How to explain to a child what the atmosphere is. Information and facts about the atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere. The composition of the Earth's atmosphere
The air "fur coat" of our Earth is called the atmosphere. Without it, life on Earth is impossible. On those planets where there is no atmosphere, there is no life. The atmosphere protects the planet from hypothermia and overheating. It infuriates 5 million billion tons. We breathe in oxygen and plants take in carbon dioxide. The “fur coat” protects all living beings from the destructive hail of cosmic fragments that burn up on the way to the Earth, the ozone layer of the atmosphere saves us from cosmic rays.
Our planet is surrounded by a multi-layered atmosphere, just as in an egg the yolk is surrounded by protein. The lowest layer of the troposphere (its thickness is up to 15 km) is the “kitchen of the weather”, where warm and cold air masses constantly move, mix, fogs, clouds, and clouds form. In the stratosphere (its thickness is 25-30 km), ozone, a gas vital to the Earth, accumulates in its upper part. The thickness of the ozone layer is negligible. As a result of air pollution, chemicals began to enter the atmosphere that destroy the ozone layer. The mesosphere starts from a height of 50-55 km up to about 80 km above the Earth. With an increase in the height of the lift, the instruments note a sharp increase in temperature. The thermosphere begins, or the ionosphere - a bottomless sea of ionized gas. The air is very rarefied and under the action of cosmic radiation has a high electrical conductivity. It is in the high layers of the atmosphere that miraculous phenomena occur - the aurora borealis. The ionized gas in the atmosphere is called plasma.
The Earth's atmosphere is a mixture of gases: oxygen (21%) is dissolved in nitrogen (78%), but a "solution" with impurities of argon, carbon dioxide. A lot in the atmosphere and water vapor. On the way to the stars, the atmosphere for spaceships is both a friend and an enemy: it heats up and slows down, passes and does not pass. The atmosphere makes the stars twinkle, the luminaries turn red or pale.
The air is as clear during the day as it is at night, but the stars are not visible. The thing is that in the daytime the atmosphere scatters sunlight. Try looking out into the street from a well-lit room in the evening. Through the window glass, the bright lights located outside are visible quite well, and it is almost impossible to see dimly lit objects. But all you have to do is turn off the light...
The river flows quietly and smoothly across the plain, and accelerates its movement on steep cliffs. The stream cuts deep into the soil and forms narrow gorges with steep and high walls. Especially quickly the water erodes the coast, consisting of loose rocks. If the river is blocked by mountains, it either goes around them or breaks through, creating deep gorges and canyons. Sometimes…
The cleanest and deepest lake is Baikal. Its length is 620 kilometers with a width of 32 to 74 kilometers. The depth of the lake in the deepest place - the Olkhon crack - is 1940 meters. The volume of fresh water in the lake is 2300 cubic kilometers. Geographers call Lake Tanganyika the African sister of Baikal. It originated in East Africa many millions ...
Folk Russian wisdom says: "Put a house where the sheep lay down." And in China, there is a custom not to start building a house until you are sure that the building site is free from “deep demons”. That is why most of the ancient cities and villages, both in Russia and in many other countries, are located very well. Although there is, of course,…
The need to measure time arose among people already in ancient times. The first calendars appeared many thousands of years ago at the dawn of human civilization. People have learned to measure time intervals, to compare them with phenomena that recur periodically (change of day and night, change of phases of the moon, change of seasons). Without the use of time units, people could not live, communicate with each other, ...
In this constellation, two bright stars are very close to each other. They got their name in honor of the Argonauts of the Dioscuri - Castor and Pollux - twins, sons of 3eus, the most powerful of the Olympic gods, and Leda, a frivolous earthly beauty, the brothers of Helen the beautiful - the culprit of the Trojan War. Castor was famous as a skilled charioteer, and Pollux as an unsurpassed fist ...
The great Italian Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who did a lot for the development of mathematics, mechanics, physics, achieved amazing success in the study of celestial bodies. He became famous not only for a number of astronomical discoveries, but also for the great courage with which he stood up for the teachings of Copernicus, which was forbidden by the all-powerful church. In 1609, Galileo learned that a far-seeing device had appeared in Holland (as it is translated from Greek ...
Solar and lunar eclipses have been familiar to man since ancient times. When a person did not yet know why these phenomena occur, the extinction of the Sun in broad daylight caused him panic fear. It is truly a mysterious and majestic sight. The bright Sun shines on the blue sky and gradually the sunlight begins to weaken. Damage appears on the right edge of the Sun. It is slowly increasing...
