Exam 9: Atmospheres of the Terrestrial Planets

Earth's atmosphere is a (seemingly) enormous blanket roughly 250 km thick.What percentage of Earth's radius, which is 6,400 km, does this represent? How does it compare to the average depth of the oceans, which is 3 km?

Earth releases the energy it receives from the Sun by emitting ________ radiation.

For the first 1 billion years of Earth's evolution, the fraction of oxygen in its atmosphere was approximately

According to the following figure, as you increase in altitude in Earth's atmosphere, the atmospheric pressure ________ dramatically at a(n) ________ rate.

How does climate differ from weather?

Anthropogenic climate change refers to climate change caused by

Most of Earth's present-day atmosphere comes from a combination of what three sources?

The best way to use a telescope to look for life on other planets is to

If you found absorption from ________ in the spectrum of a planet, you could conclude that it might contain some form of life.

If the average CO₂ molecule in Venus's atmosphere has a velocity of 0.6 km/s, what would be the velocity for a hydrogen atom in Venus's atmosphere? Note the mass of a CO₂ molecule is 44 times that of a hydrogen atom.

The greenhouse effect is the

The only two layers of Earth's atmosphere that have temperature gradients that allow convection to take place are

Based solely on mass and distance from the Sun, which of the following terrestrial planets would you expect to be unable to retain a secondary atmosphere?

What makes carbon dioxide a highly effective greenhouse gas?

Venus and Earth probably formed with similar amounts of carbon dioxide in their secondary atmospheres.Which of the following is true?

How does the fraction of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere today compare to what it was 3 billion years ago?

What factors drive the long-term periodic variations in Earth's average temperature (known as the Milankovitch cycle)?

Runaway convection in Earth's atmosphere can lead to

Without the ozone layer, life on Earth would be in danger from increased levels of ________ radiation.

Earth's magnetosphere affects