...Physical Science II Lab Exercise 10 Pollution of Earth’s Atmosphere Earth’s atmosphere is a dynamic, complex, yet fragile system. Unfortunately it is not treated as such. Pollutants created in the environment by natural processes and humans have a negative impact on our world. Pollution is not a new concept that just became popular in this century. Over hundreds of years, people have taken notice of pollution and its effect on the quality of life. One of the biggest events being the industrial revolution back in the 1700s, which helped spread pollution around the globe. “Natural processes impacting our atmosphere include volcanoes, biological decay, and dust storms. Plants, trees, and grass release volatile organic compounds such as methane, into the air”. Humans contribute man-made pollutants into the air such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. “We are more concerned with human-made pollutants since we have the ability to control it. The largest source of human-made pollution is the burning of fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and gas, in our homes, factories, and cars”. As these pollutants are released in the atmosphere, they mix with moisture in the air to form acids. It then falls back to earth in the form of rain, referred to as acid rain. Rain is necessary to all living things in our world, but when it becomes acid rain the effects are damaging to so many parts of the environment such as soil, water supplies, plants, animals, humans...
Words: 332 - Pages: 2
...Origin and Evolution of the Earth’s Atmosphere Our present day oxygen is originated from H2O molecules and CO2 molecules. The high UV light divides the bonds between the molecules, leaving us with O and OH, which react to form O2 (molecular oxygen) and H. After the O2 begins to gather in the air, the ultraviolet light uses it ability to split matter, it then splits the O2 and produces O (atomic oxygen). Ozone is soon formed after the oxygen atoms react with the O2 to form ozone (O3). The ozone then proceeds to absorb dangerous forms of UV in order for life forms to live on the ground. The 2nd and more important source of atmospheric oxygen is plant life. Plants use photosynthesis to produce oxygen. They need water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to grow, they then turn the H2O and CO2 into plant material, the product is O2. Our present day atmosphere is composed of 5 main components: N2, O2, H2O, Ar, and CO2. N2 (nitrogen), is a clear cold liquid. It is also the most abundant gas in our present day air (77%). O2 (oxygen), is a pale blue liquid, and is also is 20% of the air we breathe. H2O (water vapor), makes up 20% of our present day air and is also a greenhouse gas and it’s concentration ranges from 0-4%. It also occurs naturally in gas, liquid, and solid phases. Ar (argon), is one of the several noble gases. It comes from radioactive decay of potassium in the ground. CO2 (carbon dioxide), is a greenhouse gas. The Earth’s original atmosphere was composed of H, He, CH4, and...
Words: 318 - Pages: 2
...Global warming has become one of the biggest effects on earth’s life for many years now. Every day there are more and more reason’s causing this huge effect on life. Global warming can become a huge danger in the future with the drastic increase it has been becoming over the years. Global warming is caused by reasons like the sun, and the greenhouses effect. Global warming is causes many problems. Wild life is being affected, sea levels are rising, glaciers are melting, and some forests are drying out. Every affect this causes on earths wild life makes it harder and harder for us to live. In order for people to survive we need a steady ecosystem to live in. Global warming affects all parts of the earth and travels right around in its rotation. The sun is a part of why the earth has been rising in temperatures causing glaciers to melt and the rising of our oceans water levels. This forces wild life to fight to survive and migrate around finding new homes to live in. Humans are the biggest cause to global warming over the past 100 plus years. Greenhouses gases are released into the atmosphere letting light through but trapping heat. Sun light comes down to the earth where it can be absorbed and releases heat back into atmosphere. Greenhouses gases then trapping some of the heat while the rest escapes into space causing the “Greenhouse Effect”. The more greenhouses gases we have the more heat will be trapped in our atmosphere enhancing global warming to the max. The greenhouse effect...
Words: 923 - Pages: 4
...The Earth's atmospheric air is a colorless, odorless and tasteless mixture of gases consisting mostly of nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2). It is the part of Earth's atmosphere that humans and all other animals breathe in order to obtain the oxygen needed to sustain life. The Earth's atmosphere not only contains the air we breathe, it also holds clouds of moisture (water vapor) that become the water we drink. Furthermore, it protects us from meteors and harmful solar radiation and warms the Earth's surface by heat retention. In effect, the atmosphere is an envelope that protects all life on Earth. The air may contain pollutants that originate from a variety of sources such as our industries and our vehicles, and can directly or indirectly affect our health and the natural environment. These effects may be experienced near the sources of air pollution and some air pollutants may be transported long distances by the wind, even across political boundaries. Composition of the atmospheric air The adjacent table lists the concentration of fourteen gases present in filtered dry air. Two of the gases, nitrogen and oxygen make up 99.03 percent of the clean, dry air. The other listed gases total to 0.97 percent. Note the amounts of greenhouse gases that are present: water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Additional gases (not listed in the table) are also present in very minute amounts. The atmospheric air is rarely, if ever, dry. Water vapor is nearly always...