But what if our star - the Sun - suddenly bursts into a supernova? Will it disappear itself and erase us from the universe forever? As scientists say, although this event is possible, its probability is very small. The star receives its energy by gradually converting hydrogen into helium, then into heavier elements (carbon, oxygen, neon, and others) using a chain ...
The largest planet is named after the supreme god Olympus. Jupiter is 1310 times larger in volume than Earth and 318 times larger in mass. In terms of distance from the Sun, Jupiter is in fifth place, and in terms of brightness it ranks fourth in the sky after the Sun, Moon and Venus. The telescope shows a planet compressed at the poles with a noticeable row ...
When we read about human exploration of the moon and planets, we often come across questions about the atmosphere. Do other planets have an atmosphere? As far as scientists know, no planet or star has an atmosphere similar to ours.
What is atmosphere? We can think of it as an ocean of air that surrounds the earth and is several hundred miles high. The ocean of air has the same composition throughout the earth. Basically it consists of certain gases, which always remain in the same proportion. About 78 percent is nitrogen, 21 percent is oxygen, and the remaining one percent is made up of gases that are called rare - argon, neon, helium, krypton and xenon.
The air that surrounds the Earth has the same chemical composition up to 18 miles, although this figure can go up to 44 miles. When you reach the upper atmosphere, you are at the top of what is called the troposphere. It is the layer closest to the Earth's surface. At an altitude of 18 to 31 miles from the surface of the Earth is a layer of hot air, with a temperature of about 42 degrees Celsius. The reason for the heating of this layer is the absorption of heat from the sun's rays by the ozone present here.
Ozone is a special form of oxygen where the molecule is made up of three oxygen atoms instead of the usual two. The hot ozone layer serves to protect us from the sun's most active rays - ultraviolet. Without it, we would not have survived the sunlight. Even higher is a layer, or several layers, called the ionosphere, which is located at an altitude of 44 to 310 miles above the earth. The ionosphere is made up of particles electrified by the Sun. Air molecules are in constant motion. The atmosphere can only be maintained if the molecules are constantly colliding with each other and cannot escape. But the higher you go, the thinner the air becomes.
It is very unlikely that a molecule from below will bounce back after colliding with a molecule from above. Therefore, the molecules go into open space, and the atmosphere is completely rarefied. There is a zone called the exosphere, where the torn off molecules move almost freely, and this zone starts at an altitude of 400 miles and extends up to 1500 miles.
The atmosphere is the gaseous shell of our planet that rotates with the Earth. The gas in the atmosphere is called air. The atmosphere is in contact with the hydrosphere and partially covers the lithosphere. But it is difficult to determine the upper bounds. Conventionally, it is assumed that the atmosphere extends upwards for about three thousand kilometers. There it flows smoothly into the airless space.
The chemical composition of the Earth's atmosphere
The formation of the chemical composition of the atmosphere began about four billion years ago. Initially, the atmosphere consisted only of light gases - helium and hydrogen. According to scientists, the initial prerequisites for the creation of a gas shell around the Earth were volcanic eruptions, which, together with lava, emitted a huge amount of gases. Subsequently, gas exchange began with water spaces, with living organisms, with the products of their activity. The composition of the air gradually changed and in its present form was fixed several million years ago.
The main components of the atmosphere are nitrogen (about 79%) and oxygen (20%). The remaining percentage (1%) is accounted for by the following gases: argon, neon, helium, methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, krypton, xenon, ozone, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen, nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide included in this one percent.
In addition, the air contains water vapor and particulate matter (plant pollen, dust, salt crystals, aerosol impurities).
Recently, scientists have noted not a qualitative, but a quantitative change in some air ingredients. And the reason for this is the person and his activity. Only in the last 100 years, the content of carbon dioxide has increased significantly! This is fraught with many problems, the most global of which is climate change.
Formation of weather and climate
The atmosphere plays a vital role in shaping the climate and weather on Earth. A lot depends on the amount of sunlight, on the nature of the underlying surface and atmospheric circulation.
Let's look at the factors in order.
1. The atmosphere transmits the heat of the sun's rays and absorbs harmful radiation. The ancient Greeks knew that the rays of the Sun fall on different parts of the Earth at different angles. The very word "climate" in translation from ancient Greek means "slope". So, at the equator, the sun's rays fall almost vertically, because it is very hot here. The closer to the poles, the greater the angle of inclination. And the temperature is dropping.
