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Earth's Energy Transfers

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Earth's Energy Transfers

Use the evidence and science ideas on this page to explain how energy moves through Earth's systems. Remember: energy is transferred, not created or destroyed.

Follow the Sun's energy

Energy from the Sun reaches Earth by radiation. Earth's surface absorbs some energy and warms. The warmed surface transfers energy to nearby air by conduction. Warm air expands, becomes less dense and rises; cooler, denser air sinks. This circulation is convection. Water also stores and releases energy: compared with many metals, water has a high specific heat capacity, so its temperature changes more slowly when it gains or loses energy.

1.Which process transfers energy from the Sun across the vacuum of space to Earth?

Conduction
Convection
Radiation
Condensation

2.A metal spoon is left in hot soup. The handle gradually becomes warm. Name the main energy-transfer process through the spoon and explain why it occurs.

3.A class warms equal masses of water and metal with the same energy input. Which material will usually show the smaller temperature rise, and what property explains this?

4.Match each transfer process to the best example.

A. Radiation
B. Conduction
C. Convection

3. Energy travels along a heated metal rail
1. Warm air rises above sun-heated ground
2. Sunlight warms the ocean surface

A coastal breeze investigation

On a sunny afternoon, land beside the sea warms more quickly than the ocean. Air above the land warms and rises. Cooler air from over the sea moves towards the land to replace it. This local circulation is a sea breeze. At night, land often cools faster than the ocean, and the surface breeze can reverse.

5.On a sunny day, why does air above land next to the coast rise? Include the words energy and density in your explanation.

6.In the daytime coastal breeze, which direction does the surface wind usually blow?

From land towards the sea
From sea towards the land
Straight upwards from the sea
There is no surface wind

7.Explain why the sea often changes temperature more slowly than nearby land during a sunny day.

Use the evidence

A monitoring station records the following surface temperatures during a clear afternoon.

Place and time

Temperature

Land at 1 pm

26°C

Sea at 1 pm

19°C

Land at 7 pm

16°C

Sea at 7 pm

18°C

8.At 1 pm, which surface is warmer, and by how many degrees Celsius?

9.Use the temperature evidence and the coastal breeze explanation to predict the likely daytime surface-wind direction at 1 pm. Give the energy-transfer reason.

10.At 7 pm the sea is warmer than the land in the data. Explain how this difference could affect the surface breeze as the evening develops.

11.A classmate says, “Convection carries heat from the Sun to Earth through space.” Correct this statement by naming the process through space and describing where convection can happen in the coastal-breeze example.