PHYSCAL CHEMSTRY

Atmosphere

Submitted To: Dr Ayesha Sultan

Submitted by: Umm e Kalsoom (bsf2101962)
Manal Fatima
Imsha Saeed
Eizah Nawaz
Department: Bs Chemistry
Session: 2021-25
Semester:3rd
DATE: 14 OCT 2022
1

Sr. Topic Page no.

1. introduction 2

2. composition 3-5

3. Layers of atmosphere 5-8

4. References 9
2

Contribution: Umm e Kalsoom

Student ID: bsf2101962
Topic: Atmosphere, composition and its layers

Atmosphere
Introduction:
Our planet the earth has four natural systems; lithosphere,
hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. The knowledge and
understanding of these systems are necessary for us to live on the Earth.
The study of composition of atmosphere provides us the knowledge
about significance of gases present in atmosphere. Atmosphere is
divided into four regions. Each region has its own natural characteristics.

Definition:
“The envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet.”
OR
“The area of air and gas enveloping objects in space, like stars and
planets, or the air around any location.”
The earth is surrounded by blanket of air which we call the atmosphere.
It reaches up to 560km from the surface of the earth.
The atmosphere of earth is the layer of gases surrounding the planet
earth that is retained by earth’s gravity. The atmosphere protects life on
earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiations, warming the surface by
heat retention (greenhouse effect) and reducing temperature extremes
between day and night (the diurnal temperature variation).

Examples:
The ozone and other layers which make up the Earth's sky as we see it.
An example of atmosphere is the air and gases contained inside a
greenhouse.

Functions:
 It absorbs the energy from the sun.
3

 Recycles water and other chemicals.

 Protects us from high energy radiations and frigid vacuum of
space.
 The atmosphere protects us and support life.

Composition:
The early Greeks considered "air" to be one of four
elementary substances; along with earth, fire, and water, air was viewed
as a fundamental component of the universe.
By the early 1800s, however, scientists such as John Dalton recognized
that the atmosphere was in fact composed of several chemically distinct
gases, which he was able to separate and determine the relative
amounts of within the lower atmosphere. He was easily able to study the
major components of the atmosphere: nitrogen, oxygen, and a small
amount of something incombustible, later shown to be argon.
The development of the spectrometer in the 1920s allowed scientists to
find gases that existed in much smaller concentrations in
the atmosphere, such as ozone and carbon dioxide. The concentrations
of these gases, while small, varied widely from place to place.

Sr. Gases Percentage

composition
1. Nitrogen 78.08

2. Oxygen 20.95

3. Argon 0.93
4. Neon, helium, 0.0001
krypton
4

Other than these gases there are also some other gases present in
atmosphere. They play major role in stability of life on earth. For
example, carbon dioxide is a major component of photosynthesis.

5. Carbon dioxide 0.038

6. Water vapors 0.4

7. Methane Trace

8. Sulphur dioxide Trace

9. Ozone Trace

10. Nitrogen oxides Trace

Although both nitrogen and oxygen are essential to human life on the
planet, they have little effect on weather and other atmospheric
processes. The variable components, which make up far less than 1
percent of the atmosphere, have a much greater influence on both short-
term weather and long-term climate. For example, variations in water
vapor in the atmosphere are familiar to us as relative humidity. Water
vapor, CO2, CH4, N2O, and SO2 all have an important property:
5

They absorb heat emitted by Earth and thus warm the atmosphere,
creating what we call the "greenhouse effect." Without these so-called
greenhouse gases, the Earth's surface would be about
30 degrees Celsius cooler – too cold for life to exist as we know it.
Though the greenhouse effect is sometimes portrayed as a bad thing,
trace amounts of gases like CO2 warm our planet's atmosphere enough
to sustain life. Global warming, on the other hand, is a
separate process that can be caused by increased amounts of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Layers of atmosphere:
Atmosphere consists of four spheres extending from the
surface of the earth upwards. The concentration of the components of
gases decreases gradually upwards, that results in gradual decrease of
pressure. But temperature of the atmosphere does not change in
gradual way.
Name of region Height above the Temperature range
earth’s surface and trend
Troposphere 0-12 km 17c- -58c decrease
Stratosphere 12-50 km -58c – 2c increase
Mesosphere 50-85 km 2c - -93c decrease
Thermosphere 85-120 km >-93c increase
6

