The Atmosphere Flashcards
What is the atmosphere?
It is a thick blanket of gases surrounding the earth’s surface.
How much does the earth’s atmosphere extend?
500km
How much does the earth’s atmosphere extend?
500km
Which gas is mostly present in the atmosphere?
Nitrogen
Why is nitrogen important for our life?
Nitrogen is essential for the production of protein and is a component for chlorophyll needed by plants.
Explain the greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect is when the small portion of gases like argon help the earth to get a significant amount of sunlight,without it the earth would be a ball of ice,most of the sunlight entering the earth is bounced of back to space but these greenhouse gases trap some energy by the sun which warms our earth.
Name the layers of the atmosphere.
The layers are the troposphere, stratosphere,mesosphere,thermosphere,exosphere.
What is the troposphere?What’s it’s significance?
The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere and oxygen is present here.Cloud formation and rainfall occur here and it is 75% of the atmosphere.
What is the stratosphere?what’s it’s significance?
The stratosphere is the 2nd layer of the atmosphere and it extends to 50km above the earth’s surface.It contains the ozone layer which protects us from the ultraviolet rays of the sun.Plains fly here and there are no clouds.
What is the mesosphere?what’s it’s significance?
The mesosphere is the 3rd layer of the earth and it is the coldest layer.meteors which are known as shooting stars burn here.The water vapour is frozen here.
What is the thermosphere?What’s it’s significance?
The thermosphere is 4500 Fahrenheit.The gas molecules break due to X ray radiation which form positively and negatively charged particles called ions.The thermosphere is also called the ionosphere.Satallites move here and northern lights.
What is the exosphere?
The exosphere is the uppermost later and seperated the atmosphere from outer space.Its very cold and thin with only hydrogen and helium present here.
Why is the mesosphere the coldest layer?
It is the coldest layer because of the low concentration of ozone causing very less solar radiation to be absorbed.
Why is the thermosphere called the ionosphere?
Because of the Xray radiation breaking the gas particles forming positively charged and negetivly charged particles called ions.
What is the karman line?
It is known to be the place where space starts.
