Storms Unit – Lesson 1-7 – Study Guide
Assessment for storms will be divided into Parts A and B.
Part A. In this part of the assessment you will observe an investigation. You
will be asked to describe what you see and tell why it is happening. You
will be graded on your ability to record your observations and to apply
what you are seeing to real-world storms.
Answer these questions to study for Part A:
1. What is a vortex, and what causes it to form?
Circulation of gas and liquids caused by:
a. the uneven heating of the Earth’s surfaces
b. the force of gravity
c. the rotation of the Earth
2. How does air above a heated surface move? Cold surface? Warm air
rises and cold air sinks.
3. What happens when hot air meets cold air? Storms may occur.
Conditions are favorable for the formation of tornadoes.
4. How do hurricanes form? Hurricanes form over moist, warm, tropical
waters near the equator. The water cycle is the heart of hurricane
formation.
To study for Part B, answer these questions:
1. How are hurricanes and tornadoes alike? How are they
different?Tornadoes and hurricanes are alike because they are both
spiraling storms and both can cause a severe amount of damage.
They are different because tornadoes form over land, and hurricanes form
over warm, tropical waters.2. What role does the sun play in the weather
on the earth? The interaction of solar energy with air, soil, and water on
the earth creates wind, rain, and other elements of weather.
3. What is a convection current?
The circulating flow of air resulting from temperature differences is called
a convection current.
4. Think about the investigation in Lesson 3 when you heated soil and
water. Then answer the following questions:
A. How did you set up your investigation to make it a fair test? Soil and
water the same distance from the lamp. Thermometers were of equal
depth in the soil and water. Same amount of soil and water in each
beaker. The lamp was on the same amount of time and off the same
amount of time for the soil and water.
B. Which heated faster: soil or water? Soil heated up faster.
C. Which held its heat longer: soil or water? The soil cooled down
faster than the water so the water held its heat longer.
5. Look at your graph from Lesson 3.
A. What does the soil curve look like? Why?
B. What does the water curve look like? Why?
C. What was the temperature of your soil after 5 minutes of
heating?
6. Study the illustration of Tornado Alley on page 65. Answer the following:
A. What states make up Tornado Alley? Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma,
and Missouri
B. What causes tornadoes to form in Tornado Alley? When cold, dry
air from the Rockies and Canada meets warm, moist air from the Gulf of
Mexico, conditions are favorable for tornadoes to form.
7. Take another look at the illustration of a sea breeze and a land breeze
on pg. 59. What is a sea breeze, and when does it form? What is a land
breeze, and when does it form? Sea breeze- circulating flow of air from
the water to the land (day). Land breeze- circulating flow of air from the
land to the water (night).
8. Look at the illustration of the water cycle on page 72. Describe the
water cycle and how clouds form? 1. Water evaporates from the Earth’s
surface as it changes from a liquid to a gas (water vapor). 2. It rises with
warm air. 3. The water vapor along with dust particles cool at higher
altitudes and it condenses into drops of water that form clouds. Clouds
can form in a low pressure system.
9. Look at the weather maps on page 70.
A. Where is the pressure high? What is the weather like there? High
Pressure systems are located in the western U.S., the Gulf of
Mexico, and in the Northeast United States. Weather here will
be calm, clear skies, and sunny.
B. Where is the pressure low? What is the weather like there?
Pressure is low in the upper northwest and in New Mexico. The
weather here is stormy and cloudy.
C. Find a front. Where is it? What is the weather like there? There is a
front going from the north all the way down through Colorado,
New Mexico, and Arizona. To the west of the front is stormy and
rainy and to the east of the front, you have clear and calm
weather.
D. In what direction is the weather moving across the United States?
How can this help meteorologists? The weather typically moves
from the west to the east helping meteorologists to better predict
the path that severe weather may take.
10. Think about the investigation in Lesson 7 in which you modeled ocean
currents.
A. How do some deep ocean currents form? Deep ocean currents
can form due to differences in water density. Upwellings and
downwellings play an important role in the movement of deep
ocean currents.
B. How do winds affect ocean water? Wind blowing over the
ocean can cause surface currents.
C. How do ocean currents affect air temperatures around the
world? The Gulf Stream for example is a warm water current that can
cause temperatures to increase by carrying that warm water to areas that
otherwise would be cooler. (Great Britain).
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