, Skye Speaks,
Reading Essentials, Layers of the Atmosphere lab, and Graphing the Atmosphere
activity to study.
1. What are the two most abundant gases in the earth’s atmosphere, and
what percent of the atmosphere do they make up?
Most abundant gas-
Nitrogen 78%
Second most abundant gas- Oxygen 21%
2. Fill in the table with at least three examples (each) of permanent and
variable gases:
Permanent Gases
Variable Gases
1. Nitrogen
1. Carbon dioxide
2. Oxygen
2. water vapor
3. ozone
3. Are mass and weight the same? EXPLAIN.
NO!
Mass- how much matter is in an object
Weight- amount of gravity pulling down on an object
4. Does air have mass? YES
How do you know? Explain our investigations experiment (balloon
scale)…
5. Complete the chart with the names of the 5 layers of earth’s
atmosphere:
---------- Outer Space ---------5: Exosphere
4: Thermosphere
3: Mesosphere
2: Stratosphere
1: Troposphere
____________________________________________
EARTH
6. As you increase in altitude, what happens to the density of the air?
Density and air pressure DECREASE as you increase in altitude.
7. Know each layer and what you might find in each. Fill in the chart.
(For example, where would you find weather?)
LAYER
What you might find here
5. Exo Satellites, shuttle, ISS Weather,
4. Thermo Thick, hot layer, little density, ionosphere, northern
lights
3. Meso
2. Strato
1. Trop.
Meteors burn
Good ozone, jets, weather balloons pop
people, mountains, bad ozone
8. Know the first four layers and whether the temperature increases or
decreases as you increase in altitude.
LAYER
Temperature as you increase altitude
1. trop
Decreases
2. strat
3. meso
4. thermo
Increases
Decreases
increases
9. Fill in the blanks with the name of the matching weather instruments
and write what unit is used for each?
INSTRUMENT
1. Measures air pressure
Barometer
UNIT
Millibars or inches
of mercury
2. Measures temperature
Thermometer
Degrees Celsius
3. Measures wind speed
Anemometer
Mph
4. Measures wind direction
Wind vane
N,S,E,W
5. Measure relative humidity
Hygrometer
%
10. Know your atmosphere unit terms (quiz yourself with unit terms
sheet or match flashcards of the terms and definitions).