Law of Universal Gravitation: This law states that every point mass of matter in the universe attracts every

other point mass with a force directly proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of their separation.
r Mm r F = G 2 r r

Basic Equations for Atmosphere: The basic equations that govern the atmosphere can be formulated as a set of seven equations with seven unknowns: th th t f ti ith k the three components of t f the velocity v (components u, v, w: v = ui +vj +wk ), the pressure p, the temperature T, the specific humidity q and the density .

The seven equations, written for the atmosphere are: 13. Newtons Law of Motions: Newton's first law, which states that a body at rest remains at rest and a body in motion remains in motion until acted on by a force. The Newtons second law states that in an unaccelerated coordinate system the resultant force acting on a body equals the time rate of change of momentum of the body.
r d F = (mv ) dt

Itisthecentralequationindevelopmentofthephysicsofatmospheric motions. Newton's third law of motion states th t f every f N t ' thi d l f ti t t that for force exerted on a t d body A by body B there is an equal and opposite force exerted on body B by body A. FA,B = FB,A

4. The continuity equation or the conservation of mass:

r r = ( v ) t

5. The conservation of water mass:

r r q = ( v q ) + ( E C ) t

where E and C are evaporation and condensation respectively 6. The first law of thermodynamics (the conservation of energy):
Q = Cp dT 1 d dp dt dt

where Q is heating rate per unit mass and Cp the specific heat at constant ee s eat g ate pe u t ass a d t e spec c eat co sta t pressure. 7. The equation of state:
pV = nR pT p = R pT

These seven equations do not form a closed system.

TheEarth'sGravitationalField: Thegravitationalforceisforcethatexertedbytheearthonamuchsmaller object. If we consider the earth to be a sphere of mass M, in which density depends p , y p only on distance from the center, then a small external mass m at a distance r from the center of the earth is attracted toward the center of the earth by a force given by universal gravitational force. A gravitational field is said to be associated with the earth; a mass experiences a force at any point in this field For a small mass within the field. earth the attractive force turns out to depend only on the portion of the earth's mass within a sphere whose radius is the distance of the small mass from the center of the earth earth.

The gravitational force exerted on a mass m by the earth may be written conveniently in the form y F = mg* where
r M r g * = G 2 r r

The vector g* is called the gravitational force per unit mass or the g gravitational acceleration, and it is directed vertically downward toward the center of the earth. The above term can be written in term of earth radius R as
g* = g0 * GM R 2 (1 + z / R ) 2 (1 + z / R ) 2

where g0* is the gravitational force per unit mass at sea level.

HydrostaticEquation: Allplanetarybodies(planets,moons,asteroids)possessgravitationalfields, butnotallpossessatmospheresbecausethereisconstantescapeofgas molecules.Rateofescapedependsonstrengthofthegravitationaland magneticfieldsandonthevelocitiesofthemoleculesneartheouterlimit oftheatmosphere. Uncharged molecules which move upward with speeds in excess of the escape velocity and which fail to collide with other molecules or become ionized leave the planet's gravitational field and are lost to the atmosphere. p g p Ionized molecules moving in the earth's magnetic field are also strongly influenced by an induced electromagnetic force. Thepresenceoftheatmosphereasashellsurroundingtheearthisadirect consequenceoftheearth'sgravitationalfield.

Each molecule of air is attracted toward the center of mass of the earth by the force of gravity and is restrained from falling to the earth by the upward force exerted by collision with a molecule below it it. This collision produces a downward force on the lower molecule, and this force is balanced, in the mean, by collision with a still lower molecule. Therefore, molecules above a horizontal reference surface exert a downward force on the molecules below the surface, a force which is called the weight of the gas above the surface surface.
Because weight is proportional to the force of gravity, the weight of the atmosphere includes the effect of the earth's rotation but does not include inertial effects which arise from accelerations measured with respect to the rotating earth. Under static conditions (accelerations negligible) the weight of a vertical column of unit base cross section extending from the earth to the top of the atmosphere i equal t th atmospheric pressure, t h is l to the t h i and the weight

Vertical column of differential cross section.

The force of gravity exerted on a unit volume of air at any point in the vertical column is expressed by g where represents the mass per unit volume g, (density). The pressure at any height z is expressed by

p = gdz
z

The most important equations in atmospheric physics is the hydrostatic equation. equation Which is derived with respect to height z holding x y and t x, y, constant is p or,

z 1 p =g z

= g

The hydrostatic Th h d t ti equation states th t th pressure d ti t t that the decreases upward at a rate d t t equal to the product of density and force of gravity per unit mass. The h d h hydrostatic equation h ld under the condition that the pressure and i i holds d h di i h h d gravity forces balance.

GravitationalTides: According to the Newtons third law, the gravitational forces which are exerted by the moon and sun on the earth and the atmosphere are equal and opposite to those exerted by the earth on the moon and sun. pp y The earth and moon form a system of two coupled masses in rotation about their common center of mass. Because the mass of the earth is about 80 times that of the moon, the center of mass is at a point about 1/80 of the distance between the centers of the earth and moon or about 1600 km below the earths surface The earth and moon rotate about this earth s surface. point once in 27.3 days.

Successive positions of the earth with respect to the center of mass of the earth and moon. Parallel arrows represent centrifugal force when the earth is in position 1 .

Everyunitmassintheearthandtheatmosphereexperiencesanequaland parallelcentrifugalforceduetothe27.3 dayrotationofthemoonabout parallel centrifugal force due to the 27 3day rotation of the moon about theearth,andthetotaloftheseforcesmustbeequalandoppositetothe totalgravitationalforceexertedbythemoon. However,gravitationalforceisinverselyproportionaltothesquareofthe However gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distancefromthemoon,sothatgravitationalforceisgreaterontheside facingthemoonthanitisonthesideawayfromthemoon.Theresultantof thetwoforces,calledthetidegeneratingforce(gravitationalforces). the two forces called the tide generating force (gravitational forces )

The resultants of the centrifugal and gravitational forces and the consequent distortion of the atmospheric shell.

The tide generating force can be obtained by replacing the centrifugal force per unit mass by the gravitational force acting at the distance (D) of the center of the earth from the moon, that is, by GM/D2 where M represents the mass of the moon. The Th gravitational f it ti l force acting at point A i GM/(D R)2 so th t th diff ti t i t is that the difference is given by

1 1 2GMR 2 GM D ( D R) 2 D3
so long as R is much less than D. At point B on the opposite side of the earth the result is the same except for the sign sign.

Corioliseffect: TheCorioliseffectisadeflectionofmovingobjectswhentheyareviewedin arotatingreferenceframe.

As air moves from high to low pressure in the northern hemisphere, it is deflected to the i ht by the Coriolis force. I th southern h i h th right b th C i li f In the th hemisphere, air moving f i i from hi h t high to low pressure is deflected to the left by the Coriolis force. The amount of deflection the air makes is directly related to both the speed at which the air is moving and its latitude. Therefore, slowly blowing winds will be deflected only a small amount, while stronger winds will be deflected more. Likewise, winds blowing closer to the poles will be deflected more than winds at the same speed closer to the equator. The Coriolis force is zero right at the equator.