Atmospheric Sciences

CO2 is a heavy gas, so it tends to sink. This is why pits or shafts in mines tend to collect the gas. You climb down into the pit just fine, but then you find yourself panting from lack of oxygen, you pass out, and suffocate to death.

Winds buoy CO2 aloft, in much the same way wind picks up leaves, dust, and light weight debris. So CO2 gets evenly distributed in the atmosphere's lower layers. Concentrations in cities, particularly along busy streets, may range from 400 to 600 parts per million. Of course the global average is now very close to 400 ppm, and at the rate we are consuming fossil fuels we will pass 500 ppm before 2050.

The only areas that have a thinning are (referred to as the hole) is near each pole when it is in their winter phase. The sun is unable to keep up production of ozone.

No noticeable change occurs where the sun can hit this area all of the year.

The region of the stratosphere that contains diminished concentrations of ozone in comparison to normal levels is called the ozone hole.

The thermosphere consists of two layers: the lower layer, called the mesosphere, extends from about 50-85 kilometers above the Earth's surface. The upper layer, known as the thermosphere, starts around 85 kilometers and extends to about 600 kilometers. These layers experience extreme temperatures, are where the auroras occur, and are important for satellite communication and navigation.

When the relative humidity reaches 100%, it is known as the dew point. At this point, the air is saturated with moisture, leading to condensation and potentially fog, dew, or precipitation.

The most molecular oxygen in the early atmosphere of Earth resulted from the process of photosynthesis by cyanobacteria, which began producing oxygen around 2.5 billion years ago. These tiny organisms were able to use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen, gradually increasing its concentration in the atmosphere over millions of years.

troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere

No, the atmosphere is held in place by gravity, not centripetal force. If the earth stopped spinning, there would be no coriolis force though. This would stop deflecting the moving air in the atmosphere.

The convection cycle typically includes heating the fluid, causing it to expand and become less dense, rising due to buoyancy, cooling as it moves away from the heat source, becoming denser, and sinking back down to be reheated. The step of creating new fluid particles or evaporating the fluid is not typically part of the convection cycle.

When someone says "the atmosphere was electric," it means that there was a tangible feeling of excitement, tension, or energy in the air. It implies that the environment was charged with emotion, anticipation, or enthusiasm.

Along with light and heat, the sun sends out large amounts of radiation- enough to fry our little planet and leave a scorched ball of dust behind. However, our magnetic field creates a type of shield that averts the majority of this radiation. Towards the poles, the 'shield' is less effective, and smaller amounts of the more energetic radiation particles pass through. When these enter the atmosphere, they leave bright trails behind them, which we can see as the auroras.

The main gases in Earth's atmosphere are nitrogen, followed by oxygen.

When the wind blows hard, it can cause damage to buildings, trees, and power lines. It can also create hazardous conditions for outdoor activities and transportation. In extreme cases, strong winds can lead to power outages and disruptions in daily life.

The percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is so lhigh because we have been burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) since the Industrial Revolution, 200 years ago. The percentage now (2013) is 0.04%, up from 0.028% then.

Basically, it is extremely difficult to get solids to burn. It is even somewhat difficult to get liquids to burn! Gasses burn. Heat turns liquids or solids to gasses and then they burn. In a car engine, fuel injectors turn the gasoline into a fine spray which quickly evaporates into a gas. It then burns.

Coal does not burn. A fire heats coal. Then coal gives off gasses. The gasses burn. Then the coal gets hotter. As the coal gets hotter, some of the carbon in the coal turns to gaseous carbon, some of the carbon does not, those flakes of carbon become soot. The carbon gas burns. Some stuff simply is left.

day
The time it takes the Earth to rotate once is called a day (24 hours). The actual rotation time is somewhat less, nearer 23 hours and 56 minutes. But what is known as a "solar day" is almost exactly 24 hours, this is because of the distance the earth moves in it's orbit of the sun.

Conduction in the atmosphere happens when heat is transferred through direct contact between the surface of the Earth and the air above it. The warmer surface heats up the air molecules in contact with it, causing them to move faster and spread the heat to neighboring molecules. This process helps to balance temperature differences between the Earth's surface and the air.

Ozone in the stratosphere absorbs ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, rather than reflecting it. This absorption helps to protect living organisms from harmful UV rays by preventing them from reaching the Earth's surface in high concentrations.

Most oxygen in our atmosphere exists as diatomic oxygen molecules, which consists of two oxygen atoms bonded together (O2). This form of oxygen is essential for aerobic respiration in organisms and plays a crucial role in maintaining life on Earth.

actually it is several layers of gas. its not gas that goes in your car though. but yes. the atmosphere is made up of air and oxygen.

Yes. The two terms are used pretty much interchangeably.

Both are non-specific terms, but air usually refers to atmosphere that is breathable to us, while atmosphere is any pressurized gas environment. Mars and Venus both have atmospheres, but you wouldn't want to breathe the stuff. Both planets have mostly carbon dioxide for atmosphere, so you'd die breathing them. And that's setting aside the fact that the atmospheric pressure on Venus is almost 100 times that on earth, and on Mars, the atmospheric pressure is only about 1/100 that of that here.

Oxygen gas became part of the atmosphere througha process called the Great Oxidation Event, which occurred around 2.4 billion years ago due to the activities of early photosynthetic organisms, such as cyanobacteria. These organisms released oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis, gradually increasing oxygen levels in the atmosphere.

Chemical methods for purifying water include chlorination, which kills bacteria and pathogens, as well as coagulation and flocculation, where chemicals are added to clump together impurities for easier removal. Other methods include ozonation, which oxidizes contaminants, and activated carbon filtration, which adsorbs impurities.

Most organisms are unable to make nitrogen directly from the atmosphere. Instead, they rely on nitrogen-fixing bacteria to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that can be used by plants and other organisms for essential functions like protein synthesis.

Atmospheric density is a function of altitude, temperature, and pressure. As altitude increases, density decreases due to the lower pressure and temperature in the upper atmosphere. Conversely, density increases at lower altitudes where pressure and temperature are higher.