What is the distance of atmosphere from the surface of the earth?

Answer 1

The Earth's atmosphere extends anywhere from 250-400 miles off the surface, depending on where you are standing. Near the equator, it is thicker due to the heat from the surface and cloud reflection, and the high moisture and humidity.

Answer 2

From wikipedia.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth#Atmosphere): "The Earth's atmosphere has no definite boundary, slowly becoming thinner and fading into outer space. Three-quarters of the atmosphere's mass is contained within the first 11 km (about 4 mi) of the planet's surface."

Answer 3

It could be that you intend to ask another question and were unsure how to ask it. Obviously enough the entire body of the earth is orbiting the sun, but it is the center of gravity that comes close to tracking the actual line of the orbit. [Here I am unsure; it may be the barycenter, the center of gravity of the earth-moon system, that closely or exactly tracks the actual orbit.] The actual orbit, then, intersects the surface of the earth at 2 points at any given time. Since the earth is spinning as it orbits, the two surface points are constantly on the move. It must happen from time to time that a person's body actually occupies the line of earth's orbit, for the tiniest fraction of a second. If there were no axial tilt, the orbit would always intersect earth's surface at some point along the equator, or extremely close to it. Because of the axial tilt, the geometry gets a little more complicated, but the intersection of orbit and surface would be within the tropics most of the time, and possibly just outside the tropics for some length of time around the equinoxes. It's the curve of the orbit that makes it difficult to get a good mental image.