2. Due to the uneven heating of the Earth, air currents are formed in the atmosphere. They are classified according to their size. The smallest (tens and hundreds of meters) are local winds. This is followed by monsoons and trade winds, cyclones and anticyclones, planetary frontal zones.
All these air masses are constantly moving. Some of them are quite static. For example, the trade winds that blow from the subtropics towards the equator. The movement of others is largely dependent on atmospheric pressure.
3. Atmospheric pressure is another factor influencing climate formation. This is the air pressure on the earth's surface. As you know, air masses move from an area with high atmospheric pressure towards an area where this pressure is lower.
There are 7 zones in total. The equator is a low pressure zone. Further, on both sides of the equator up to the thirtieth latitudes - an area of high pressure. From 30° to 60° - again low pressure. And from 60° to the poles - a zone of high pressure. Air masses circulate between these zones. Those that go from the sea to land bring rain and bad weather, and those that blow from the continents bring clear and dry weather. In places where air currents collide, atmospheric front zones are formed, which are characterized by precipitation and inclement, windy weather.
Scientists have proven that even a person's well-being depends on atmospheric pressure. According to international standards, normal atmospheric pressure is 760 mm Hg. column at 0°C. This figure is calculated for those areas of land that are almost flush with sea level. The pressure decreases with altitude. Therefore, for example, for St. Petersburg 760 mm Hg. - is the norm. But for Moscow, which is located higher, the normal pressure is 748 mm Hg.
The pressure changes not only vertically, but also horizontally. This is especially felt during the passage of cyclones.
The structure of the atmosphere
The atmosphere is like a layer cake. And each layer has its own characteristics.
. Troposphere is the layer closest to the Earth. The "thickness" of this layer changes as you move away from the equator. Above the equator, the layer extends upwards for 16-18 km, in temperate zones - for 10-12 km, at the poles - for 8-10 km.
It is here that 80% of the total mass of air and 90% of water vapor are contained. Clouds form here, cyclones and anticyclones arise. The air temperature depends on the altitude of the area. On average, it drops by 0.65°C for every 100 meters.
. tropopause- transitional layer of the atmosphere. Its height is from several hundred meters to 1-2 km. The air temperature in summer is higher than in winter. So, for example, over the poles in winter -65 ° C. And over the equator at any time of the year it is -70 ° C.
. Stratosphere- this is a layer, the upper boundary of which runs at an altitude of 50-55 kilometers. Turbulence is low here, water vapor content in the air is negligible. But a lot of ozone. Its maximum concentration is at an altitude of 20-25 km. In the stratosphere, the air temperature begins to rise and reaches +0.8 ° C. This is due to the fact that the ozone layer interacts with ultraviolet radiation.
. Stratopause- a low intermediate layer between the stratosphere and the mesosphere following it.
. Mesosphere- the upper boundary of this layer is 80-85 kilometers. Here complex photochemical processes involving free radicals take place. It is they who provide that gentle blue glow of our planet, which is seen from space.
Most comets and meteorites burn up in the mesosphere.
. Mesopause- the next intermediate layer, the air temperature in which is at least -90 °.
. Thermosphere- the lower boundary begins at an altitude of 80 - 90 km, and the upper boundary of the layer passes approximately at the mark of 800 km. The air temperature is rising. It can vary from +500° C to +1000° C. During the day, temperature fluctuations amount to hundreds of degrees! But the air here is so rarefied that the understanding of the term "temperature" as we imagine it is not appropriate here.
. Ionosphere- unites mesosphere, mesopause and thermosphere. The air here consists mainly of oxygen and nitrogen molecules, as well as quasi-neutral plasma. The sun's rays, falling into the ionosphere, strongly ionize air molecules. In the lower layer (up to 90 km), the degree of ionization is low. The higher, the more ionization. So, at an altitude of 100-110 km, electrons are concentrated. This contributes to the reflection of short and medium radio waves.
The most important layer of the ionosphere is the upper one, which is located at an altitude of 150-400 km. Its peculiarity is that it reflects radio waves, and this contributes to the transmission of radio signals over long distances.
It is in the ionosphere that such a phenomenon as aurora occurs.
. Exosphere- consists of oxygen, helium and hydrogen atoms. The gas in this layer is very rarefied, and often hydrogen atoms escape into outer space. Therefore, this layer is called the "scattering zone".
