ENVIRONMENT

General Science and Ability

By
Umer Saeed Khan
Umer saeed: General Science and Ability
44 th
CTP
DEFINITION
 The term environment has been derived from a French word
“Environia” means to surround.
 Surroundings in which the organism lives
 “Environment is anything immediately surrounding an object and
exerting a direct influence on it.”
 The two major classifications of environment are :
 Physical Environment: External physical factors like Air, Water, and
Land etc. This is also called the Abiotic Environment.
 Living Environment: All living organisms around us viz. plants,
animals, and microorganisms. This is also called the Biotic Environment.

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COMPONENTS
 Earth’s environment can be further subdivided into the
following four segments:
 Atmosphere
 Hydrosphere
 Biosphere.
 Lithosphere

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 ATMOSPHERE
 Atmosphere is a gaseous layer
surrounding the earth. In other
words, we can say that our earth is
surrounded by a thin layer of gases,
called atmosphere.
 Gases that in the atmosphere are
divided into two kinds, based on
their concentration, viz., constant
gases and variable gases.

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COMPOSITION OF
ATMOSPHERE
 Constant gases are the ones, whose concentrations do not
change over time, and their concentrations almost remain same.
Nitrogen and oxygen are the two major constant gases.
 Variable gases are hose gases whose concentrations change from
time to time and from place to place. Some of those gases are
important to weather and climate.

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 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION

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 LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE
 The atmosphere is divided into several layers based on …..
 thermal characteristics (temperature changes),
 chemical composition,
 movement, and
 density

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Umer saeed: General Science and Ability
LAYERS OF THE
ATMOSPHERE
The four layers of the atmosphere include:
1. the troposphere, where we live;
2. the stratosphere, which contains the ozone
layer;
3. the mesosphere, where meteors burn; and
4. the thermosphere, where satellites orbit
Earth.

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THE TROPOSPHERE
The density of the atmosphere decreases rapidly with
increasing height. The troposphere has the following
characteristics:
 it is about 12-16 km (7 mi) thick,
 the temperature decreases rapidly with altitude,
 the mean temperatures at the bottom and top are 15°C & -53°C,
 it is heated from below by conduction and from condensation of
water vapor,
 it is the region where you find precipitation, evaporation, rapid
convection, the major wind systems, and clouds, and life
 it is the densest layer of the atmosphere.
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 THE STRATOSPHERE
 Above the troposphere is a region of relatively constant

temperature, -53°C, about 10 km (6 mi) thick called the tropopause.

The stratosphere has the following characteristics:
 it is about 28 km (17 mi) thick,

 the temperature increases with altitude from about -53°C to -3°C,

 this is where ozone, an unstable form of oxygen, appears,

 it is heated as the ozone absorbs incoming ultraviolet radiation.

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MESOSPHERE & THERMOSPHERE
 Mesosphere temperatures fall with increasing altitude until they

reach the Mesopause at 80Km (50-80 km)-93oC at 80km, coldest

layer

 Above the mesosphere is the Thermosphere where temperatures

rise with increasing altitude (isothermal)

 The thermosphere is very sensitive to incoming solar radiation

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THE IONOSPHERE
 Ionosphere is a region of Earth's atmosphere in which the
number of electrically charged particles—ions and electrons—
are large enough to affect the propagation of radio waves. The
charged particles are created by the action of
extraterrestrial radiation (mainly from the Sun) on neutral
atoms and molecules of air.
 From 60km in the Thermosphere to an indefinite altitude in the
Thermosphere
 High concentration of ions of Oxygen and Nitrogen
 Solar wind FREE electrons from these atoms and molecules
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LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

 The exosphere begins at

about 500 to 600 kilometers
above Earth and does not
have a specific outer limit.
 Satellites orbit Earth in the
exosphere.

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 REVIEW
OF ATMOSPHERE

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 HYDROSPHERE
 The hydrosphere is the part of the earth that contains
water.
 The vast majority of Earth’s water is in the oceans (salt
water), with smaller, but geologically important,
quantities of fresh water in lakes, rivers, and ground
water.
 The components of the hydrosphere, as well as the
cryosphere (frozen water), the atmosphere, and the
biosphere, participate in the global hydrologic cycle.

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DISTRIBUTION
OF WATER
ON EARTH

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 The Hydrologic Cycle

Water never leaves the Earth. It is constantly

being cycled through the atmosphere, ocean,
and land. This process, known as the water
cycle, it is the circulation of water b/w the
different compartments or reservoirs of the
earth’s Hydrosphere, is driven by energy from
the sun. The water cycle is crucial to the
existence of life on our planet.

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Umer saeed: General Science and Ability
 THE WATER CYCLE

The sun heats up liquid water and changes it to a gas by the

process of evaporation. Water that evaporates from earth’s
oceans, lakes, rivers, and moist soil rises up into the
atmosphere.
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The process of evaporation from plants is called
transpiration. (In other words, it’s like plants
sweating.)
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As water (in the form of gas) rises higher in the atmosphere,
it starts to cool and become a liquid again. This process is
called condensation. When a large amount of water vapor
condenses, it results in the formation of clouds.

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When the water in the clouds gets too heavy, the water
falls back to the earth. This is called precipitation.

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When rain falls on the land, some of the water is absorbed into the
ground forming pockets of water called groundwater. Most groundwater
eventually returns to the ocean. Other precipitation runs directly into
streams or rivers. Water that collects in rivers, streams, and oceans is
called runoff.
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 BIOSPHERE
 Earth’s organisms live in
the biosphere.
 The biosphere consists of
the parts of the planet in
which all life exists.
 The life supporting zone of
the earth where
atmosphere, hydrosphere
and lithosphere meet,
interact and make life
possible is bioshpere.
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 Levels Of Ecological
Organization:

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ECOSYSTEM
 Biosphere consists of smaller functional units known as
ecosystems or ecological systems.
 An ecosystem includes all the organisms that live in a
particular place, together with their physical environment.
 A group of ecosystems that have similar climates and
organisms is called a biome.

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BIOMES
A group of ecosystems that have similar climates
and organisms is called a biome.
Examples
 Tropical Rain Forest
 Desert
 Temperate Forest

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