Convection Current Lab
Pre-Lab Questions:
1.
a)Conduction: transfer of heat by touching
b)Convection: transfer of heat in a fluid that rises due to density differences
c)Radiation: transfer of heat by infrared waves
2. If one beaker contains 100ml of cold water, and another contains 100 of hot water, which beaker contains more molecules? Explain.
The cold water because the molecules are more closely packed.
3. Which water, hot or cold, would have the higher mass?
Cold Water because it has a higher mass
4. As you open the refrigerator door, what happens to the air inside?
c)The cold air escapes from the bottom, sinking toward the floor.
5. As you lift the lid from a pot of soup, do the gases that escape rise from the pot, or sink around its base? Why?
It raises because the air is less dense.
6. If you swim to the bottom of a pool and place a cork on the bottom, will the cork stay in place? Why or why not?
yes because the deeper the water the more dense it is.
7. Both air and water are fluids. What will happen to an area within a fluid that becomes warmer than the surrounding fluid?
Low pressure.
8. Atmospheric pressure is the pressure exerted on the earth by the force of gravity pulling the air towards the earth's surface. Where air is rising from the surface, will the atmospheric pressure be increased or decreases?
Decrease
Follow up questions:
1. During the lab, what effect did the cups of hot water have on the density of the water directly above them?
The density of the water becomes less dense.
2. What happens as a result of this change?
The dye started to rise while circulating.
3. A house has a glass "sunspace" attached to it's south side, which is just a space all around the house, next to the outside wall, that holds air. Vents allow air to flow from the house into the sun
space, and vice versa.
The air will come from the suns heat waves then start to down.
4. You may have noticed convection cells in a pot of boiling macaroni. Describe the direction of water flow in the pot. The hottest part of the burner is beneath the center of the pot.
Hot water rises then goes to the side of the pot then sinks.
5. Which situation would result in a decrease in atmospheric pressure at the Earth's surface?
Air gets hot and begins to rise.
6. Go back and label.
7. Above which area would the air become hotter in the afternoon? Identify the correct answer.
a) a parking lot with lots of blacktop pavement
8. Above which area would you find the lowest air pressure?
The retaining pond
9. Based on the arrangement, would you expect a breeze to blow toward the parking lot, or away from it. Why?
Towards the parking lot because hot air rises, and the cold air replaces it.
10. From your knowledge of onshore and offshore breezes, explain why the wind would blow in from the sea toward the land during the afternoon.
The land would get hot and the cold air would replace it since liquids take longer to heat up.
11. A monsoon effect may happen in the summer as air over a continent becomes much warmer than air over the ocean. Fill in the blanks in the following statements:
As air over the continent becomes hotter, it will begin to rise.
This causes lower pressure over the continent.
The flow of air will be toward the center of the continent.
12. Think globally now. Which region in our atmosphere is heated most intensely by the sun? Identify the correct answer.
The equatorial region
13. As air near the equator rises, does this become an area of higher or lower pressure?
Lower
14. What moves in to replace the rising air?
Cool air
15. Place the following stages of atmospheric circulation in order:
Uneven heating
Convection
Area of low pressure develops
Wind
16. If hotter air rises, why is air that is closer to the Earth's surface warmer than the air high above it?
Earth itself absorbs the heat. Moisture absorbs the heat as well.
17. Wind is considered to be a form of "solar energy". Explain why?
Wind is driven by the sun because the levels of heating create a pressure of uneven heating, then air rises which involves movement of air, and low pressure develops.
1.
a)Conduction: transfer of heat by touching
b)Convection: transfer of heat in a fluid that rises due to density differences
c)Radiation: transfer of heat by infrared waves
2. If one beaker contains 100ml of cold water, and another contains 100 of hot water, which beaker contains more molecules? Explain.
The cold water because the molecules are more closely packed.
3. Which water, hot or cold, would have the higher mass?
Cold Water because it has a higher mass
4. As you open the refrigerator door, what happens to the air inside?
c)The cold air escapes from the bottom, sinking toward the floor.
5. As you lift the lid from a pot of soup, do the gases that escape rise from the pot, or sink around its base? Why?
It raises because the air is less dense.
6. If you swim to the bottom of a pool and place a cork on the bottom, will the cork stay in place? Why or why not?
yes because the deeper the water the more dense it is.
7. Both air and water are fluids. What will happen to an area within a fluid that becomes warmer than the surrounding fluid?
Low pressure.
8. Atmospheric pressure is the pressure exerted on the earth by the force of gravity pulling the air towards the earth's surface. Where air is rising from the surface, will the atmospheric pressure be increased or decreases?
Decrease
Follow up questions:
1. During the lab, what effect did the cups of hot water have on the density of the water directly above them?
The density of the water becomes less dense.
2. What happens as a result of this change?
The dye started to rise while circulating.
3. A house has a glass "sunspace" attached to it's south side, which is just a space all around the house, next to the outside wall, that holds air. Vents allow air to flow from the house into the sun
space, and vice versa.
The air will come from the suns heat waves then start to down.
4. You may have noticed convection cells in a pot of boiling macaroni. Describe the direction of water flow in the pot. The hottest part of the burner is beneath the center of the pot.
Hot water rises then goes to the side of the pot then sinks.
5. Which situation would result in a decrease in atmospheric pressure at the Earth's surface?
Air gets hot and begins to rise.
6. Go back and label.
7. Above which area would the air become hotter in the afternoon? Identify the correct answer.
a) a parking lot with lots of blacktop pavement
8. Above which area would you find the lowest air pressure?
The retaining pond
9. Based on the arrangement, would you expect a breeze to blow toward the parking lot, or away from it. Why?
Towards the parking lot because hot air rises, and the cold air replaces it.
10. From your knowledge of onshore and offshore breezes, explain why the wind would blow in from the sea toward the land during the afternoon.
The land would get hot and the cold air would replace it since liquids take longer to heat up.
11. A monsoon effect may happen in the summer as air over a continent becomes much warmer than air over the ocean. Fill in the blanks in the following statements:
As air over the continent becomes hotter, it will begin to rise.
This causes lower pressure over the continent.
The flow of air will be toward the center of the continent.
12. Think globally now. Which region in our atmosphere is heated most intensely by the sun? Identify the correct answer.
The equatorial region
13. As air near the equator rises, does this become an area of higher or lower pressure?
Lower
14. What moves in to replace the rising air?
Cool air
15. Place the following stages of atmospheric circulation in order:
Uneven heating
Convection
Area of low pressure develops
Wind
16. If hotter air rises, why is air that is closer to the Earth's surface warmer than the air high above it?
Earth itself absorbs the heat. Moisture absorbs the heat as well.
17. Wind is considered to be a form of "solar energy". Explain why?
Wind is driven by the sun because the levels of heating create a pressure of uneven heating, then air rises which involves movement of air, and low pressure develops.