Science Exam IV Lesson 5

What is the difference between weather and climate?

Weather is the day-to-day environmental conditions in a

specific place at a specific time.

a. e.g temperature, wind speed, precipitation, cloud

cover

Climate is an average of the weather patterns in an area

over an extended period of time.

b. e.g. temperate, tropical, polar

What is heat capacity? How is it related to heat sinks?

a. heat capacity is a measure of the amount of thermal

energy required to raise the temperature of a

substance by a certain amount

b. the higher the heat capacity of a substance, the

more thermal energy it can store

i. substances with a high heat capacity take a

long time to heat up and take a long time to

cool down

c. heat sink is something that absorbs heat but does

not heat up much as a result. Water acts as a heat

sink

What causes sea breeze? What causes land breeze?

Sea Breeze

- during the day, the sun shines on the land and the water

- the land (lower heat capacity) heats up quickly and the

water (higher heat capacity) heats up slowly

- the air over the warm land rises, creating a low pressure

zone which the cool air from the water fill in (creating

the breeze)

Land Breeze

- during the night, the sun stops shining

- the land (lower heat capacity) cools down quickly and

the water (higher heat capacity) cools down slowly

- the low pressure zone is now above the warmer water,

and this creates a breeze coming from the land

How is climate affected by large bodies of water?

Places that are located close to large bodies of water have

higher temperatures in the winter and lower temperatures in

the summer.

You are comparing the climate of two cities by looking

at their average temperatures. City A has a winter

temperature of -2° C and a summer temperature of 21° C

and City B has a winter temperature of -15° C and a

summer temperature of 27° C. Which would you predict

is close to a large body of water? Why?

City A is located closer to a large body of water because

it’s winter temperature is higher and its summer

temperature is colder.