Students in
class today were given the option of answering the questions below and
turning in their answers at the end of class for a little bit of extra
credit.
Here are the
questions and the answers:
1. Dendrites, plates, and columns are all names of
different types of snow crystals.
2. Several snow crystals sticking together
would form
a. hail
b. graupel
c. sleet
d. snow
3. The largest raindrops are only about 5 or 6 mm (~ 1/4
inch) in diameter. What frozen precipitation particle can get
much larger
than this? Hail.
4. How many 20 micrometer diameter cloud droplets would be
needed to make one 200 micrometer diameter drop of drizzle? The
200 micrometer drizzle droplet is 10 times bigger across than the 20
micrometer cloud droplet. Volume is length x width x height. So
there is a factor of 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000 times difference in
volume.
5. Is most of the rain in Tucson produced by the
COLLISION-COALESCENCE or the ICE
CRYSTAL process?
6. Which of the following is found in the greatest amounts
in the mixed-phase region of a
cold cloud?
a. ice crystal nuclei
b. ice crystals c. supercooled
water droplets d. graupel
7. What differences are there between condensation nuclei
and ice crystal nuclei? Ice
nuclei are much less abundant than condensation nuclei. Ice
nuclei must have a crystalline structure resembling ice. The same
requirement doesn't apply to condensation nuclei.
8. What is virga?
Rain or drizzle that evaporates
before reaching the ground.