GG101 Lecture Notes - Nitric Acid, Soot, Stellar Atmosphere
Document Summary
Air is a simple mixture of gases that is naturally odourless, colourless, tasteless, and formless. The lives of a cell: compares earth"s atmosphere to an enormous cell membrane. Exosphere: outer sphere where rarefied atmosphere is nearly a vacuum. Heterosphere: outer atmosphere in terms of composition; begins at about 80km (50mi) altitude and extends outward to the exosphere and interplanetary space transition. Gases in heterosphere occur in distinct layers sorted by gravity according to their atomic weight. Thermosphere: 250-480 km above earth; temperatures rise to 1200 degrees c and higher: kinetic (motion) energy is generated as sensible heat, measured as temperature, actual involved heat is small, Mesosphere: 50-80km above earth, within homosphere; averages -90 degrees c, ice crystals glow in rare and unusual night noctilucent clouds. Stratosphere: 18-50km above earth, from -57 to 0 degrees c. Ionosphere: outer functional layer that extends throughout the thermosphere and into the mesosphere below.