Troposphere:
This is the lowest part of the atmosphere - the part we live in.
It contains most of our weather - clouds, rain, snow. In this part of the
atmosphere the temperature gets colder as the distance above the earth
increases, by about 6.5°C per kilometre. The actual change of
temperature with height varies from day to day, depending on the
weather.
The troposphere contains about 75% of all of the air in the atmosphere,
and almost all of the water vapour (which forms clouds and rain). The
decrease in temperature with height is a result of the decreasing
pressure. If a parcel of air moves upwards it expands (because of the
lower pressure). When air expands it cools. So, air higher up is cooler
than air lower down.
The lowest part of the troposphere is called the boundary layer. This is
where the air motion is determined by the properties of the Earth's
surface. Turbulence is generated as the wind blows over the Earth's
surface, and by thermals rising from the land as it is heated by the sun.
This turbulence redistributes heat and moisture within the boundary
7

layer, as well as pollutants and other constituents of the atmosphere.

The top of the troposphere is called the tropopause. This is lowest at the
poles, where it is about 7 - 10 km above the Earth's surface. It is highest
(about 17 - 18 km) near the equator.

Stratosphere:
This extends upwards from the tropopause to about 50 km.
It contains much of the ozone in the atmosphere. The increase in
temperature with height occurs because of absorption of ultraviolet (UV)
radiation from the sun by this ozone. Temperatures in the stratosphere
are highest over the summer pole, and lowest over the winter pole.
By absorbing dangerous UV radiation, the ozone in the stratosphere
protects us from skin cancer and other health damage. However,
chemicals (called CFCs or freons, and halons) which were once used in
refrigerators, spray cans and fire extinguishers have reduced the amount
of ozone in the stratosphere, particularly at polar latitudes, leading to the
so-called "Antarctic ozone hole".
Now humans have stopped making most of the harmful CFCs we expect
the ozone hole will eventually recover over the 21st century, but this is a
slow process.

Mesosphere:
The region above the stratosphere is called the mesosphere. Here
the temperature again decreases with height, reaching a minimum of
about -90°C at the "mesopause". It starts from 50km and continues up
to 85km. the temperature changes from 2OC and decrease to -93

Thermosphere:
This is also called lonosphere. The thermosphere lies above
the mesopause, and is a region in which temperatures again increase
with height. This temperature increase is caused by the absorption of
energetic ultraviolet and X-Ray radiation from the sun. The temperature
in this range keep on increasing from -93 oC.
The region of the atmosphere above about 80 km is also caused the
"ionosphere", since the energetic solar radiation knocks electrons off
8

molecules and atoms, turning them into "ions" with a positive charge.
The temperature of the thermosphere varies between night and day and
between the seasons, as do the numbers of ions and electrons which
are present. The ionosphere reflects and absorbs radio waves, allowing
us to receive shortwave radio broadcasts in New Zealand from other
parts of the world.
Above these layers there are also two layers present exosphere and
magnetosphere.

Exosphere:
The region above about 500 km is called the exosphere. It
contains mainly oxygen and hydrogen atoms, but there are so few of
them that they rarely collide - they follow "ballistic" trajectories under the
influence of gravity, and some of them escape right out into space.

Magnetosphere:
The earth behaves like a huge magnet. It traps electrons (negative
charge) and protons (positive), concentrating them in two bands about
3,000 and 16,000 km above the globe - the Van Allen "radiation" belts.
This outer region surrounding the earth, where charged particles spiral
along the magnetic field lines, is called the magnetosphere.

Functions of different layers of

atmosphere:
 Troposphere is where we live.
 The stratosphere where ozone layer exists.
 Mesosphere where meteors burn.
 Thermosphere is where satellites orbit earth.
9

References:

https://www.google.com/search?q=atmosphere+definition+geogr
aphy
 https://niwa.co.nz/education-and-
training/schools/students/layers
 https://www.google.com/search?q=functions+of+the+layers+of+t
he+earth%27s+atmosphere&rlz=1C1GCEU_enPK935PK935&sourc
e=lnms&tbm=isch&sa
 https://www.visionlearning.com/en/library/Earth-
10

Science/6/Composition-of-Earths-Atmosphere/107