ERTH 20 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Cloud Condensation Nuclei, Empty Spaces, Photosynthesis
13 Oct 2020
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Document Summary
Air is not a specific gas, but rather a mixture of gases, mainly nitrogen and oxygen. It often contains small quantities of tiny solid and liquid particles held in suspension in the air, as well as varying amounts of gaseous impurities. Gaseous impurities, can often be smelled, and the air may even become visible if enough microscopic solid and liquid impurities coalesce (stick together) to form particles large enough to either reflect or scatter sunlight. Clouds, by far the most conspicuous visible features of the atmosphere, represent the coalescing of water droplets or ice crystals around microscopic particles that act as condensation nuclei. Size of earth"s atmosphere is held to earth by gravitational attraction and therefore accompanies our planet in all its celestial motions. the atmosphere can therefore move on its own, doing things that the solid earth cannot do.
