This document contains notes about Earth's four main systems - the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere. It focuses on describing the layers and composition of the atmosphere. The notes define the troposphere and discuss factors that influence weather like temperature, air pressure, humidity, and dewpoint. Other atmospheric layers are also mentioned but not described.

1. Name: ______________________________
rd
NOTES. 3 quarter. Set 1
PASS OBJECTIVE 5. Earth/ Space Science Notes
Objective 1: Earth has four main systems that interact: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the biosphere, and
the geosphere.
Composition of the Earth
Earth has four main systems that interact
Earth’s
systems
Atmosphere Hydrosphere Biosphere Geosphere
air water life Rocks/land
The Atmosphere– layer of gas that surrounds Earth more commonly known as “air”.
 Mostly Nitrogen and Oxygen
 Water vapor is responsible for clouds and precipitation
 Has layers
 Protects us from meteors and comets, x-rays, gamma rays, ultra violet light
• Is this “air” matter? Does it weigh anything? How do you know?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
• What did your group decide/ talk about? ________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
• Gases are made of atoms.
• Are some atoms bigger than others? ____________________________________________________
• Are their atomic weights all the same? __________________________________________________
A. ATMOSPHERE LAYERS
a. EXOSPHERE--__________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
b. THERMOSPHERE--__________________________________________________________
IONOPHERE--
___________________________________________________________________________
c. MESOSPHERE__________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
d. STRATOSPHERE__________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
e. TROPOSPHERE__________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Atmosphere Notes pg.1

2. Troposphere and Weather
1. Weather—the atmosphere’s condition in terms of temperature, cloud cover, wind speed and
direction, humidity, and air pressure.
What are different types of weather? ________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Temperature—a measure of how fast air molecules are moving.
 When molecules are moving rapidly, temperature is high.
 Celsius and Fahrenheit thermometers measure air temperature.
What is the temperature like today?
Hot/ Cold ______________________
Degrees Fahrenheit_______________
Degrees Celsius _________________
3. Energy is transferred between fast-moving molecules and slower-moving molecules.
 Conduction—transfer of energy when molecules collide.
Give an example of something heating up due to conduction: __________________________________
 Convection occurs when warm air rises and cool air sinks.
Give an example of something heating up due to convection: ___________________________________
4. Air pressure— air weight that varies over Earth’s surface.
 Warmer air is less dense and exerts less pressure.
 Cooler air is more dense and exerts more pressure.
Air Pressure Demonstration—Write about what you learned
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
5. Humidity— the amount of water vapor in the air
Temperature affects how much moisture is in the air.
6. Dewpoint—when the air is holding as much water vapor as it can
Relative humidity—a measure of the amount of water vapor present compared to the amount that could
be held at a specific temperature.
Other layers of the atmosphere: at the bottom of page 1 of your notes add what you learn about each
layer to your notes.
Atmosphere Notes pg.2