CLIMATES OF THE WORLD 



51 



How many ways does climate determine the games 



one plays? 

 How many examples can you find of the way in which 



climate influences what you eat? 

 How does climate affect the care of food? 



2. Pictures of various climatic conditions and their 

 effect on life may be made into an interesting scrap- 

 book during this study. 



3. You may find the following new words and 

 phrases in this study: 



altitude the height of a certain region above sea level. 

 climate the average weather conditions for a given area 



over a long period of time. 

 latitude distance north or south of the equator. 

 torrid zone the portion of the earth's surface on both 



sides of the equator and bounded by the Tropics of 



Cancer and Capricorn. 



EXPERIMENTS OR DEMONSTRATIONS WHICH WILL 

 HELP ANSWER THE PROBLEM QUESTIONS 



Experiment 33. How does rainfall influence climate? 



Carefully study the rainfall map shown in Figure 80. 

 The average annual rainfaM is given in inches for the vari- 

 ous parts of the United States. After studying the map, 

 answer the following questions in your notebook. 1 The map 

 does not answer all the questions. 



a. What portion of the country has the greatest average 

 rainfall? 



b. How does rainfall affect the climate of that area? 



c. How does rainfall affect the industry of that area? 



d. What part of the country has the lowest average 

 rainfall? 



c. How does rainfall affect the climate of that area? 



f. How does rainfall affect the industry and life of that 

 area? 



g. How do you account for the high average rainfall of 

 the Pacific Coast states and the lower average for the Rocky 

 Mountain states? 



h. Determine what the average rainfall is in your locality. 

 Do the agricultural industries of your locality depend upon 

 the rainfall? Do they differ from those of other areas be- 

 cause of differences in rainfall? Explain. 



Experiment 34. What are the causes of the unequal 

 heating of the air? 



Secure two small Crisco cans or others of the same type. 

 Remove the paper from them. Blacken one of the cans all 

 over, either with black paint or by holding it in the flame 

 of a candle. Fill each can with water, take the tempera- 

 ture of each, and then place the cans in direct sunlight 

 for a half or three-quarters of an hour. Again take the 

 temperature of the water in each can and record. Remove 

 the cans from the sunlight, allow them to stand for a half or 

 three-quarters of an hour, and again measure the tempera- 

 ture of the water in each. Record your results in your 

 notebook 2 and complete the following statement. 



Bright shiny surfaces take on heat than dark, rough 



surfaces. 



1 See workbook, p. 20. 

 1 See workbook, p. 21. 



FIG. 



Experiment 35. How does the angle of the sun's rays 

 affect the heating of the earth? 

 Devise an experiment to study this problem. 



Suggestion : Use an elec- 

 tric heater as a source of 

 heat energy. 



Experiment 36. How do 

 bodies of water affect 

 the climate of the 

 region surrounding 

 them? 



Take two water glasses 

 and fill one two-thirds full 

 of dark, dry earth. Fill the 



other two-thirds full of water and take the temperature of 

 each. Record the temperatures in your notebook. 3 



Set each glass in the direct sunlight for a period of a 

 half hour or forty minutes. Again take the temperature and 

 record. Allow the glasses to stand away from the sun for 

 a half hour and record their temperatures a third time. 



Complete the following statement and write the required 

 explanation in your notebook. 



The water heats than the soil. The water cools more 



. than the soil. Explain how this would affect the 



climate of such a locality as the Great Lakes Region. 



Activity 37. What effect does altitude have upon 

 climate ? 



Compare the climate of Denver, Colorado, or some other 

 mountain city with that of a city in the same latitude but 

 having a lower altitude. In what ways does altitude affect 

 climate ? 



International News Photos. Inc. 



FIG. 82. A DUST STORM ON THE SAHARA 



READINGS WHICH WILL HELP ANSWER THE 

 PROBLEM QUESTIONS 



What are the various types of climate in the world? 

 It is not uncommon to hear an older person remark 

 that winters are not so cold as when he was young or 

 that the summers are not now so hot. Such statements 

 have been carefully checked against the records of the 

 Weather Bureau and usually found to be false. The 



* See workbook, p. 22. 



