Homework 1 Solutions
1.) Pressure is a measure of:
c.) Force per unit area
2.) A high pressure system over
Depending on how your rounded your numbers, you can get a little variation in your answer after the decimal point. However, as long as you had at least 1014 mb, I accepted the answer as correct since I did not specify to what decimal point I wanted the answer.
3.) In millibars, what is the standard ( or average ) atmospheric pressure (at sea level)?
1013.25 mb (Questions 2 and 3 were not the same question.)
4.) What instrument is used to measure atmospheric pressure?
Barometer
5.) In the Northern Hemisphere, if the wind is blowing at your back and you hold your arms out, low pressure is:
b.) to your left
If I was standing here, facing the bottom of the page, the low pressure would be on my left.
6.) _______ is a measure of the distance north or south of the equator, while _______ is a measure of the distance east of west of the prime meridian.
c.) latitude, longitude
7.) The highest temperature ever recorded in
Deg C = ( Deg F – 32) / 1.8 = ( 120 Deg F – 32) / 1.8 = (88) / 1.8 = 48.89 deg C
Again since I didn’t specify to what decimal point I wanted the answer, I accepted
anything between 48 and 49.
To get to Kelvin, you had to take your answer from the first part and calculate. The way I graded this question (both parts) was to check to see if you had the correct equation. If you did you got a point. If you had the proper answers as well, you got full credit.
Kelvin = Deg C + 273.15 = 48.89 Deg C + 273.15 = 322.04 K
Since I didn’t specify the decimal point, I accepted anything close to 322 Kelvin.
8.) If the dew point temperature and the air temperature are the same, then the air is said to be:
d.) saturated
9.) Convert 35 knots to miles per hour.
As in the other calculations, if you had at least the equation correct, I gave you a point. Getting the right answer (something near 40 miles / hour) gave you the second point.
There was some confusion in the conversion. Many people divided 35 knots by 1.15 miles / hour. The rule of thumb that I follow is that I want the units I want to convert to (miles / hour) in the numerator and the units I am converting from (knots) to be in the denominator. That way, the units of knots will cancel and I will be left with miles per hour.
10.) If the wind direction in
The key to remember with wind direction in meteorology is
that it states from where the wind is
blowing. Therefore a 90 degree wind says
that the wind is blowing from the east, not to the east. So, in our question, 210 degrees is from the southwest
and that comes from