soil physics final exam

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47 Terms

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1. Q: What is latent heat of vaporization?
Energy absorbed by water during phase change from liquid to gas; essential for evapotranspiration.
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2. Q: Why is latent heat important in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum?
It helps cool the atmosphere during evaporation and transpiration by absorbing surface heat.
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3. Q: What is the permanent wilting point?
Soil moisture level where plants can't recover even if rewatered; typically at -1500 kPa.
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4. Q: What is water use efficiency (WUE)?
Biomass produced per unit of water transpired.
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5. Q: How does increased atmospheric CO₂ affect WUE?
Increases WUE by allowing more CO₂ uptake with less stomatal opening and water loss.
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6. Q: Which plant type has higher WUE: C₄ or C₃?
C₄ plants; they concentrate CO₂ more efficiently.
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7. Q: Define conduction.
Heat transfer through direct contact; main soil heat transfer method.
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8. Q: Define convection.
Heat transfer by fluid movement; significant in atmosphere and soil water movement.
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9. Q: Define radiation.
Heat transfer by electromagnetic waves; major energy source from the sun.
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10. Q: What is albedo?
Ratio of reflected to incoming shortwave radiation; impacts surface energy balance.
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11. Q: What is emissivity?
Ratio of radiation a surface emits vs. a blackbody; affects longwave radiation loss.
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12. Q: Surface energy balance equation?
Rn = LE + H + G Rn: Net radiation LE: Latent heat flux H: Sensible heat flux G: Soil heat flux
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13. Q: What is reference evapotranspiration?
Expected ET rate from well-watered surface under current atmospheric conditions.
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14. Q: Strength of Hargreaves method?
Simple and low data requirement.
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15. Q: Weakness of Hargreaves method?
May not represent complex ET processes accurately.
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16. Q: Strength of Penman-Monteith method?
Accurate; uses physical and aerodynamic principles.
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17. Q: Weakness of Penman-Monteith method?
Requires detailed data (e.g., temp, wind, humidity, radiation).
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18. Q: How does temperature affect root growth?
It regulates metabolic activity and growth rate.
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19. Q: What is Fourier’s Law?
Q = -λ(dT/dz); describes heat flow in soil, depends on temperature gradient and conductivity.
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20. Q: What is thermal conductivity (λ)?
Soil’s ability to conduct heat.
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21. Q: What is volumetric heat capacity (C)?
Energy needed to raise temperature of a unit soil volume by 1°C.
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22. Q: What is thermal diffusivity (α)?
Indicates how quickly soil temperature changes; α = λ/C.
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23. Q: What assumptions are made in soil heat transfer models?
Homogeneous soil, constant thermal properties, sinusoidal surface temperature.
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24. Q: What is damping depth?
Depth where temp oscillation is 32% of surface amplitude.