Words: 1072 - Pages: 5
...Carmichael SCI245 December 16, 2009 Aimee Pellet Study of the Earth Breaking down a large complex system into smaller parts is called the system approach. The system approach allows for each element that makes up the earth to be focused on separately. Each unit of the Earth system is broken down further into subsystems known as: the Lithosphere, the Biosphere, the Atmosphere, and the Hydrosphere. Each of these elements performs a certain function that is dependent on the other. The Lithosphere is the Earth’s outermost rocker layer. The Biosphere consists of recently decayed and living organisms on Earth’s surface. The Atmosphere is the gases that surround the Earth. The Hydrosphere contains all of the earth’s water and ice, above and below the surface. Losing any of these systems would have a depleting effect on the earth as we know it. There is a cycle to how these systems work, plants gain nutrients from the lithosphere and then these nutrients are incorporated back into the biosphere. When the plants die some of the material left behind is released into the atmosphere and the rest goes back into the lithosphere. Each element provides what is needed to continue the cycle and the cycle is a constant. People depend on each subsystem in the same way that the earth depends on these systems to continue. The lithosphere is important because “There are high mountains ranges like the Rockies and Andes, huge plains like those in Texas, Iowa and Brazil...
Words: 471 - Pages: 2
... Troposphere: The troposphere is the first atmosphere’s layer after the Earth’s crust. This is the layer where all the weather condition such as rain, snow, wind etc. happens. The layer starts immediately after the crust and because of the irregular surface of the Earth, the height of the layer can change, the maximum height is 20 Km and the minimum can be below 6 km. The composition of the troposphere includes nitrogen (78%), oxygen (20%), argon (0.93%, carbon dioxide (0.04%), water vapour and other gases. The temperature tends to decrease with altitude that is the reason why troposphere is also known as an inversion layer. This trend of the temperature is due to the sunlight which through the atmosphere, heats the Earth’s surface and consequently...
Words: 1024 - Pages: 5
...HUMAN HEALTH AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE The Global Warming is not occurring evenly. The effect is high in the poles especially the Arctic. We know the Globe is warming from thermometers placed at various points in the Earth. This gives data from about 1830’s to current day. The oldest thermometer employed to find the atmospheric temperature was from Germany. But the disadvantage is we can go back only 200 years or so. To find the facet of climate before those periods, we use ICE. Ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland are drilled and studied. As snow falls on Earth, which is mostly Ocean, it sinks in due to higher density and so the deeper we drill the Ice cores from, the older the temperature records we will end up analyzing. How do we do this study? Water is made of Hydrogen and Oxygen. There are types of Oxygen, one that weighs 16 and one that weighs 18. These are Atomic weights. This makes the molecules’ weight different. Water that is heavier condenses more readily and water that is lighter evaporates more readily. So near Equator, where the temperature is high the lighter oxygen evaporates more readily as we move to the poles the concentration of Heavier oxygen decreases compared to the concentration of Lighter Oxygen by 5%, since the temperature is lower at the poles and the light water evaporation is reduced. So when you take the ice core from various depths and analysis the ratio of Heavy water to Light water we can figure out the temperature effect...
Words: 3663 - Pages: 15
...Structure and Properties of Atmosphere Earth’s atmosphere refers to a layer of gases surrounding the earth, and it is retained by the gravity of the earth. Earth’s atmosphere protects life by warming the surfaces through green house effect, absorbing ultra violet radiations, and by maintaining temperature variations during daytime and night. The mass of the atmosphere is estimated to be about 5x1018 kg. The major gases of atmosphere by volume include; oxygen (21%), argon (0.93%) and nitrogen (78%) (Donald 56). This paper, therefore, explores the structure and properties of the atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere is divided into five major layers. The arrangement of these layers occurs from the outmost layer to the innermost layer. These layers are arranged based on air pressure and density. For instance, density and air pressure decreases with altitude while temperatures may either increase or remain constant in relative to altitude. Thus, the patterns of temperature/ altitude provide a vital metric for arranging earth’s layers. Firstly, the exosphere is the outermost layer of the atmosphere. The main components of exosphere include; helium, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen molecules (Atmospheric Structure par 4). These molecules are far apart from each other such that they travel hundreds of kilometers without colliding. As a result, the exosphere does not behave like a gas. Succinctly, the free moving particles adhere to ballistic trajectories hence can move in and...
