Earth & Atmospheric Science Practice Questions

Which of these is the approximate percentage of nitrogen in today's atmosphere?

Put a cross ( ☒ ) in the box next to your answer.

☐ A 0.04%

☐ B 0.9%

☐ C 21%

☐ D 78%

Describe the chemical test for oxygen and the result of a positive test.

A student tests a different gas with a lighted splint. The student hears a squeaky pop.

Name the gas the student has tested.

State how the gases of the Earth's early atmosphere were produced.

Name the gas thought to have made up about 95% of the Earth's early atmosphere.

As the Earth cooled, water vapour condensed and the oceans formed.

Explain why the formation of the oceans caused the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to decrease.

Which of these gases in today's atmosphere is not a greenhouse gas?

Put a cross ( ☒ ) in the box next to your answer.

☐ A carbon dioxide

☐ B methane

☐ C nitrogen

☐ D water vapour

Describe how greenhouse gases in the atmosphere keep the Earth warm.

Give one human activity that increases the amount of methane in the atmosphere.

Calculate the percentage of oxygen in the air, using the student's results.

percentage of oxygen = .......................... %

Name the gas that makes up most of the air remaining in the tube at the end of the week.

The student's value is lower than the accepted value for the percentage of oxygen in air.

Suggest one reason for this.

Use the table to give the time range during which oxygen is likely to have first appeared in the Earth's atmosphere.

Explain how the change in the minerals found in the rocks provides evidence about the Earth's atmosphere.

Explain how this oxygen was produced.

Calculate the percentage increase in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide between 1960 and 2020.

percentage increase = .......................... %

Describe the correlation shown by the data in the table.

A scientist states that these data prove that burning fossil fuels has caused the rise in mean global temperature.

Explain why these data alone are not enough to prove this.

Explain why the concentration of carbon dioxide falls between May and September.

Explain why the mean concentration of carbon dioxide increases from one year to the next.

Suggest why the measurements are taken on a remote mountain rather than in the centre of a large city.

A government is considering two ways of reducing the effect of carbon dioxide emissions from its coal-fired and gas-fired power stations.

Method 1: planting new forests
Trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. A mature forest absorbs about 6 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year. The country's power stations emit about 120 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Method 2: carbon capture and storage (CCS)
Carbon dioxide is removed from the waste gases of a power station, compressed and pumped into rock formations deep underground. Running the capture equipment uses about 20% of the electricity generated by the power station.

Evaluate these two methods of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

In your answer you should consider scale, risk and environmental implications.

Explain how the data for Venus and Mars support the theory about the composition of the Earth's early atmosphere.

Explain why the composition of the Earth's atmosphere today is so different from the composition of the atmospheres of Venus and Mars.

Suggest one reason why data from Venus and Mars should be treated with caution when drawing conclusions about the Earth's early atmosphere.