Science 15.1 Quiz - Earth's Atmosphere

How many years did it take for life to emerge on continents?

4 billion.

How many layers of the atmosphere are there?

5 layers.

What is the makeup of the atmosphere?

78% carbon dioxide, 21% nitrogen and 1% other.

Weight

A measure of the pull of gravity on an object's mass.

What orbits in the Thermosphere

The space shuttle, the International Space Station, and many satellites orbit here.

Air pressure

As the earth's gravity pulls the gases towards its surface, the weight of these gases presses down on the air below. As a result, the molecules nearer the Earth's surface are closer together. This dense air exerts more force than the less dense air near the top of the atmosphere. Force exerted on an area is pressure.

Which two layers contain the most air?

The stratosphere and the troposphere.

How humans affect the atmosphere

Car exhaust emits gasses into the air which mixes with oxygen to create a brown substance called smog. Also, burning fuel adds too much CO2 into our atmosphere.

Weather

Change in atmospheric conditions.

CFC

Chlorofluorocarbons and other materials (volcanic gasses, meteorite materials, rocket exhaust, etc) can collect in the stratosphere due to lack of vertical convection. A chlorine atom from this molecule breaks the ozone molecule apart. One oxygen atom combined with a chlorine atom and the rest forms a regular, two-atom oxygen molecule. These compounds have a hard time absorbing ultraviolet radiation like how regular ozone does. Also, the original chlorine atom still will break apart numerous other ozone molecules which results in more ultraviolet radiation coming in contact with Earth's surface.

Early atmosphere

Composed of mostly Carbon dioxide, nitrogen and a little bit of oxygen.

Ozone hole

Destruction of ozone molecules seems to cause a seasonal reduction in ozone over Antarctica called this. Every year in late August or September the ozone atmosphere over Antarctica begins to decrease. By October is reaches the lowest values and begins to increase. By December the ozone hole disappears.

Stratosphere

Directly above the troposphere. the most ozone is in this layer. CFCs are in the lower areas. These clouds promote holes in the Ozone layer due to chemical reactions. The atmosphere at the top is 1000 times thinner than at sea level. Aircraft and weather balloons cannot pass this level. Heated from top-bottom because ozone is the high concentration at the top.

Solids in the atmosphere

Dust, pollen, and salt.

How is the atmosphere is heated?

Each layer is different. Different gasses have varying ability to absorb radiant energy.

Why is Earth's atmosphere important?

Earth's atmosphere protects our planet. Without it, it would be either very hot days and very cold nights. Earth's atmosphere maintains a balance between the amount of heat absorbed from the sun and the amount of heat escapes back into space. It also protects life from the sun's harmful rays.

How is the Ionosphere created?

Electrical neutral, but ions are created by solar radiation, creating ionosphere.

Elevation of the Mesosphere

Extends from the top of the stratosphere to about 85 km above Earth.

Elevation of the Troposphere

Extends to an elevation of 7 to 20 km (4 to 12 miles or 23 to 65,000 feet).

Ozone

Filters out UV rays and formed in the upper atmosphere. This allowed plant life to emerge on the continents.

Pressure

Force exerted on an area.

What does the stratosphere contain?

Heated from top-down due to Ozone. Very stable are due to temperature stratification. Very little convection or mixing is. Airflow is mostly horizontal. Dry air, almost no clouds or weather.

How does mother nature affect the makeup of Earth's atmosphere?

In addition to gasses, Earth's atmosphere contains dust particles such as dust, salt, and pollen. Dust gets in the atmosphere when wind picks them off the ground. Salt is picked up from ocean spray. Plants give off pollen that becomes mixed in our atmosphere.

Ionosphere

Includes the mesosphere and thermosphere. It allows radio waves to travel great distances. During the day, energy from Sun interacts with particles and the ionosphere, causing them to absorb AM radio frequencies (no transmission). At night, we have solar energy, AM radio Transmissions reflect off the ionosphere, allowing radio Transmissions to travel far.

As the altitude increases, the pressure ________

Increase.

Elevation of the Thermosphere

It begins at approximately 100 km (62 miles). Found between 85 km and 500 km above Earth

What does the Troposphere Contain?

It contains 99% of the water vapor and 70 to 80% of the atmosphere's mass.

How high up is the Stratosphere

It extends 10 to 50 km above the Earth's surface (31 miles).

Jet stream

Just below the tropopause where winds move at approximately 250 mph or 400k mph.

Sprites and ELVES

Lightning that appears above thunderclouds in the mesosphere.

Blue jets

Lightning that can occur above thunderstorms and extend to the upper limits of the stratosphere.

Gas has...

Mass and therefore it also has weight .

Matter has...

Mass.

Upper layers of the atmosphere

Mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere.

What gets absorbed in the Thermosphere?

Most X-rays and some UV radiation are absorbed here.

What is the Thermosphere named for?

Named for its high temperatures, solar activities cause temperature variation which is caused by intense light rays (radiation) from the sun.

Aurora borealis

Northern and Southern Lights occur in the thermosphere.

2 billion years ago

Organisms produced oxygen through photosynthesis (ocean organisms).

PSC

Polar stratospheric clouds, or nacreous clouds. They are located in the lower area of the stratosphere. These clouds promote holes in the ozone layer due to chemical reactions.

How is the Stratosphere heated?

The temperature in the stratosphere rises as you go further up because there are more ozone molecules in the upper portion of the stratosphere.

What occurs in the Troposphere?

Rain, Snow, & clouds occur in the troposphere.

When the atmosphere is warm, air will...

Rise because it becomes less dense.

