1. Table of Contents The Air Around You Air Pressure Layers of the Atmosphere Energy in Earth’s Atmosphere Heat Transfer Winds The Atmosphere

2. Composition of Earth’s Atmosphere Earth’s atmosphere consists of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gasses as well as particles of liquids and solids. Nitrogen is the most abundant at approximately 75% of the air but must be fixated through plants before animals can use it. Oxygen makes up roughly 21% of the atmosphere and is directly taken in by plants and animals. Carbon dioxide makes up about 1% of the atmosphere and is essential to plant life. Fuels like goal and gasoline release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Argon is an element that makes up 1% of the atmosphere. Trace elements and dust particles make up the remaining elements in the atmosphere.

3. The Air Around You Gases in the Air Which circle graph shows the correct percentage of gases in the atmosphere? How should each portion of the graph be labeled? What would be a good title for the graph?

4. Air Pressure Air Column The weight of the column of air above you puts pressure on you. How does pressure from air molecules keep you from being crushed? Because air has mass, it also has other properties including density and pressure. Density – amount of mass in a given volume of air. Air pressure – result of the weight of a column of air pushing on an area. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/fore ducators/topnav/materials/listbytyp e/What_is_Atmospheric_Pressure. html#.VNFFX5RdXnh

5. Measuring Air Pressure We use a barometer to measure air pressure. We measure air pressure in millibars. Mercury Barometer: long glass tube open ended while resting in a dish of mercury. Aneroid Barometer: airtight metal chamber that is sensitive to changes in air pressure

6. Altitude, or elevation, is the distance above sea level. Air pressure decreases as altitude increases. As air pressure decreases, so does its density. Altitude Affecting Density & Air Pressure

7. Layers of the Atmosphere http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/earthsatmosphere/ http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/earthsatmosphere/ Scientists divide Earth’s atmosphere into four main layers classified according to changes in temperature. The four layers are the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, and the thermosphere.

8. Layers of the Atmosphere Troposphere and Stratosphere Earth's weather occurs in the troposphere. The stratosphere contains the ozone layer. http://www.brainpop.com/science/eart hsystem/ozonelayer/

9. Layers of the Atmosphere Mesosphere and Thermosphere The mesosphere protects Earth’s surface from being hit by most meteoroids. In the thermosphere, the air is thin and you cannot feel heat.

10. Begin Your Homework Pages 428-431 Altitude, Temperature, Observations for each layer of the atmosphere

11. Layers of the Atmosphere Poster 2/7 With your group, complete the “Layers of the Atmosphere” poster activity. This will be due at the end of class. If you finish early, begin working on the poster questions. What is not finished is homework.

12. Energy travels to Earth as electromagnetic waves, a form of energy that can move through the vacuum of space. Most of the energy from the sun travels to Earth in the form of visible light and infrared radiation (longer wavelengths than red light). A smaller amount arrives as ultraviolet radiation (shorter wavelengths than violet light). What are the types of electromagnetic radiation in the diagram? Radiation from the Sun

13. Energy in Earth’s Atmosphere Some sunlight is absorbed or reflected by the atmosphere before it can reach the surface. The rest of the wavelengths pass through the atmosphere to the surface. wavelengths reach Earth’s surface. Clouds act as mirrors dispersing sunlight in all directions, scattering the light back into space. Why is the sky blue?

14. So… why is the sky blue? A clear cloudless day-time sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colors because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight.

15. Materials at Earth's surface reflect different amounts of energy. How would you use the higher percentages below to show a bar graph? Energy in Earth’s Atmosphere

16. Complete each sentence with a word from the Word Bank to learn what is happening to the energy at Earth's surface and in the lower atmosphere. Energy in Earth’s Atmosphere

17. The greenhouse effect is a natural heat-trapping process in which radiated heat is absorbed by gases such as methane, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. What is the sequence of events that causes it to occur? Greenhouse Effect in Earth’s Atmosphere

18. Heat Transfer Temperature is the average amount of energy of motion of each particle of a substance. We use thermometers to measure air temperature. The metric temperature scale is Celsius where 0 0 C is freezing and 100 0 C is boiling. The Fahrenheit scale is the US scale where 32 0 C is the freezing point and 212 0 F is boiling point.

19. How is Heat Transferred?

20. Winds Differences in air pressure cause the air to move. Wind is the movement of the air parallel to Earth’s surface, and always moves from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. Most differences in air pressure are caused by the unequal heating of the atmosphere. Air over heated surfaces expand and become less dense; cool, more dense air flows underneath the warm, less dense air. We measure wind by looking at their direction and speed. Wind vanes measure direction (north, south, east, west) and anemometers measure wind speed.

21. Local Winds Winds that blow over short distances are called local winds that are caused by the unequal heating of Earth’s surface within a small area (typically near bodies of water).

22. Global Winds Winds that blow steadily from specific directions over long distances are global winds. Like local winds global winds are created by the unequal heating of Earth’s surface, but these occur over a large area. Where does the sun hit Earth most (M) and least (L) directly?

23. The Coriolis effect causes global winds to rotate in a curve. Global winds in the Northern hemisphere turn toward the right and in the southern hemisphere curves toward the left. Global Winds

24. Global Wind Belts The Coriolis effect and other factors combine to produce a pattern of wind belts and calm areas around Earth. Match the descriptions of the global winds with their location on the globe.

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