Scribd
Upload
13 views4 pages

Composition of Earth's Atmosphere Explained

The Earth's atmosphere consists of permanent gases, primarily nitrogen and oxygen, and variable gases, such as water vapor and carbon dioxide, which change in concentration over time. Water vapor is the most abundant variable gas, influenced by temperature and water availability, while carbon dioxide levels fluctuate seasonally and are affected by plant activity and fossil fuel emissions. Many variable gases are present in trace amounts and can be pollutants, with concentrations highest near their sources.

Uploaded by

alanlawtunghang
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
13 views4 pages

Composition of Earth's Atmosphere Explained

The Earth's atmosphere consists of permanent gases, primarily nitrogen and oxygen, and variable gases, such as water vapor and carbon dioxide, which change in concentration over time. Water vapor is the most abundant variable gas, influenced by temperature and water availability, while carbon dioxide levels fluctuate seasonally and are affected by plant activity and fossil fuel emissions. Many variable gases are present in trace amounts and can be pollutants, with concentrations highest near their sources.

Uploaded by

alanlawtunghang
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

1

When we refer to the composition of the atmosphere, we


mean the makeup of the mixture of gases out there.

There are two fundamental classifications of gases in


Earth’s atmosphere: “Permanent” or “Fixed” gases,
whose concentrations do not change except perhaps over
very long periods of time, such as “geological” time; and
“Variable” gases, whose concentrations change over
short enough periods that people can observe the
changes.

Much of Earth’s atmosphere near the ground consists of


the permanent gases. Nitrogen, N2, makes up nearly
four-fifths of this, while about a fifth is molecular
oxygen, O2. A bit less than 1% is argon, Ar. There are
some other permanent gases in extremely low
concentrations, in the part per million or part per billion
range, which we call “trace” gases. All of these gases do
not change concentration in the near term, except to
accommodate the changing portion of the atmosphere
taken up by the variable species.

2
The most abundant of the variable gases are water vapor,
H2O, and carbon dioxide, CO2.

The amount of water vapor in any particular place and


time is highly dependent on availability of the water
molecules, usually evaporation of liquid water, such as
from the ocean surface, and the temperature of the air.
Generally, the higher the temperature, the higher the
water vapor content of the air, unless there is no source
of water molecules. Water vapor is the most abundant of
the variable gases, with concentrations as high as several
percent. This is large, compared to other variable gases,
whose concentrations are generally in the part per
million range or smaller.

Carbon dioxide is relatively abundant as variable gases


go, but a distant second to water vapor. It averages
around 400 ppm near the ground right now, going up and
down a few ppm during the year as the seasons change,
and rising a bit every year, in general, due to emissions
from fossil fuel combustion. The seasonal variation is a
result of the fact that carbon dioxide is used up by green
plants performing green plant photosynthesis during the
spring and summer, while the dormancy of plants during
the winter causes carbon dioxide to build up in the air.

3
Most of the variable gases are present in trace quantities,
and not very uniformly distributed around Earth. In fact,
many are probably pollutants, so their concentrations
will be highest near the sources and during times of
emission.

Actually, by definition, air pollutants will be variable


gases, because they are not usually permanent residents
of the atmosphere—they come with the emissions and go
away after some sink process gets through with them.

So there are going to be numerous species of variable


gases, of which a few are listed here. We should probably
note that stratospheric ozone is not an air pollutant,
because it has beneficial, not harmful, effects on people.

You might also like