Mesopause

Separates the mesosphere and thermosphere. This is also where the trend in temperature changes. Noctilucent clouds are present over the poles. Waves of air from the stratosphere move the air otherwise very stable.

Stratopause

Separates the stratosphere from the mesosphere.

Tropopause

Separates the troposphere from the stratosphere. This boundary is where the trend in temperature changes.

The temperature in the Atmosphere

Solar radiation passes through the atmosphere from top-down.

Troposphere

The Lowest layer beginning at Earth's surface. It is the densest layer. There is a rising and falling airflow. this keeps airflow stirred up and variable (wind). Almost all of our weather occurs in this layer. It is also the life layer because life as we know it exists here. Heated from the bottom up because nitrogen and oxygen do not absorb radiant energy well and carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are densest at the bottom.

How is the Mesosphere heated?

The Mesosphere is heated from the bottom up due to decreasing ozone percentage. The mesosphere is similar to the Troposphere. The atmosphere's temperature goes down as the altitude is lower.

How is the Thermosphere heated?

The Thermosphere is heated from the top down due to the ability of gas molecules to absorb energy individually. The molecules that the troposphere is warmed mostly by is the heat produced on Earth's surface. The Sun warms the Earth's surface which then warms the air above it. Molecules of the ozone layer in the stratosphere only absorbs some of the Sun's energy. Energy absorbed by the ozone molecules brings the temperature up.

How is the Troposphere heated?

The Troposphere is heated from the bottom up because the nitrogen and oxygen don't absorb radiant energy and carbon dioxide as well as other greenhouse gases are densest as the bottom. The Stratosphere, for example, is heated from the top to the bottom because the ozone is high concentration at the top.

Why is it harder to breathe at higher elevations?

The air is less dense the higher in elevation in the atmosphere you are. The air pressure decreases as you go higher because fewer air molecules exist there.

How are the first two layers of the atmosphere (Troposphere and Stratosphere) heated?

The first two layers of Earth's atmosphere to receive the Sun's rays are the exosphere and the thermosphere. These layers only have a few molecules, however, each molecule has a lot of energy which makes the temperatures high in these layers. The atmosphere being divided into layers is based mostly on the temperature differences in each section of Earth's atmosphere.

What is the ozone layer?

The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere found in the Stratosphere and made up of three oxygen atoms. It is just about 19 km to 48 km high.

Why is the Ozone Layer is so important?

The ozone layer is so important because it protects life forms from the Sun's dangerous rays of energy. It does this by absorbing much of the ultraviolet radiation that enters our atmosphere from the sun. This allowed plant life to emerge on the continents. Ultraviolet radiation is really dangerous and one of the various types of energy that the Sun emits to Earth. If humans are exposed to this harmful radiation, it can cause harm to your skin and give you cancer. The ozone layer is one of the many things that your life depends on and humans are destroying it.

What is the relationship between air density and air pressure?

The pattern of air density changes within layers of the atmosphere is as the altitude increases, the density and pressure of the air decreases. This is because the higher you go into our atmosphere, the molecules that make up the gasses within our atmosphere are fewer and fewer in number as you go higher. This means that the air density decreases with altitude. As air density increases, the pressure increases because more dense air has more particles. As you go further up in the atmosphere, there are less air particles causing the air density to be less as you go up in it. If the air density goes down, the air pressure goes down due to there being less molecules in the gas and less pressure pushing down on you. With that being said, as the altitude goes up, the air density causes the air pressure to go down. As Earth's gravity pulls the gases of our atmosphere toward its surface, the weight of these gasses presses down on the air below. This results in the molecules closer to the Earth's surface to be closer together. This dense air exert more force than the less dense air near the highest part of the atmosphere. This force is called air pressure.

What is the pattern of temperature changes within the layers of the atmosphere.

The pattern of temperature changes within the layers of the atmosphere. The temperature gets a lot colder (Troposphere), then a little warmer (Stratosphere), then a little colder (Mesosphere), and lastly way hotter (Thermosphere and Exosphere). This is because some layers of Earth's atmosphere absorb the Sun's energy while some don't. This creates each layer to have different temperatures. But each layer is also heated differently. Temperature in the atmosphere is due to solar radiation that passes through the atmosphere top down. Overall, each layer is heated differently. Different gases have varying ability to absorb radiant energy.

Why can't aircraft and weather balloons make it to this layer?

They reach max operational altitudes within the stratosphere.

Why is a rocket used to reach the Stratosphere instead of a weather balloon? (Think Atmospheric Pressure)

This is due to atmospheric pressure which is when Earth's gravity pulls the gases of our atmosphere toward the surface and the weight of these gases presses down on the air below. This causes the molecules nearer to the Earth's surface to be closer together. This dense air exerts more force than the less dense air near the top of the atmosphere. Because there is less dense air the further up in the atmosphere you go, the air pressure will also decrease due to there being less molecules in the gas and less pressure pushing down on you. If you use a balloon to go high in the atmosphere, the high pressure will cause the inside of the balloon to expand because it is denser than the surrounding air. Eventually, the balloon will pop.

Mesosphere

This is the coldest layer and also the location where meteors burn up. This layer is the least studied because it is hard to access. Heated from the bottom up due to decreasing ozone percentage. The air is extremely thin.

Lower layers of the atmosphere

Troposphere, and stratosphere.

Liquids in the atmosphere

Water and other liquid substances.

Thermosphere

Widest layer, but low-density air. Density is so low that most of it are considered outer space because of space. The heat from top-down due to the ability of gas molecules to absorb energy individually.