ATMOSPHERE

THE BLANKET OF LIFE

WHAT IS ATMOSHERE?

• An atmosphere (from Greek ἀτμός (atmos), meaning 'vapour', and σφαῖρα (sphaira),
meaning 'sphere‘
• Is a layer or a set of layers of gases surrounding a planet or other material body, that is
held in place by the gravity of that body.
• An atmosphere is more likely to be retained if the gravity it is subject to is high and the
temperature of the atmosphere is low.
ADVANTAGE OF ATMOSPHERE:

• The atmosphere of Earth is composed of nitrogen (about 78%), oxygen (about 21%),
argon (about 0.9%) with carbon dioxide and other gases in trace amounts.
• Oxygen is used by most organisms for respiration; nitrogen is fixed by bacteria and
lightning to produce ammonia used in the construction of nucleotides and amino acids;
and carbon dioxide is used by plants, algae and cyanobacteria for photosynthesis.
• The atmosphere helps to protect living organisms from genetic damage by solar
ultraviolet radiation, solar wind and cosmic rays.
COMPOSITION:

• A planet's initial atmospheric composition is related to the chemistry and temperature of the local solar
nebula during planetary formation and the subsequent escape of interior gases.
• The original atmospheres started with a rotating disc of gases that collapsed to form a series of
spaced rings that condensed to form the planets.
• The planet's atmospheres were then modified over time by various complex factors, resulting in quite
different outcomes.
• The atmospheres of the planets Venus and Mars are primarily composed of carbon dioxide, with small
quantities of nitrogen, argon, oxygen and traces of other gases.
• The composition of Earth's atmosphere is largely governed by the by-products of the life that it
sustains. Dry air from Earth's atmosphere contains 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon,
0.04% carbon dioxide, and traces of hydrogen, helium, and other "noble" gases (by volume), but
generally a variable amount of water vapor is also present, on average about 1% at sea level.
STRUCTURE:

• Earth's atmosphere consists of a number of layers that differ in properties such as

composition, temperature and pressure. The lowest layer is the troposphere, which
extends from the surface to the bottom of the stratosphere.
• Three quarters of the atmosphere's mass resides within the troposphere, and is the
layer within which the Earth's terrestrial weather develops. The depth of this layer
varies between 17 km at the equator to 7 km at the poles..
TROPOSPHERE

• The lowest region of the atmosphere, extending from the earth's surface to a height of
about 6–10 km (the lower boundary of the stratosphere).
STRATOSPHERE:

• The stratosphere (/ˈstrætəˌsfɪər, -toʊ-/[3][4]) is the second major layer of Earth's

atmosphere,
• Just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere.
• The stratosphere is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher and cooler
layers closer to the Earth; this increase of temperature with altitude is a result of the
absorption of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation by the ozone layer
• This is in contrast to the troposphere, near the Earth's surface, where temperature
decreases with altitude. The border between the troposphere and stratosphere, the
tropopause, marks where this temperature inversion begins.
MESOSPHERE:

• The mesosphere (/ˈmɛsoʊsfɪər/; from Greek mesos "middle" and sphaira "sphere") is the
layer of the Earth's atmosphere that is directly above the stratosphere and directly below
the thermosphere.
• In the mesosphere, temperature decreases as the altitude increases.
• This characteristic is used to define its limits: it begins at the top of the stratosphere
(sometimes called the stratopause), and ends at the mesopause, which is the coldest part
of Earth's atmosphere with temperatures below −143 °C (−225 °F; 130 K). The exact upper
and lower boundaries of the mesosphere vary with latitude and with season (higher in
winter and at the tropics, lower in summer and at the poles), but the lower boundary is
usually located at heights from 50 to 65 kilometres (164,000 to 213,000 ft; 31 to 40 mi)
above the Earth's surface and the upper boundary (mesopause) is usually around 85 to
100 kilometres (53 to 62 mi)
THERMOSPHERE

• The region of the atmosphere above the mesosphere and below the height at which
the atmosphere ceases to have the properties of a continuous medium. The
thermosphere is characterized throughout by an increase in temperature with height.
EXOSPHERE

• The exosphere (Ancient Greek: ἔξω éxō "outside, external, beyond", Ancient Greek:
σφαῖρα sphaĩra "sphere") is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet or
natural satellite where molecules are gravitationally bound to that body, but where the
density is too low for them to behave as a gas by colliding with each other.
• In the case of bodies with substantial atmospheres, such as Earth's atmosphere, the
exosphere is the uppermost layer, where the atmosphere thins out and merges with
interplanetary space. It is located directly above the thermosphere.
• Very little is known about it due to lack of research.
THANK YOU

QASIM BOKHARI