Test 1 (+quiz) study guide

Instructions

Test 1 will take place on Monday, Oct 9

Bring things to write with and a calculator. (Paul will bring a few calculators to class that you can use.) You may not use your phone or iPad as a calculator for the exam.

When I asked people in past classes to tell me how they prepared for exams, a common technique with those who did the best was studying with someone else.

${}^*$ Preparation quiz on Friday October 6. Study the items that look like this for the preparation quiz. (They will also be on the exam.)

Energy

  • Operational definition of energy
  • Gravitational energy = $mgh$ (in Joules)
  • Kinetic energy = $\frac 12 mv^2$ (also in Joules), energy of moving object
  • Elastic energy, electrical energy, chemical energy...
  • Energy and Power: $$\text{Power}=\frac{\text{Energy}}{\text{time}}$$ which also means... $$\text{Power}\times{time}=\text{Energy}$$
  • Metric unit for energy (e.g. GravE=$mgh$) in Joules.
  • Metric unit for power is Watt = 1 Joule / 1 second.
  • How much power humans can typically exert.
  • Which energy sources produce GHG emissions and which don't: nuclear, wind, solar, burning fossil fuels, hydro, burning biomass

Chemistry (Hobson Chapter 2) including

  • Phases of matter (solid, liquid, gas).
  • Reading chemical formulas and chemical equations.
  • Elements in the same column of the periodical table have similar chemical properties,
  • Atomic and molecular weights.
  • Results of the combustion worksheet I may ask you on the exam about the prices you researched, but not on the quiz.
  • From Hobson's Conceptual Exercises-Chapter 2 the exercises in "THE GREEK ATOM" and "ATOMS AND MOLECULES" would be helpful to quiz yourself.

Earth's atmosphere

  • The composition of Earth's atmosphere.
  • Which of are Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) and which are not.
  • The 'natural greenhouse effect'.
  • Water and water vapor
    • Water as a GHG
    • meaning of 100% relative humidity, how water content in the atmosphere changes with temperature
    • History of global warming research: How do we know what we know?
    • Why human emissions of water vapor, which *is* a greenhouse gas, do not contribute to global warming as much as $CO_2$ emissions.
  • Carbon-dioxide
    • Sources of $CO_2$ emissions,
    • Which energy sources emit $CO_2$ and which do not,
    • Which are "fossil fuels" and how did they form?
    • Some ways that $CO_2$ is taken out of the atmosphere,
    • Historical levels of $CO_2$
    • How we measure $CO_2$ currently / in the far distant past.
  • Feedback cycles - a change gets magnified (or diminished).
  • Impacts of climate heating on extreme weather events
    • Hurricanes - What conditions are likely to make hurricanes form? Hazards of hurricanes... How has climate change affected them?
    • High-tide (sunny day) flooding - How has climate change affected sea levels? What other factors affect tides? How you measure sunny day flooding when sea levels are changing all the time?
    • Hurricanes - how they form, when they form, how climate change has been affecting them.
    • Increased rainfall - Hot air can "hold" more water vapor than cold air

Climate change

  • Some history (ice ages, Arrhenius).
  • The difference between adaptation and mitigation. (Be able to name some examples of each.)
  • Electromagnetic waves / temperature:
    • Emission: Shaking / bouncing atoms, containing charged particles, give off E-M waves (and lose energy).
    • Absorption: E-M waves that are absorbed by matter make atoms shake and bounce harder. (gain energy).
    • Different kinds of electromagnetic waves / "radiation" ranging between:
      [short wavelength / high frequency] x-rays..ultraviolet..visible light..IR..microwaves..radio waves [long wavelength / low frequency]
    • Temperature is proportional to the average kinetic energy (motion) of the atoms that make up any substance.
  • The greenhouse effect: most gases transparent to visible light. 1- and 2-atom gases are also transparent to IR. But 3- or more-atom molecules absorb (are not transparent to) IR light.

Conversion factors and equations:

  • Be able to estimate the sizes of some common things (E.g. humans, mice, Goshen College building, distance from Goshen College to downtown Goshen) in meters, centimeters, or kilometers.
  • Converting units: I will supply you with conversion factors between any non-metric units needed. For example, cm to inches, pounds to kg, kilometers to miles.
  • However, you should know (memorize) the conversion factors between metric units, which depend on the metric prefixes: Since kilo- means 1,000, you should know that 1 kilometer =1000 meters and 1 kilogram = 1000 grams. Other metric prefixes:
    • milli-=1/1,000=$10^{-3}$
    • micro- =1/1,000,000=$10^{-6}$
    • centi- = 1/100
    • nano- = $10^{-9}$
    • kilo- = 1,000=$10^3$
    • mega- = 1,000,000=$10^6$
    • giga- = 1 billion = $10^9$.
    • I will give you any formulas you need. These will include at least:
    • Gravitational energy = $mgh$
    • Weight (in Newtons) = $mg$ (when $m$ is in kilograms).
    • The gravitational constant $g=$9.8 m/sec^2