Name: ______________________________________________ Period:___________________
The Ozone Layer
Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet Earth pages 86-91
1. How was the ozone layer initially formed? ________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. How did the ozone layer affect the development of life on earth?_______________________
______________________________________________________________________________
3. What is “good” ozone?________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. What is “bad” ozone?_________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
5. What does the ozone layer protect us from?________________________________________
6. What are CFC’s?_____________________________________________________________
7. Why were CFC’s developed?___________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
8. What can break a chlorofluorocarbon molecule apart?_______________________________
9. How many ozone molecules can one chlorine molecule destroy?_______________________
10. When is the ozone layer expected to recover?______________________________________
11. What did we (humankind) learn from this experience with CFC’s and the ozone layer?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
12. Who first detected and reported the hole in the ozone?_______________________________
13. How did NASA miss the ozone hole?____________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Climate Change
Dr. Arts Guide to Planet Earth pages 92-97
1. How is climate different than weather? ___________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________ ________________ refers to the pattern of temperatures and
precipitation for the planet as a whole.
3. During the past 2.5 billion years Earth has been warm _____% of the time and cold _____%
of the time.
4. How much of Earth’s surface is covered by ice today?____________________
5. How thick was the ice during the last glaciations?______________________
6. Right now Earth is in a _______________ period.
7. What are three factors that determine whether Earth has a cold or warm climate?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
8. What are two ways Earth’s orbit around the sun changes?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
9. How does the solar energy that hits the equator get to northern places such as London, Paris,
Moscow and Berlin?__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
10. The Earth is _______ degrees warmer than it would be without the greenhouse effect.
11. What are the two main natural greenhouse gases? __________________________________
12. Periods of higher amounts of CO2 correspond with _______________ climates and periods
of lower CO2 correspond with ___________________ climates.
13. Based on the past 160,000 years we would predict that ______________________________
_________________________________________________ within in the next 10,000 years.
14. What are humans doing that might change this?____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
15. How high do computer models predict the global temperatures will rise in the next 100
years?________________________________________
16. Explain how a reinforcing feedback loop could happen with climate change. Hint: there are
two so this is worth 2 points.___________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
17. Explain how a balancing feedback loop could happen with climate change._______________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
18. What “surprising” result could come from a warming climate?_________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Some Definitions:
1. Balancing Feedback Loop: A balancing loop attempts to move some current state (the way
things are) to a desired state (goal or objective) though some action (whatever is done to
reach the goal). When it does this they stabilize. For example: If a mouse population
increases, the fox population of an area will increase too since there is more food available.
Then the mouse population diminishes and the foxes follow suit since there is less food.
a. http://www.systems-thinking.org/theWay/sba/ba.htm
2. Reinforcing Feedback Loop: A reinforcing loop is one in which an action produces a result
which influences more of the same action thus resulting in growth or decline. For example:
Say you put those mice on an island with no natural predators and an abundance of food,
each mouse will have 10 or so babies and each of those babies will have 10 producing in a
huge growth of mice.
a. http://www.systems-thinking.org/theWay/sre/re.htm