The first scientist who suggested that our atmosphere has weight was the Italian E. Torricelli. Ostap Bender, for example, in the novel "The Golden Calf" lamented that each person was pressed by an air column weighing 14 kg! But the great strategist was a little mistaken. An adult person experiences pressure of 13-15 tons! But we do not feel this heaviness, because atmospheric pressure is balanced by the internal pressure of a person. The weight of our atmosphere is 5,300,000,000,000,000 tons. The figure is colossal, although it is only a millionth of the weight of our planet.
Imagine that we get up at 7:00 in the morning and fall asleep at 23:00. Arriving home from work at about 18:30, we have dinner and are free after 20:00. It is already dark to go outside and rest. There is no time at all to enjoy a summer day.
Now imagine that we have moved the clock forward by one hour. A person does everything at the same time - but now, when he goes out in the evening at 20:00, there is still enough daylight time to relax. He "won" an hour of daylight hours!
Of course, daylight saving time does not add hours to the day. This is impossible. This is done in order to increase the number of hours during daylight hours, when the sun rises very early.
Summer time is especially convenient for city dwellers. It allows you to close shops, offices, factories at the end of the working day, when the sun is still high enough. Farmers and peasants who work by the sun usually do not switch to daylight saving time. They cannot work in the field until the morning dew has dried up or after it appears in the evening.
Do you know who invented daylight saving time?
Benjamin Franklin! In the 18th century, while in France, he proposed this innovation to the Parisians, but they did not accept it.
Daylight Savings Time was first adopted during the First World War. At that time, there was not enough fuel to produce electricity, so it was necessary to save it. With the adoption of daylight saving time, many go to bed immediately after dark, while without it, if they had to stay awake until that time, it would be necessary to use electricity.
In 1915, Germany was the first to adopt daylight saving time, in 1916 it was done in England, in the USA - in 1918.
The atmosphere is the gaseous envelope of the planet. The gases that make up the Earth's atmosphere are called air. Air is all around us. For humans, air is invisible and often we do not even feel it. But if, for example, we wave our hand, then we will feel that something is in contact with the hand. Another example: stick your hand out the window of a speeding car, and it immediately seems that the air has become dense and elastic. Those who have had the misfortune of being caught in a hurricane will testify that the air can knock you down, rip roofs off houses, turn cars upside down, and uproot even thick trees.
Air is made up of tiny particles called molecules. They cannot be seen even with the most powerful microscope. And the distances between the molecules in the air are much greater than the size of the molecules themselves. Therefore, it is not surprising that we can not see the air.
Air molecules are in constant random motion. But why don't they leave Earth? After all, from the side of space there are no obstacles that could stop them. The fact is that the Earth attracts air molecules to itself in the same way as all other bodies. Therefore, most of the molecules of the atmosphere are near the surface of the Earth.
Aneroid barometer is a compact instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure. For a long time, he also served as the main weather forecaster, pointing to "great land" or "rain and thunderstorms."
The higher above the Earth, the fewer molecules remain in the air - it becomes rarefied. In the mountains, at an altitude of 3000 m above sea level, it is already difficult to breathe. Even trained climbers climb to the highest peak of the planet Everest (8848 m) with oxygen masks. If the passenger of an aircraft flying at an altitude of 10 km breathes in the air outside, he will lose consciousness. Therefore, there are always oxygen masks in the aircraft cabin. After all, if even a tiny hole appears in the fuselage of an aircraft, the air from the cabin will rush outward, where the molecules are located much less densely. (Exactly the same will be done, for example, by passengers of an electric train if, at rush hour, an empty car is connected to a crowded car). As a result, the air in the aircraft will become almost unbreathable. The farther from the Earth's surface, the fewer molecules remain in the air. It is impossible to say for certain where the atmosphere ends. It is generally accepted that the thickness of the Earth's atmosphere reaches several thousand kilometers. 
At the highest peak in the world, Everest (8848 m), the air is so rarefied that almost all climbers who managed to reach this record point used oxygen masks.
All life on our planet is concentrated in the lower, densest layers of the atmosphere - the troposphere. Its thickness varies from 8 km at the poles to 17 km at the equator. Of course, the troposphere is not separated from the upper layers by boundary pillars. But in the troposphere, air temperature decreases with height - the higher, the colder, and in the upper atmosphere the temperature changes a little differently.