Words: 926 - Pages: 4
...In the following I will discuss the atmosphere of the late Cretaceous (end of the dinosaur era) and how it may have contributed to the extinction events that occurred at the end of this era. I will also discuss how scientists determine the composition of ancient atmospheres. The Cretaceous period was from 145 to 65.5 million years ago. You had the early cretaceous epoch and the late cretaceous epoch. Mass extinction happened and comprised of 80-90% of marine species and 85% of land species, including the dinosaurs. About half of all life-forms died out, including the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, ammonites, and many families of fish, snails, sponges, sea urchins (Benton, 2003). The meteor impact inhibited photosynthesis. The atmosphere was filled with dust cloud which blocked the sunlight for at least a year. Sulfuric acid was injected into the stratosphere. This also created a reduction in sunlight to the Earth by 20%. Because the atmosphere was filled with this acid and dust clouds the plant life and small creatures would die off. It takes at least 10 years for the atmosphere to clear itself of these pollutants. An impact such as this can also produce acid rain. There are many animals that can not handle acid rain. Therefore, this would also play a part in extinction of species. (www.tulane.edu). When it comes to how scientists determine the composition of ancient atmospheres, I found the following; “Ages of ice samples found on the Earth cover a span approaching...
Words: 435 - Pages: 2
...Review Exam 2 1. Planet X has a radius 3 times larger than the earth’s radius. How does this planet’s volume compare to Earth’s volume? a. The volume is 3 times larger than the Earth’s radius. b. The volume is 1/9 the Earth’s radius. c. The volume is 27 times the Earth’s Radius. d. The volume is 1/27 times the Earth’s radius. 2. The moons X and Y orbit 2 different planets. They have the same orbital velocity, but the distance of X from its planet is 2 times the distance of planet Y from its planet. Which planet has more Mass? PLANET X 3. The Earth’s average density is 5.5 kg/L. A planet discovered orbiting another star has an average density of 3.2 kg/L. What does this tell us about this planet? e. The planet must be farther from the star than Earth. f. The planet must have a smaller mass than the Earth, so the mass per Liter is less. g. The planet must be made of a higher proportion of gases and ices than the Earth. h. The planet must have a larger volume than the Earth making the density decrease because matter is more spread out. i. The planet must be terrestrial, with lots of rock and metal. 4. Galaxy Sand and Galaxy Witch are the same distance from Earth, but the angular diameter of Sand is 2X larger. How do the physical diameter’s compare? j. Sand is ½ the diameter of Witch. k. Sand is 2x the diameter of Witch. l. Sand is ¼ the diameter of Witch. m. It cannot be determined...
Words: 2025 - Pages: 9
...Вступ The Greenhouse Effect The greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring process that aids in heating the Earth's surface and atmosphere. It results from the fact that certain atmospheric gases, such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane, are able to change the energy balance of the planet by absorbing longwave radiation emitted from the Earth's surface. Without the greenhouse effect life on this planet would probably not exist as the average temperature of the Earth would be a chilly -18° Celsius, rather than the present 15° Celsius. As energy from the Sun passes through the atmosphere a number of things take place . A portion of the energy (26% globally) is reflected or scattered back to space by clouds and other atmospheric particles. About 19% of the energy available is absorbed by clouds, gases (like ozone), and particles in the atmosphere. Of the remaining 55% of the solar energy passing through the Earth's atmosphere, 4% is reflected from the surface back to space. On average, about 51% of the Sun's radiation reaches the surface. This energy is then used in a number of processes, including the heating of the ground surface; the melting of ice and snow and the evaporation of water; and plantphotosynthesis. The heating of the ground by sunlight causes the Earth's surface to become a radiator of energy in the longwave band (sometimes calledinfrared radiation). This emission of energy is generally directed to space. However, only a small portion of this energy...
