In the last century, manufacturing and widespread use of combustion engines have increased the number of aerosols in the atmosphere as particulate matter spews from smokestacks and exhaust pipes. Burning wood and other materials also add particles to the air.
Like everything on Earth, the air is made of chemicals. Many of these chemical reactions help maintain healthy natural environments and are vital for plants and animals. Nitrogen gas in the atmosphere does almost nothing, but nitrogen elsewhere on Earth is essential for life.
Through the nitrogen cycle , nitrogen makes its way into soil and water, binds with other elements, and can be used by living things. Oxygen from the atmosphere causes oxidation reactions that help break down matter and release nutrients into soils, and is used by humans and animals in cellular respiration. Atmospheric chemistry in the troposphere is also influenced by human-made chemicals that can negatively impact human health and the environment.
For example:. The table below lists the major gas components and their role in the atmosphere. Click on each molecule name to learn more about them. Nitrogen is transferred to plants, animals, and the environment through the nitrogen cycle. See Answer. Best Answer.
Study guides. Meteorology and Weather 20 cards. What is the term for heat transfer because of the movement of electromagnetic waves. What causes a mountain breeze. The gas that makes up about 21 percent of the atmosphere is. What causes the Greenhouse Effect. Atmospheric Sciences 22 cards. An anemometer measures. What determines the temperature of a layer of the atmosphere.
Why does the thermosphere have the highest temperature of all the atmosphere layers. Atmospheric Sciences 26 cards. Which layer of the atmosphere is the highest that an airplane can fly.
Q: The gas that makes up about 21 percent of the atmosphere is? Write your answer Related questions. What is the gas that makes up the largest percent of the atmosphere? It is composed of very widely dispersed particles of hydrogen and helium. Earth is able to support a wide variety of living beings because of its diverse regional climates, which range from extreme cold at the poles to tropical heat at the Equator. Regional climate is defined by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research as the average weather in a place over more than 30 years.
A region's climate is often described, for example, as sunny, windy, dry, or humid. These can also describe the weather in a certain place, but while the weather can change in just a few hours, climate changes over a longer span of time. Earth's global climate is an average of regional climates. The global climate has cooled and warmed throughout history. Today, we are seeing unusually rapid warming. The scientific consensus, as stated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , is that greenhouse gases, which are increasing because of human activities, are trapping heat in the atmosphere.
To better understand the formation and composition of Earth, scientists sometimes compare our planet with Venus and Mars. All three of these planets are rocky in nature and are part of the inner solar system, meaning that they are in between the sun and the asteroid belt. Venus has an almost fully carbon dioxide atmosphere , with traces of nitrogen and sulfuric acid. The planet, however, also has a runaway greenhouse effect on its surface. Spacecraft have to be heavily reinforced to survive the crushing pressure 90 times heavier than Earth , and the oven-like temperatures Fahrenheit or Celsius , found at its surface.
The clouds are also so thick that the surface is invisible in visible light. Because not much sun reaches the surface, this means that Venus has no significant seasonal temperature changes.
When humans and animals breathe, we give off an odorless gas called carbon dioxide, or CO 2. Plants use this gas, along with sunlight, to make food—a process called photosynthesis.
In this process, plants give off oxygen, too! However, large amounts of CO 2 are also produced when cars and power plants burn coal, oil, and gasoline. CO 2 is also the most important contributor to human-caused global warming. Relative humidity is the amount of water that the air can hold before it rains. Humidity in the air is measured with an instrument called a psychrometer. This is called air pressure. You experience high air pressure at sea level because the whole atmosphere is pushing down on you.
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