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Our Atmosphere

Our Atmosphere. What is the atmosphere?. The thin layer of gases that surrounds our planet. Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at a certain place and time. Our atmosphere makes life possible on our planet. Provides us with oxygen. Keeps surface warm so water can exist as a liquid.

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Our Atmosphere

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  1. Our Atmosphere

  2. What is the atmosphere? • The thin layer of gases that surrounds our planet. • Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at a certain place and time. • Our atmosphere makes life possible on our planet. • Provides us with oxygen. • Keeps surface warm so water can exist as a liquid. • Protects the surface from dangerous radiation from the sun. • Protects us from most meteoroids or rocks from space.

  3. The Composition of the Atmosphere • Nitrogen makes up 78% of our atmosphere • Oxygen makes up 21% • Argon makes up almost 1% • All other gases have only trace amounts

  4. Trace elements/compounds • Carbon dioxide: plants use to produce food. Plants take in CO2 and give off oxygen as a waste product. • Animals take in oxygen to make energy and give off CO2 as a waste product. • Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) give off CO2 when they are burned. Rising CO2 levels may cause global warming. • The fizz in soda is really CO2bubbles. • Dry ice is CO2 in the solid state.

  5. Ozone • Ozone is a molecule of oxygen with 3 oxygen atoms instead of 2. • Often formed when lightning interacts with oxygen in the air. • Forms a layer in the atmosphere that absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Without this layer life might not be possible on the surface of the planet.

  6. Earth’s Early Atmosphere • The Precambrian atmosphere was composed mainly of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, along with some methane and ammonia. • Volcanoes spewed water vapor, carbon monoxide, and even more nitrogen and carbon dioxide into the air. Comets also contributed water vapor, but no free oxygen. • So where did the abundant oxygen that has made life as we know it come from?

  7. Precambrian Life • The first life on Earth was cyanobacteria (like single celled blue-green algae). • They used photosynthesis to turn CO2 into the food and energy they needed to survive. • Photosynthesis gives off oxygen as a waste product. • So over the millions of years, oxygen given off by algae built up in the atmosphere, while the amount of CO2 declined.

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