Lessons 1, 2 and 3

Lesson 1 – Weather or Not

Weather the state of the atmosphere in a region over a short period of time. In this lesson we learned about several techniques to map certain aspects of the weather including clouds, wind, temperature and rainfall or snowfall. I learned how to recognize and read these map characteristics and symbols: jet streams, fronts, precipitation, cloud cover, air pressure, and temperature. Using these I can determine the weather from a map as well as predict the weather for other regions. Here are some example questions.  (:

– What are three variables that meteorologists study in order to make weather predictions?

*Meteorologists look at jet streams, weather fronts as well as cloud cover.

– What is a physical change?

*A physical change is a change in the form of a substance but doesn’t alter the identity of the substance.

 

Lesson 2 – Raindrops Keep Falling

In this lesson we learned about rain measurements, volume and how to use proportional relationships. When being measured, the height of rain collected does not depend on the diameter while volume does. You can then use your data to calculate the volume of other substances using proportional relationships, such as comparing the volume of snow compared to liquid water. The number that realties the two variables in the equation, in this case comparing volumes, is the proportionality constant. Here are some practice problems to help explain.   (:

– If you use a beaker for a rain gauge, and the weather station uses a graduated cylinder, will both instruments five the same volume? The same height?

* The two instruments will have the same height but different volumes.

– If the amount of rainfall increases, do both the volume and height of water in the rain gauge keep track of this increase? Explain your thinking.

*Both keep track of the increase because each increases proportionally with each other and therefore both will show the change in amount of rain.

Lesson 3 – Having a Meltdown

This was a fairly easy lesson about density of certain substances in different phases and how to convert snowfall to rainfall. Density is mass divided by volume (D=m/V). I learned that when a substance changes phases, its density also changes while the mass and volume stay the same. Using the data of mass and volume of water, ice and snow, you can calculate the density of each and calculate the density of each using proportion relationships. Here are some practice problems to help elaborate.   (:

– How are snow and ice different?

*Each are a phase of H₂ 0, however snow and ice each have different densities.

– Suppose you have a box with a volume of 17.5 mL.

a) If you fill this box with ice, what mass of ice do you have? (The density of ice is 0.92 g/mL.)

* The mass would be 16.1 grams.

• Posted in: Unit 3