SCIENCE
5.1 (WEATHER AND TEMPERATURE) • INSOLATION
What Weather Means:
The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of
the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over
relatively long periods of time. Weather is basically the way the atmosphere is behaving, mainly
with respect to its effects upon life and human activities. The difference between weather and
climate is that weather consists of the short-term (minutes to months) changes in the atmosphere.
Most people think of weather in terms of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness,
brightness, visibility, wind, and atmospheric pressure, as in high and low pressure.
In most places, weather can change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and seasonto-season. Climate, however, is the average of weather over time and space. An easy way to
remember the difference is that climate is what you expect, like a very hot summer, and weather is
what you get, like a hot day with pop-up thunderstorms.
Question:
After reading the passage, what’s the main difference between weather and climate:
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Regents Earth Science
9th GRADE
3
SCIENCE
5.1 (WEATHER AND TEMPERATURE) • INSOLATION
If a friend said it was 80 degrees outside in August with a 50% chance of rain, would you classify
this as them speaking about the weather or climate? How do you know?
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What about if a friend said that the temperature is always slightly above or below freezing yearround above the Arctic Circle, and it receives very little precipitation. Would you classify that as
her talking about the weather or climate, and how do you know?
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How Weather Forms:
Just like most other things, we are going to learn how weather is primarily fueled by the Sun’s solar
energy (insolation). More specifically, in this unit, we are going to see how energy from the Sun
reaches Earth and influences weather (and climate) around the world. In reality, there are three (3)
ways in which the energy from the Sun affects us on Earth: convection, conduction, and
radiation.
Regents Earth Science
9th GRADE
4
SCIENCE
5.1 (WEATHER AND TEMPERATURE) • INSOLATION
Heat flows in three ways. Earth receives solar energy from the Sun through radiation, but
radiation can travel through the vacuum of space and through transparent materials, such as air
and glass. Since our planet is not transparent, heat cannot travel through it by radiation. Energy
also flows through solids by conduction, but it is a very slow process. On the other hand,
convection distributes heat through fluids. Most materials expand when they are heated, which
makes them less dense. Materials that are less dense tend to rise, while denser materials sink. These
differences in density set up what are called convection cells in liquids. In terms of thinking
about the weather, we are going to be studying these convection cells and how they create weather
later in this unit.
Definitions:
Radiation:
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Conduction:
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Convection:
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Practice:
1.) The Sun’s energy reaches the Earth through what process of heat transfer?
1) Convection
2) Conduction
3) Radiation
4) Nuclear Fusion
Regents Earth Science
9th GRADE
5