Study questions for the second test

Updated weekly. Last updated: 10/21/03

Be sure you understand the answers to all the questions and problems you did in class as group work. The following are study questions; if you can answer all of them you will probably pass the test.

• List the main kinds of renewable energy sources in use today and indicate how much each one is used.
• What is black body radiation?
• Explain the difference between albedo, insolation and solar constant.
• How much of a typical houses heating on average could be supplied by retrofitting to use solar energy?
  
• Explain the significance of figure 6.2 in your book. How is the blackbody curve at the top of the atmosphere different than at ground level and why?
• Why is the summer warmer than the winter in the northern hemisphere? Hint: see figure 6.4.
• Suppose your plane crash lands on a deserted island. Describe how you would build a solar desalination unit from debri from the wreckage.
  
• You go on the TV show survivor and find yourself in a remote isolated jungle. You have a plant root that you know is poisonous if eaten raw but very nutritional if cooked. Describe how, using cardboard, a piece of glass and some aluminum foil you could build a solar oven.
• What is the difference between direct gain and indirect gain passive solar heating?
• What is a trombe wall?
• What is thermosiphoning? Give an example.
• Why is an understanding of specific heat important in this chapter on solar heating?
• What consumed 85% of our oil imports since 1990?
• What is the difference between proven, indicated and inferred oil reserves? Give some reasons why these figures as stated by an oil company might not be accurate.
• Why does the Hubbert curve in Figure 7.3 not match the actual oil production for years following 1980?
• Which country has: The greatest oil reserve? The greatest oil production? The greatest oil consumption?
  
• What are the components of petrolium and how are these components separated? What are these components used for?
  
• What is oil used for in this country? (See Figure 7.7)
• Explain the differences between primary, secondary and enhanced oil recovery techniques.
• What is the difference between associated gas and nonassociated gas?
• What is natural gas used for in the US?
• Which country is the 'Saudi Arabia of coal'?
• What percent of the US energy consumption is supplied by coal? Give some reasons this is not higher.
• Describe the different kinds of coal.
  
• List some environmental effects of strip mining.
• What are 'synfuel' and 'syncrude'?
• What are oil shale and tar sands?
• What city is dubbed 'the most polluted city in the world'?
• What are the main components of air?
• Why do high heeled shoes cause more damage to a floor than flat heeled shoes?
• Explain how a barometer works.
  
• Why can't you pump water from the top of well that is deeper than 10m?
• Why is the book's explanation of how an iron boat floats wrong?
• Explain Archimede's principle. How does this explain the fact that it is easier to pick up a heavy object if you are standing in deep water than in air?
• How does a temperature inversion occur?
• Draw a corrected version of figure 8.6.
• Why do trade winds blow east to west but westerlies blow west to east?
• What are the Hadley, Ferrel and Polar cells? What causes them?
• What is the difference between particulates and aerosols?
• What are the size differences between natural sources and human made sources of pollution?
• What set of units are used to measure air pollution? What concentrations are generally considered toxic?
• Define: epidemiological, morbidity, mortality, bronchitis and emphysema.
• How does acid rain form (include the chemical formulas in your answer)?
• What is pH? Is acid rain high or low pH?
  
• What does the equation NO_x refer to? How are these compounds formed? Where does the N come from?
• What is photochemical smog and how does it form? What are health symptoms?
  
• What is Ozone and how does it form? Explain the two different ozone problems.
• What is the difference between acid rain, acid snow and acid fog?
• Make a list of indoor pollutants, their sources and their health effects.
• Discuss the Clean Air Act and Amendments and the economic costs. Give the graph of GDP versus energy consumption in the last test, what counter argument is there to the claim that "pollution control devices will make US products less competitive".
• List the various pollution control systems mentioned in the book and explain how each works.
• What is the main disadvantage of a scrubber?
  
• List some note taking and study techniques that suit your skill type (verbal, visual etc.).
• What is the difference between weather and climate?
  
• List some phenomena which have an effect on climate and explain each. Hint.
• List the sources of evidence that CO₂ and global temperatures are linked and explain each. Hint.
• What is the greenhouse effect and how does it connect with blackbody radiation?
  
• Give some examples of feedback mechanisms at work in the environment and explain each one.
• List and discuss some of the effects of global warming.
• What is carbon sequestration?
• Explain the difference between the two ozone problems. Which one is connected with global warming and how?
• Why do steam-electric generating stations cause thermal pollution? What can be done to limit this kind of pollution?
• What are some ecological effects of thermal pollution?
  
• What is eutrophication?
• What did we do at the class picnic?
• What is a coulomb?
• Explain Ohm's law.
• Explain the electric utility industry restructuring which is currently going on (PURPA). What effects is this likely to have on the price of electricity?
  
• Why are lights in a house wired in parallel but fuses and circuit breakers in series?
• Can you have a voltage and no current? How about current and no voltage?
• Give a list of pros and cons for electric vehicles.
• Explain how a fuel cell works. How is this different from an ordinary battery? What would be the advantages of a fuel cell powered car?
  
• At what rate has electricity production in the US increased over the past 50 years?
• What percent of the electric supply comes from coal?
• Why would superconductors be useful if they can be used commercially?
• What do maglev trains have to do with superconductors?
  
• What is the difference between a Watt and a Volt?
• What is the difference between electrical power and electrical energy?
  
• How does a hybrid electric car work? Give some advantages and disadvantages.
  
• List the different kinds of fuel cells which are being developed.
  
• Using the data in table 10.2 in your book, describe where you could make the biggest savings in electrical use in your home.
• Describe how an electrostatic precipitator works.
  
• Describe an IU care report.
• What did you do at the carreer center?
• What were the three methods of determinining paleo temperatures using ice mentioned in the "Rapid Climate Change" article?
• How can ocean sediments be used to determine ocean circulation patterns?
• What other climate data comes from ocean sediments?
  
• What do the ocean convection currents do and how is this connected to the possibility of rapid climate change?