Water and Weather

2. Water and Weather

3. Chapter Five: Earth’s Atmosphere • 5.1 The Atmosphere • 5.2 Layers of the Atmosphere • 5.3 Earth is Just Right

4. Investigation 5A The Atmosphere • Can you measure atmospheric pressure?

5. 5.1 The Atmosphere • Earth’s atmosphereis a layer of gases surrounding the planet. • The atmosphere protects and supports life.

6. Earth’s atmosphere is made of a mixture of gases called air. Nitrogen gas makes up about 78% of Earth’s atmosphere. The second most abundant gas is oxygen, which makes up 21% of Earth’s atmosphere. 5.1 What's in Earth's atmosphere?

7. 5.1 Nitrogen Cycle • Nitrogen is important to protein which is found in the body tissues of all living things. • Nitrogen is cycled through the soil and into plants and finally when living things die and decay.

8. 5.1 The story of Earth’s atmosphere • Earth’s unique atmosphere exists because our planet has the right balance between mass and distance from the Sun.

9. 5.1 Pressure in the atmosphere • The gas molecules closest to Earth’s surface are packed together very closely. • This means pressure is lower the higher up you go into the atmosphere.

10. 5.1 Pressure changes with altitude

11. 5.1 Pressure in the atmosphere • At sea level, the weight of the column of air above a person is about 9,800 newtons (2,200 pounds)! • This is equal to the weight of a small car. • Why aren’t we crushed by this pressure?

12. A barometeris an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure. Long ago, mercury barometers were used. 5.1 Measuring Pressure

13. Since mercury is a poisonous liquid, aneroid barometers are used today. 5.1 Measuring Pressure