Words: 1680 - Pages: 7
...Discuss The Layers And Composition Of The Atmosphere And The Effect Each Has On Climate? The Earth's atmosphere contains several different layers that can be defined according to air temperature. According to temperature, the atmosphere contains four different layers. The first layer is called the troposphere. The depth of this layer varies from about 8 to 16 kilometers. Greatest depths occur at the tropics where warm temperatures causes vertical expansion of the lower atmosphere. From the tropics to the Earth's polar regions the troposphere becomes gradually thinner. The depth of this layer at the poles is roughly half as thick when compared to the tropics. Average depth of the troposphere is approximately 11 kilometers. About 80 % of the total mass of the atmosphere is contained in troposphere. It is also the layer where the majority of our weather occurs. Maximum air temperature also occurs near the Earth's surface in this layer. With increasing height, air temperature drops uniformly with altitude at a rate of approximately 6.5° Celsius per 1000 meters. This phenomenon is commonly called the Environmental Lapse Rate. At an average temperature of -56.5° Celsius, the top of the troposphere is reached. At the upper edge of the troposphere is a narrow transition zone known as the tropopause. The Greenhouse Effect: Heat from the Sun warms the Earth's surface but most of it is radiated and sent back into space. Water vapour and carbon dioxide in the troposphere trap some of this...
Words: 792 - Pages: 4
...constantly rising into earth’s atmosphere and destroying the ozone layer causing global warming. The rise of the temperature on earth puts vegetation, marine life, and human life in serious danger. Generally, holes in the ozone layer are the cause of global warming which has catastrophic effects on our planet. The ozone is in two areas of earth’s atmosphere, the troposphere and the stratosphere. The role of the ozone layer is to absorb most of the UV radiation from reaching the earth’s surface that comes from the sun. There are tons of greenhouse gases produced every year making holes in earth’s ozone layer, which cause harm to all life forms on earth. There are 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution produced by power plants in the United States alone that are being released into the atmosphere destroying our ozone layer which blocks UV radiation from the sun. These UV radiation are harmful to human life, causing increased health issues such as, more skin problems, severe eye conditions and weakening of the immune system. Similar health effects are found in domestic and wild animals also. These effects are also dangerous for marine life because the increase in UV radiation causes damage to marine plant life and fish. The UV radiation affects many materials we use on a daily basis, such as fabrics, plastics and wood. Global warming is the elevation in earth’s temperature do to the rise in particular gases such as, carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. Global warming affects...
Words: 478 - Pages: 2
...these predictions of climates in the future? How will these climate changes affect South-West Western Australia? How does climate change work? Climate change is a natural process that has been functioning on earth for billions of years, it is the regulator of the earth's abililty to support life by the cycles of The Greenhouse Effect. The Greenhouse Effect has made the earth an environment for supporting life through the cycling of energy from the sun via short-wave radiation, which heats the earths surface, then is released into the atmopshere as long-wave radiation. This cycle is made possible by the prescence of Greenhouse gases, which redside in the earths atmopshere, and absorb most of the long-wave radiation given off by the earth, with the remainder being expelled into space. This process cycles the heat from the sun around the earths atmosphere and a climate is the result, without this circulation of energy life cannot exist. Greenhouse gasses absorb long-wave solar radiation, enabling the Greenhouse Effect. The main gasses are Water Vapour H2O (clouds), Carbon Dioxide CO2, Methane CH4 and Nitrous Oxide, with water vapour being the most abundant. The concentrations of these gasses in the atmosphere have a direct influence over the climate, and through natural increases and...
Words: 1429 - Pages: 6
...I. Introduction A. What Causes Global Warning 1. Greenhouse effect 2. Human contribution B. Government Agencies report Global Warning Continues to Rise 1. Fossil fuel use has increased 2. Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for many decades C. Facts and Fiction of Global Warning 1. Facts 2. Fiction II. Conclusion Global Warming: Fact or Fiction According to the New York Times, “Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing world leaders”. The debate on Global warming’s causes and effects are controversial between scientists and some politicians. Scientists believe that the earth is getting hotter due to the greenhouse effect and some politicians believe that Global warming is the natural phenomenon where the earth’s surface temperature increases due to different factors in the earth’s biosphere naturally. The greenhouse effect is basically heat from the sun being radiated back into the earth’s atmosphere and absorbed by water vapors, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone which comprise greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases contribute to about 1% of the earth’s atmosphere but they help regulate our climate by trapping heat in the atmosphere and holding it there. The greenhouse effect is really a good thing because it helps sustain life on earth. Without it the temperature on earth would be approximately 30 degrees colder and our ecosystem would not be able to sustain life as we know it now....
Words: 1134 - Pages: 5
