Exam 17: The Atmosphere

Chlorofluorocarbons and halons destroy ozone in the stratosphere.

The Clean Air Act and its amendments have done little to decrease total emissions of air pollutants.

Define tropopause.

Incomplete combustion of fossil fuels releases carbon monoxide (CO), which is colorless, odorless, and toxic.

Describe a simple barometer and how it works.

In early Earth history, banded iron formations formed as a result of dissolved oxygen increasing beyond the threshold level.

____________________ are particles or particulates that are suspended in air.

The layer of air closest to Earth's surface is the ____.

____________________ were the earliest photosynthetic life-forms on Earth.

____________________ in the stratosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation.

Life could not have emerged in an atmosphere rich in ____.

Earth's primordial atmosphere ____.

A first rapid increase of oxygen in the atmosphere (the First Great Oxidation Event) occurred about ____ years ago.

Acid precipitation forms when sulfur dioxide reacts with ozone in the stratosphere.

Acidic precipitation is produced by ____.

The process of smog formation occurs when incompletely burned gasoline reacts with nitrogen oxide and sunlight to form ozone, which in turn reacts with ____.

What role did lichens play in the process for sequestering organic matter approximately 600 million years ago?

During the evolution of Earth's atmosphere, when enough oxygen had accumulated in seawater, iron-rich minerals precipitated on the sea floor and became the ____________________ formations that are mined for iron today.

A solution that is neither acidic nor basic has a neutral ____________________.

____ is the release of volatiles from Earth's mantle in volcanic eruptions.