1. Air & The Atmosphere What is the atmosphere?
Slide 1 – 10 DAY 1 How high does the atmosphere go activity, apply picture (Assignment #1)

2. What is the atmosphere?
The Earth is surrounded by a blanket of air, which we call the atmosphere.
It reaches over 560 km from the surface of the Earth
It moderates temperature, protects us from harmful radiation and supports life.

3. The 1st Billion Years
The atmosphere was formed by outgassing of the Earth
The composition of the primitive atmosphere:
carbon dioxide
nitrogen
water vapor
There was originally no oxygen it formed later as a result of photosynthesis

4. Composition of the Atmosphere
Contemporary Atmosphere:
Nitrogen 78.09%
Oxygen 20.95%
Argon 0.93%
Carbon Dioxide 0.03%
less than 0,01%
Neon
Helium
Methane
Krypton
Hydrogen
Nitrogen Suboxide
Xenon
Ozone

6. Troposphere The lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere
Reaches a height of 7 to 20km above sea level
Almost all weather occurs in this layer
The temperature generally decreases as altitude increases

7. Stratosphere Located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere
The earth's ozone layer is located in the stratosphere. Ozone, a form of oxygen, is crucial to our survival; this layer absorbs a lot of ultraviolet solar energy.
Temperatures rise as one moves upward through the stratosphere

8. Mesosphere
Located above the stratosphere and reaches up to 85 km above Earth's surface
Temperatures drop with increasing altitude to about - 100°C – this is the coldest part of the atmosphere
The layer in which a lot of meteors burn up while entering the Earth's atmosphere. From the Earth they are seen as shooting stars.

9. Thermosphere
Located directly above the mesosphere and below the exosphere (1000 km above sea level)
Temperature increases with altitude getting as high as degrees Celsius (due to the Suns energy)
Much of the X-ray and UV radiation from the Sun is absorbed in this layer

10. Exosphere The outermost layer of the Earth's atmosphere
The lower boundary of the exosphere is called the critical level of escape, where atmospheric pressure is very low (the gas atoms are very widely spaced) and the temperature is very low
In this region atoms and molecules escape into space

11. Heat Transfer Within the Atmosphere
Nearly all energy in the Earth’s atmosphere comes from the sun.
Energy travels to the Earth in the form of electromagnetic waves.
Most of the energy from the sun reaches the Earth in the form of visible light and infrared radiation, and a small amount of ultraviolet radiation.
Slides 11 – 14 DAY 2 – Goldilocks activity (assignment #2)

12. UV Radiation Clouds reflect radiation back into space
Dust and other gases scatter radiation in all directions
The Earth’s surface absorbs radiation, and reradiates it as longer wave infrared (heat)

13. Greenhouse Effect
The greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring process that aids in heating the Earth's surface and atmosphere
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 long wave 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

14. Greenhouse Effect

15. Heat Transfer The science of how heat flows is called heat transfer
Heat flow depends on the temperature difference
Two bodies are in thermal equilibrium with each other when they have the same temperature
In nature heat always flows from hot to cold until thermal equilibrium is reached

16. Three Methods of Heat Transfer
Conduction: transfer of heat through matter by molecular activity
Convection: is the transfer of heat by movement of heated material (usually in liquids and gases)
Radiation: transfer of heat through wave energy
Slides DAY 3 – picture activity and Radiation Lab

17. Conduction Good and Poor Conductors
Air is a poor conductor, thus most energy transfer by conduction occurs right at the earth's surface.
At night, the ground cools and the cold ground conducts heat away from the adjacent air.
During the day, solar radiation heats the ground, which heats the air next to it by conduction.

18. Convection
In the atmosphere, convection includes large- and small-scale rising and sinking of air masses and smaller air parcels.
These vertical motions effectively distribute heat and moisture throughout the atmospheric column.
Sea Breeze and Land Breeze?
and contribute to cloud and storm development (where rising motion occurs) and dissipation (where sinking motion occurs).

19. Radiation Radiation is heat transfer by electromagnetic waves
Thermal radiation is electromagnetic waves produced by objects because of their temperature
We do not see the thermal radiation because it occurs at infrared wavelengths invisible to the human eye