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The Atmosphere

The Atmosphere . Watching the Weather. 1.1 The Air Around You. What is the atmosphere? Comes from two Greek words. Atmos - vapor Sphaira - ball or globe The atmosphere is the ball or globe of gas that surrounds this planet. How is the atmosphere important to living things?.

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The Atmosphere

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  1. The Atmosphere Watching the Weather

  2. 1.1 The Air Around You • What is the atmosphere? • Comes from two Greek words. • Atmos- vapor • Sphaira- ball or globe • The atmosphere is the ball or globe of gas that surrounds this planet.

  3. How is the atmosphere important to living things? • Contains oxygen and other gases that living things need to live. • Traps energy from sun to warm the planet. • Allows water to exist in liquid form. • Protection: • From harmful solar radiation. • From most asteroids, meteors and other space objects.

  4. Make up. • Nitrogen ( N2 )- 78% of atmosphere. • Is essential to all living things. • Bacteria obtain nitrogen from atmosphere and convert them to nitrates. • Plants absorb nitrates from soil and use them to make proteins. • Animals EAT plants OR other animals.

  5. Make Up Continued… • Oxygen- less than ¼ of atmosphere. • Plants and animals use oxygen to make energy from food. (Tired muscles after running?) • Allows fire to burn and metals to rust! • (Remember the candle experiment? What happened when the snapple bottle was added? • Ozone- 3 molecules of oxygen in gas form. • What are the big problems with ozone?

  6. More Make Up… • CO2 – Only small amount in atmosphere. • Plants must have carbon dioxide to produce food! • Humans have changed the balance of CO2 by burning fossil fuels. • Created this thing called greenhouse effect. • Only warming the globe unnaturally!

  7. Trace Gases • Only make up very small amount of atmosphere. • LESS THAN 1%.

  8. Water Vapor • Gas form of water. • NOT THE SAME AS STEAM!!! • Amount of water vapor varies from place to place. (Desert to rain forest) • No water vapor, no clouds, no clouds, NO PRECIPITATION!!!!!!

  9. Particles • Pure air contains only gases. • The air around us is not pure!

  10. Section 1.2 Air Quality • Pollutants- Harmful substances in the air water, or soil. • Some of it is natural, but most is caused by humans! Natural Sources: Ocean waves – salt Wind- pollen and mold spores Forest fires – smoke Soil erosion – soil particles Dust storms – dust Volcanoes- dust and smoke Human Additions: Burning wood and coal – carbon (soot) Farming and Construction. Burning fossil fuels!!!

  11. Smoggy with a chance of acid rain! • Smog- When coal smoke combines with water droplets in air. • Photochemical smog- Caused by the action of sun light on chemicals in the air. • Nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and other air pollutants react with each other and sunlight to form a mix of ozone (O3 ) and other chemicals.

  12. Acid Rain How does it form? Forms when nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides combine with water in the air to form nitric acid and sulfuric acid. Rain is normally slightly acidic, but these substances make it more acidic.

  13. Improving Air Quality • What can we do?

  14. Section 1.3 Air Pressure • Does air have mass? Let’s find out!

  15. Properties of Air • Because air has mass, it also has… • Density • Pressure

  16. Density Mass / Volume = Density A B

  17. Pressure! • The force pushing on an area. • The more dense the air, the more pressure there is! • Air Pressure- the weight of a column of air pushing down on an area. • Air molecules push in all directions!

  18. Measuring Air Pressure • Barometer- Tool used to measure air pressure.

  19. Air Pressure Units! • Inches of Mercury. • Millibars. • 1 inch of mercury = 33.87 millibars

  20. Altitude • The distance above sea level. • As altitude goes up, air pressure goes down! • As air pressure goes down, so does the density of air! That is why

  21. Chapter 1 Section 4: Layers of the Atmosphere! • 4 Main Layers: • Troposphere • Stratosphere • Mesosphere • Thermosphere (Ionosphere and Exosphere) • All based on temperature!

  22. Troposphere • Lowest level. Where we live! • Our weather happens in the troposphere! • Most shallow layer, but it has the most mass! • Why?

  23. The Stratosphere • From troposphere to 50 km above Earth’s surface. • -60 degrees (C)

  24. The Mesosphere • Meso- middle • From 50 – 80 km above Earth. • -90 Degrees (C) • Meteors burn up in mesosphere.

  25. Thermosphere • .001 % as dense as Earth’s surface. • 80 km into Space! • 1800 degrees Celsius! • First place sun’s energy hits. • Actually very cold! • Has 2 layers: • Ionosphere • Exosphere

  26. 1. Ionosphere • 80 -550 km above Earth’s Surface. • Aurora borealis- Northern Lights- suns energy hitting oxygen and nitrogen causing them to glow.

  27. The Exosphere • Exo- “Outer” 550 km out to space! • Satellites travel in exosphere. • Hottest portion of atmosphere.

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