Science Jacinto, Zachary
Storyboard Text
- It also warms the planet by day and cools it at night.
- Earth is the only planet in the solar system with an atmosphere that can sustain life.
- The blanket of gases not only contains the air that we breathe but also protects us from the blasts of heat and radiation emanating from the sun.
- Earth's Atmosphere is about 480 kilometers thick, but most of it is within 16 km the surface. Air pressure decreases with altitude.
- Did you know?
- At sea level, air pressure is about 14.7 pounds per square inch
- At 10,000 feet!The air pressure is 10 pounds per square inch and less oxygen to breathe.
- Earth's atmosphere is divided into five main layers:the exospherethe thermospherethe mesospherethe stratosphere and the troposphere
- Fun Fact: The Earth atmosphere is like a cake because the Earth is also made with layers
- The troposphere is the layer closest to Earth's surface. It is 7 to 20 km thick and contains half of Earth's atmosphere. Air is warmer near the ground and gets colder higher up. Nearly all of the water vapor and dust in the atmosphere are in this layer and that is why clouds are found here.
- The stratosphere is the second layer. It starts above the troposphere and ends about 50 km above ground. Ozone is abundant here and it heats the atmosphere while also absorbing harmful radiation from the sun. The air here is very dry, and it is about a thousand times thinner here than it is at sea level. Because of that, this is where jet aircraft and weather balloons fly.
- The mesosphere starts at 50 km and extends to 53 85 km high. The top of the mesosphere, called the mesopause, is the coldest part of Earth's atmosphere, with temperatures averaging about minus 130 degrees F. This layer is hard to study. Jets and balloons don't go high enough, and satellites and space shuttles orbit too high. Scientists do know that meteors burn up in this layer.
- The exosphere, the highest layer, is extremely thin and is where the atmosphere merges into outer space. It is composed of very widely dispersed particles of hydrogen and helium.
- The thermosphere extends from about 56 miles to between 310 and 620 miles. Temperatures can get up to 2,700 degrees F at this altitude. The thermosphere is considered part of Earth's atmosphere, but air density is so low that most of this layer is what is normally thought of as outer space.
- At sea level, air pressure is about 14.7 pounds per square inch (1 kilogram per square centimeter).
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