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    Earth's Atmosphere: Name Formula Volume in Percent (%)

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    Maha Intakhab Alam
    The document summarizes the key layers of Earth's atmosphere and how properties vary with altitude. It discusses 5 major layers: 1) Exosphere, the outermost layer with very low particle density. 2) Thermosphere, which grows hotter with altitude due to low density. 3) Mesosphere, the coldest layer on Earth around -85 degrees C. 4) Stratosphere, which contains the ozone layer and grows warmer with altitude. 5) Troposphere, the lowest densest layer where weather occurs and temperatures decline with altitude. Properties like temperature, pressure, and density vary in complex ways between layers, generally declining with higher altitudes except in some upper layers.

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    Earth's Atmosphere: Name Formula Volume in Percent (%)

    Uploaded by

    Maha Intakhab Alam
    95 views7 pages
    The document summarizes the key layers of Earth's atmosphere and how properties vary with altitude. It discusses 5 major layers: 1) Exosphere, the outermost layer with very low particle density. 2) Thermosphere, which grows hotter with altitude due to low density. 3) Mesosphere, the coldest layer on Earth around -85 degrees C. 4) Stratosphere, which contains the ozone layer and grows warmer with altitude. 5) Troposphere, the lowest densest layer where weather occurs and temperatures decline with altitude. Properties like temperature, pressure, and density vary in complex ways between layers, generally declining with higher altitudes except in some upper layers.

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    Earth's Atmosphere

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    The document summarizes the key layers of Earth's atmosphere and how properties vary with altitude. It discusses 5 major layers: 1) Exosphere, the outermost layer with very low particle density. 2) Thermosphere, which grows hotter with altitude due to low density. 3) Mesosphere, the coldest layer on Earth around -85 degrees C. 4) Stratosphere, which contains the ozone layer and grows warmer with altitude. 5) Troposphere, the lowest densest layer where weather occurs and temperatures decline with altitude. Properties like temperature, pressure, and density vary in complex ways between layers, generally declining with higher altitudes except in some upper layers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    95 views7 pages

    Earth's Atmosphere: Name Formula Volume in Percent (%)

    Uploaded by

    Maha Intakhab Alam
    The document summarizes the key layers of Earth's atmosphere and how properties vary with altitude. It discusses 5 major layers: 1) Exosphere, the outermost layer with very low particle density. 2) Thermosphere, which grows hotter with altitude due to low density. 3) Mesosphere, the coldest layer on Earth around -85 degrees C. 4) Stratosphere, which contains the ozone layer and grows warmer with altitude. 5) Troposphere, the lowest densest layer where weather occurs and temperatures decline with altitude. Properties like temperature, pressure, and density vary in complex ways between layers, generally declining with higher altitudes except in some upper layers.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 7

    Earth’s Atmosphere

    By Maha Intakhab Alam

    INTRODUCTION.
    The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, commonly known as air,
    which surrounds the plane, and is retained by Earth's gravity. The
    atmosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation, and protects the earth’s
    atmosphere. It helps lessen the temperature extremes between day and
    night, and also warms the earth by means of greenhouse effect.

    COMPOSITION.
    Basic Composition.
    The atmosphere of earth consists of three major elements, Nitrogen,
    Oxygen and Argon. Other elements that are present are usually referred to
    as trace gases, since they occur in small amounts. These mostly include
    the greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide, methane, helium, nitrous
    oxide, and ozone.
    Water Vapors in Air.
    The concentration of water vapor varies from about 5% in hot humid
    climates, and at about 10 ppm in coldest regions.
    Dry Air.
    The air without water vapor is termed as Dry air. The constitution of dry air
    by volume is given as follows;

    Name Formula Volume in percent


    (%)
    Nitrogen N 78.08
    Oxygen O 20.94
    Argon Ar 0.93
    Carbon dioxide CO2 0.04
    Neon Ne 0.0018
    Helium He 0.00052
    Methane CH4 0.00017

    LAYERS OF EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE.


    The temperature behavior in earth’s atmosphere, provides us a useful tool
    to distinguish atmospheric layers. Hence the earth’s atmosphere can be
    divided into five layers. From highest to lowest, the five layers are;

    1. Exosphere.
    2. Thermosphere.
    3. Mesosphere.
    4. Stratosphere.
    5. Troposphere.

    Excluding Exosphere,
    the rest four are
    considered as primary
    layers.
    Range of Atmospheric
    Layers.

