The Layered Atmosphere and Why Temperature Reverses With Height · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Why the sky flips from cold to warm

Science · Earth's Systems · ages 16-17
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Which layer holds almost all weather?

    • The troposphere, heated from below by the ground
    • The stratosphere, heated by ozone
    • The thermosphere, heated by thin gas

  2. Air thins smoothly with height. What does temperature do instead?

    • Pressure, which rises smoothly
    • Air thickness, which zigzags wildly
    • Temperature, which falls then rises in turns

  3. Each temperature reversal marks a boundary between layers.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. What happens to a rising air parcel inside the stratosphere?

    • It sinks back down, since it is cooler than its surroundings
    • It keeps rising faster and faster
    • It turns into ozone at once

  5. Why does the ozone layer sit where the air warms with height?

    • It absorbs visible light at the ground
    • It absorbs ultraviolet light and turns it to heat
    • It reflects all sunlight back to space

  6. The profile cools, then suddenly warms again higher up. What does that mean?

    • The ground stopped warming the air
    • Gravity switched off for a while
    • A different gas soaks up energy at that new height

  7. What heats each layer of the atmosphere?

    • Warm ground below and absorbing gases at fixed heights above
    • One heater switched on for the whole sky
    • Friction from aeroplanes at each level

  8. Suppose the stratosphere warmed less strongly with height. What follows for weather?

    • Storms would spread through all layers evenly
    • Weather would stay trapped even more firmly
    • The lid would leak and weather could punch higher
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Why the sky flips from cold to warm W1-mt_2icQ747JhN-s1

  1. The troposphere, heated from below by the ground · The lowest layer is warmest at its base, and its overturning brews weather.
  2. Temperature, which falls then rises in turns · Air thins smoothly upward, but temperature reverses direction several times.
  3. True · Each boundary between layers sits where the temperature trend flips.
  4. It sinks back down, since it is cooler than its surroundings · Warmer-above layers are stable lids, which is why the tropopause caps our weather.
  5. It absorbs ultraviolet light and turns it to heat · Ozone sits in the stratosphere, so that is the height where ultraviolet becomes heat.
  6. A different gas soaks up energy at that new height · Every flip in the profile is a signpost for a new absorber working there.
  7. Warm ground below and absorbing gases at fixed heights above · Ground heat drives the bottom fall, while ozone and thin-gas absorption drive the rises above.
  8. Weather would stay trapped even more firmly · The stable stratosphere is the lid, so a weaker lid lets overturning climb further.
Worksheet · LightMySky