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The Homogeneous Atmosphere

The document discusses calculating the height of a homogeneous atmosphere, which is defined as an atmosphere with uniform density equal to the density at the surface of the Earth and the same pressure at the bottom as the real atmosphere. It provides two equations for calculating the height - using the gas law relating pressure, density, temperature, and the mean molecular weight, and using the gas law relating pressure, density, temperature, and the molecular mass. The height can be calculated as RT/μg or kT/mg, where R, T, g, k, μ, and m are defined in the document.

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hlvijaykumar
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70 views1 page

The Homogeneous Atmosphere

The document discusses calculating the height of a homogeneous atmosphere, which is defined as an atmosphere with uniform density equal to the density at the surface of the Earth and the same pressure at the bottom as the real atmosphere. It provides two equations for calculating the height - using the gas law relating pressure, density, temperature, and the mean molecular weight, and using the gas law relating pressure, density, temperature, and the molecular mass. The height can be calculated as RT/μg or kT/mg, where R, T, g, k, μ, and m are defined in the document.

Uploaded by

hlvijaykumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The homogeneous atmosphere (again)

But, even though we can't integrate the hydrostatic equation until some additional
information (such as the run of T with height, or the dependence of P on ) is
available, we can still evaluate the height of thehomogeneous atmosphere. That's just
the height the atmosphere would have if it had the same density everywhere (i.e., the
density at the surface of the Earth), and the same pressure at the bottom as the real
atmosphere.
Given the temperature and pressure at the surface, and the composition of the gas
there (which is what determines the mean molecular weight, ), we can find the
density of air at the surface. Then the height of the homogeneous atmosphere is just
H = P/(g) = RT/g ,
because P is the weight of a column of gas of height H and density in the
gravitational field of the Earth, with acceleration g.
If you'd rather think in terms of the mass of one molecule, m, then the gas law
is = P/(NkT), where N is Avogadro's number, k is Boltzmann's constant, and is
the (dimensionless) molecular weight. (The molecular mass m is times the atomic
mass unit, u.) Then the height of the homogeneous atmosphere is
H = kT/mg .

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