    Layer Range in
    atmosphe
    re
    Exosphere from 700
    to 10,000
    km
    Thermosph from 80 to
    ere 700 km
    Mesosphere from 50 to
    80 km
    Stratospher from 12 to
    e 50 km
    Tropospher from 0 to
    e 12 km

    1. EXOSPHERE.
    The outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere is called the Exosphere. This
    layer comprises of extremely low densities of Hydrogen, Helium, Nitrogen,
    Oxygen, and Carbon dioxide. In exosphere, the particles are so far apart
    that they can travel hundreds of kilometers without colliding, so they no
    longer behave like a gas, and thus constantly escape into space. The
    exosphere contains most of the satellites orbiting the earth.
    2. THERMOSPHERE.
    The Thermosphere is the second-highest layer of Earth's atmosphere. The
    height of the Thermosphere varies considerably due to changes in solar
    activity. It is also referred to as the Exobase, since it lies at the lower
    boundary of the exosphere. Its temperature gradually increases with height.
    The air is so rarefied in this region that an individual particle travels an
    average of 1 kilometer between collisions. This layer is completely
    cloudless and free of water vapor.
    3. MESOSPHERE.
    It is the third highest layer of earth’s atmosphere. It is the coldest region on
    earth and has an average temperature around -85 degrees centigrade. The
    mesosphere is the layer where most meteors burn up upon atmospheric
    entrance. It is too high above Earth to be accessible to jet-powered aircraft
    and balloons, and too low to permit orbital spacecraft. The mesosphere is
    mainly accessed by sounding rockets and rocket-powered aircraft.
    4. STRATOSPHERE.
    The stratosphere is the second-lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It
    contains the ozone layer in relatively high concentrations. The stratosphere
    is almost completely free of clouds and other forms of weather. It is the
    highest layer that can be accessed by jet-powered aircraft.

    5. TROPOSPHERE.

    The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. The lowest part
    of the troposphere (i.e. Earth's surface) is typically the warmest section of
    the troposphere. It contains roughly 80% of the mass of Earth's
    atmosphere. The troposphere is denser than all its overlying atmospheric
    layers because a larger atmospheric weight sits on top of the troposphere
    and causes it to be most severely compressed.

    It’s the layer where most of the earth’s weather takes place. Most of
    the aviation activity takes place in the troposphere. It is the only layer that
    can be accessed by propeller driven aircraft.
    VARIATION IN TEMPERATURE, PRESSURE AND DENSITY OF
    ATMOSPHERE WITH ALTITUDE.
    Temperature has a complicated pattern among different layers of
    atmosphere. Here we shall discuss all three, i.e. temperature, pressure,
    and density simultaneously, categorized by the atmospheric layer.

    Exosphere:

    Density and Pressure:


    The atoms and molecules are so far apart that they can travel hundreds of
    kilometers without colliding with one another

    Thermosphere:

    Temperature:
    The temperature of the thermosphere gradually increases with height.
    Temperature inversion occurs in Thermosphere due to the extremely low
    density of its molecules. The temperature of this layer can rise as high as
    1500 °C, although the gas molecules are so far apart that its temperature in
    the usual sense is not very meaningful.

    Density and Pressure:


    The air is so rarefied that an individual molecule (of oxygen, for example)
    travels an average of 1 kilometer between collisions with other molecules.
    Although the thermosphere has a high proportion of molecules with high
    energy, it would not feel hot to a human at direct contact, because its
    density is too low to conduct a significant amount of energy to or from the
    skin.

    Mesosphere:

    Temperature:
    In mesosphere, the temperatures drop with increasing altitude to the
    mesopause (that marks the top of this middle layer of the atmosphere). It is
    the coldest place on Earth and has an average temperature around −85
    degree C.
    Stratosphere:

    Pressure:
    The atmospheric pressure at the top of the stratosphere is roughly 1/1000
    the pressure at sea level.

    Temperature:
    The stratosphere defines a layer in which temperatures rise with
    increasing altitude. This rise in temperature is caused by the absorption
    of ultraviolet radiation (UV) radiation from the Sun by the ozone layer, which
    restricts turbulence and mixing. Although the temperature may be −60 °C
    at the tropopause, the top of the stratosphere is much warmer, and may be
    near 0 °C.

    Troposphere:

    Temperature:
    Although variations do occur, the temperature usually declines with
    increasing altitude in the troposphere because the troposphere is mostly
    heated through energy transfer from the surface. Thus, the lowest part of
    the troposphere (i.e. Earth's surface) is typically the warmest section of the
    troposphere.

    General Notes on the variations in Temperature, Pressure and Density


    wrt Altitude.

    Pressure:
    The average atmospheric pressure at sea level is defined by
    the International Standard Atmosphere as 101325 Pascal (760.00 Torr; It
    actually decreases exponentially with altitude, dropping by half every
    5.6 km .

    Temperature:
    The division of the atmosphere into layers mostly by reference to
    temperature is discussed above. Temperature decreases with altitude
    starting at sea level, but variations in this trend begin above 11 km, where
    the temperature stabilizes through a large vertical distance through the rest
    of the troposphere.

    Because in an ideal gas of constant composition the speed of


    sound depends only on temperature and not on the gas pressure or
    density, the speed of sound in the atmosphere with altitude takes on the
    form of the complicated temperature profile and does not mirror altitudinal
    changes in density or pressure.

    Density:
    The density of air at sea level is about 1.2 kg/m3. Density is not measured
    directly but is calculated from measurements of temperature, pressure and
    humidity using the equation of state for air (a form of the ideal gas law).
    Atmospheric density decreases as the altitude increases.

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