Layers of Earth's Atmosphere

Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is to draw a model of the five layers of
Earth’s Atmosphere.

Objectives:
Students will be able to describe the five layers of Earth's atmosphere
and the characteristics of each.

Materials:
• 3 sheets of white paper – 8.5 x 5.5
• pen or pencil
• colored pencils

Procedure: The booklet was already made for you… Holding the
binding of the book toward the bottom, so that the layers open up to
the top, you will use each layer of the booklet to illustrate and describe
each of the main five layers of the Earth’s Atmosphere.

 On the bottom of the 1st flap, title your project : “Layers of the
Atmosphere” or “Earth’s Atmosphere”
 Tiltle first flap ‘Earth’s Surface’. Draw items that represent Earth’s
surface, such as people, trees, houses, buildings, etc. Color the
drawings but not the background. On the back of the project, write a
fact about Earth’s Surface.

 On the 2nd flap, draw the troposphere. Color this area orange and
label it. Draw pictures to indicate that this is the area in which
airplanes fly and weather happens. On the inside of this flap, write
one fact about the troposphere.

 On the 3rd flap, draw the stratosphere. Color this area yellow and
label it. The ozone layer is located in the stratosphere, Label the
ozone. The ozone layer is not a main layer of Earth’s atmosphere,
but it plays a very important role in the atmosphere. Ozone is made
of three atoms of oxygen. Along the border of the stratosphere draw
molecules of ozone in red - 3 connected dots - leaving a tiny area
empty to represent the 'hole' in the ozone layer. Make sure you use
the space that is seen when the book is closed to draw. On the
inside of this flap, write one fact about the stratosphere.

 On the 4th flap, draw the mesosphere. Color this area blue and
label it. This is the coldest layer, so draw a thermometer to
 represent the very cold temperatures. It is also the layer where
meteors are destroyed. Make sure you use the space that is seen
when the book is closed to draw. On the inside of this flap, write a
fact about the mesosphere.

 On the 5th flap, draw the thermosphere. Color this area green and
label it. Inside the thermosphere, you will find the ionosphere,
which is a thin region that contains charged atoms. Label the
ionosphere and draw + and - signs to represent those atoms.
Remember, this is not a layer, just a region in the thermosphere.
Make sure you use the space that is seen when the book is closed to
draw. On the inside of this flap, write a fact about the
thermosphere.

 On the last flap, draw the exosphere. Color this area purple and
label it. The exosphere is a very thin layer of gases that often
escape onto space. To show this, color the area darker toward the
bottom than on the top. Make sure you use the space that is seen
when the book is closed to color. On the inside of this flap. A fact
about the exosphere.

 On the back of the booklet write your name, date, and period.

Your project should be neat and nicely colored. You will not only
be graded on content, but also on how nice it looks.