Unit 3

During El Niño, the warmer ocean waters of the hydrosphere evaporate faster, leading to more moisture in the atmosphere. This leads to weather occurrences that affect both the geosphere and the biosphere. Students have been asked to explain how El Niño affects the following systems in the United States: geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Choose the correct order of events below. Place them in the order that they happen.

• Clouds carry small water particles over land. Warmer water results in more water evaporating into the air. Clouds forced even higher by mountains produce rain. As the water vapor rises in the air, it cools and condenses to form clouds.

• Warmer water results in more water evaporating into the air. As the water vapor rises in the air, it cools and condenses to form clouds. Clouds carry small water particles over land. Clouds forced even higher by mountains produce rain.

• As the water vapor rises in the air, it cools and condenses to form clouds. Clouds carry small water particles over land. Warmer water results in more water evaporating into the air. As the water vapor rises in the air, it cools and condenses to form clouds.

• Clouds forced even higher by mountains produce rain. As the water vapor rises in the air, it cools and condenses to form clouds. Clouds carry small water particles over land.

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

A student weighs a whole piece of paper on a balance. The paper weighs 4 grams. The student tears the paper into two pieces and weighs the pieces again. Then she tears it into 4 pieces, 8 pieces, and 16 pieces. She weighs the pieces each time she tears the paper. The student makes a graph to show the weight of the paper after each tear. Which graph shows the weight of the pieces of paper?

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NGSS.MS-PS1-2

A teacher pours water into a glass beaker. She heats the beaker and the liquid begins to boil. Soon it appears as if there is no liquid left in the beaker. Stephanie claims that the water disappeared. Tony claims that the water did not disappear. Which student’s claim is accurate? Explain.

• a. Stephanie; the water disappeared because we can no longer see it.

• b. Stephanie; the water disappeared because the beaker weighs less.

• c. Tony; the water didn’t disappear, it just changed forms.

• d. Tony; the water didn’t disappear, the beaker absorbed it.

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NGSS.MS-PS1-4

NGSS.MS-PS3-4

The graph below shows how much of Earth’s water is fresh water, salt water, and other kinds of water. Which claim is supported by the data in the graph?

• a. Most of Earth’s water is in the ocean.

• b. Most of Earth’s water is in lakes, rivers, and streams.

• c. Most of Earth’s fresh water is in glaciers or underground.

• d. Earth’s water is split evenly between fresh water and salt water.

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

Humans and many other living things require fresh water to survive. There is more rain in many areas during an El Niño year, but not all of this water adds to Earth’s fresh water supply. Select all of the statements below that describe paths that water can take that add to our supply of freshwater. (3 Answers)

• a. Water flows through streams and rivers into a local lake or pond.

• b. Water falls as snow and becomes part of a glacier on a mountaintop.

• c. River water flows downstream through streams and rivers into the ocean.

• d. Water absorbed by the ground becomes groundwater that supplies wells.

• e. Water falls directly back into the ocean and is circulated by ocean currents.

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

A team of students wants to test whether planting grasses can help reduce landslides and flooding by helping the ground absorb more water. They decide to test three different grasses and compare their results to bare soil. The team takes containers that are all the same size and contain different grasses. They put the containers on a ramp with a bucket underneath them. A student pours 1 gallon of water at the top of the container. She pours at the same rate each time so the conditions are the same for all of the containers. Students then measure how much water is in the bucket at the bottom. The results of the experiment show that all of the grasses reduce the amount of water that runs to the bottom of the hill. The team comes up with some ideas that might improve the test so that it is more like what happens on a mountainside. Match the problem that the following improvement tries to fix: Water falls only at the very top.

• Set up sprinkler system so water falls on the entire area.

• Test larger varieties of plants.

• Run several tests with increasing amounts of water.

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NGSS.MS-ETS1-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-5

Factories often release harmful substances into the atmosphere. These substances pollute the air. An engineer wants to reduce all of the air pollution coming from a factory. First, she focuses on pollution from one harmful substance, ash. She places different materials over a model of a chimney to stop particles of ash from getting into the air. She measures the amount of pollution that each material catches and makes a graph of the results. What should be the engineer’s next step?

• Find and fix any problems with Material 4.

• Make and sell Material 1 to nearby factories.

• Test Materials 1 and 2 on a real factory chimney.

• Retest the materials with a different type of factory pollution.

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NGSS.MS-ESS3-3

NGSS.MS-ETS1-1

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Very little water on Earth is fresh water. Only 3 percent of all water on Earth is fresh water. Among fresh water sources, over 68 percent is frozen in ice caps and in glaciers. About 30 percent is in groundwater. Only about 1 percent of fresh water is in surface-water sources like rivers and lakes. Study the circle graphs below. Write a description of how you would change each circle graph so that it correctly shows these data.

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

Which of these describes all waves?

• Energy that moves from side to side.

• Energy that moves in a regular pattern.

• Energy that moves an object forward.

• Energy that moves an object backwards.

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NGSS.MS-PS4-1

What happens when waves move across the surface of deep water?

• The water moves forward.

• The water moves backwards.

• The water moves up and down.

• The water does not move.