Some sample multiple choice questions for exam 1:

Some sample multiple choice questions for exam 1:

1. Which of the following is NOT causing the net CO2 in the atmosphere to increase?

(a) photosynthesis, (b) burning gasoline,

(e) none of them

2. What greenhouse gas, whose concentration in the atmosphere is steadily increasing, is produced by cattle and other animals?

(a) CFC's, (b) CO2, (c) CH4, (d) N2O, (e) CO

3. Greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are transparent to:

(a) heat (infrared) but they absorb light,

(b) light but they absorb heat (infrared)

(d) neither light nor heat (infrared)

(e) none of the above

4. The most catastrophic weather or climate related disasters in terms of lives lost are

(a) severe storms (b) droughts (c) floods (d) tornadoes

5. The fraction of the rise in global temperature during the last century that was anthropogenic is

(a) none (b) all (c) half (d) unknown, but not zero

6. Major volcanic eruptions might _____ global temperatures by about _____ degrees C (a) raise, 0.25 (b) lower, 0.25 (c) raise, 2.5 lower, 2.5

7. The heat from the sun reaches Earth via:

(a) conduction (b) convection (c) radiation (d) a, b and c

8. If the temperature of the sun were raised by 2%, how much more solar radiation would reach Earth?

(a) 2% (b) 4% (c) 8% (d) 16% (e) none of them

9. The scientist who first estimated the rise in global temperatures due to burning fossil fuels was:

(a) Fourier (b) Arrhenius (c) Callendar (d) Tyndall

10. Surface temperatures on the planet ______ are hot enough to melt lead.

(a) Venus (b) Mars (c) Uranus (d) Saturn (e) none of them

Answers: a,c,b,b,d,b,c,c,c,a