PAPER of EARTH COMPOSITION

AND LAYER

COMPLIED BY:

DIFAHAR NILSA (4173121010)

NURHAYATI (4173121038)

CLASS : BILINGUAL PHYSICS EDUCATION 2017

SUBJECT : EARTH AND COSMIC

LECTURE : Yul Ifda Tanjung, S.Pd, M.Pd

PHYSICS DEPARTEMENT
FACULTY OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCES
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2020
 PREFACE

First of all, praise and thanks giving to presence of God for His grace and the gift so we
can complete this Paper about Composition about Composition and Layer of Earth by our self.
We would like to thanks to our lecturers Yul Ifda Tanjung, S.Pd, M.Pd for his support and
directives, so we got knowledge about this task.

This critical book report purpose of the task is can give determine to make solution about
the problem. We realize this Paper is far from perfect and there are still many mistakes in this
paper, for that we expect criticism and positive advice from fellow students and lectures for the
betterment of the day to come. Hopefully this paper is helpful in the development of our personal
character, especially for the readers.

Medan, February 2020

Author
 EARTH AND EARTH ATMOSPHERE COMPOSITION
AND LAYER

A. EARTH COMPOSITOIN AND LAYER

Earth is one of the planets that are in our system of
solar. Earth occupies the order of a third in the Solar System,
after the planets Mercury and Venus, and the planet Earth is
the only planet in the Solar System is the inhabited beings
live, especially humans, animals, and plant.

The Earth's atmosphere consists of several

substances, which are composed of elements present in the
earth's layers, as follows: 78% laxatives, 21% oxygen,
Argon 0.9%, and other elements such as carbon dioxide, and ozone which are very small in
number. The earth is covered by a layer of atmosphere, and the surface of the Earth is covered by
71% of the water layer and 29% consists of land.

Earth is also composed of other layers. The structure of the earth's layers is as follows:

1) Lithosphere (Layers of rock forming skin of the earth or crust) 

A layer of earth the top with a thickness of over approximately 70 km which is composed
of rocks making up the skin of the earth. This layer is usually called the earth's crust.

Crust of the Earth has a thickness varying, between 5-65 kilometers. The crust of Earth
consist of two parts, namely the crust oceans and crust continent. Oceanic crust, as the name
suggests, the crust is located at the bottom of the ocean. Oceanic crust has a thickness between 5-
11 kilometers. The crust is aged more younger than the crust continent. There isn’t crust of the
ocean are aged more older than 200 million years. The density of the oceanic crust reaches 3,000
kg / m3. Continental crust, if you look at the globe, you will find that 71 percent of the Earth's
surface is covered by water and the rest is land. You can divide the land on Earth into 6 sections
are called with the continent. Continent it is Eurasia (Europe and Asia), Africa, the Americas
north, American south, Antarctica and Australia. Crust continent are at the bottom continent with
a thickness of approximately 30-55 kilometers. The crust continent age is older than the crust of
the ocean.

Oceanic crust consists of Ca, Mg and Fe and contains <50% SiO2 while continental crust is
Granite because it contains a lot of Si, Al, Na and K.

2) Asthenosphere (Layer sheath or mantle)

Asthenosphere is a layer located under the lithosphere with a thickness of about 2,900 km
in the form of thick liquid material and glowing with a temperature of around 3,000oC, is a
mixture of various materials that are liquid, solid and high temperature gas. Earth's mantle is
built from 2 silicates of Fe and Mg, namely Olivine (Mg, Fe) 2SiO4 and Pyroxene (Mg, Fe)
2SiO3.

The coat is divided into three parts, namely the upper coat and the lower coat. The lower
coat has a thickness of 2,885 km while the outer coat has a thickness of 700 km.

The top of the mantle has plastic material in the form of rock. This layer has solid
properties but if it is flowing it is under pressure. The coat has a thickness of 3,555 kilometers
and a density of 3,250-5,000 kg / m3.

3) Barisfer (Earth's core layer or core) 

Barisfer is the core layer of the earth which is the deepest part of the earth in the form of
a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 kilometers (about 70% of the radius of the Moon) which
is composed of layers of Nife (Niccolum or nickel and ferrrum or iron). This layer can also be
divided into two parts, namely the outer core and inner core.

The inner core temperature can be estimated by considering the theoretical and
experimental resistance shown at the melting temperature of impure iron at pressures below the
inner core limit (around 330 GPa). These considerations indicate that the temperature is around
5,700 K (5,400 ° C). Pressure in the inner core of the earth is slightly higher than the limit
between the outer and inner core, which is around 330 to 360 GPa (3,300,000 to 3,600,000 atm).
Iron can be solid at such high temperatures only because its melting temperature increases
dramatically at pressures of such magnitude.
a) Core outside (Outer Core)

The outer core is the core of the earth which is on the outside. Thick layer is about 2,200
km, is composed of materials of iron and nickel that are liquid, viscous and hot incandescent
temperature of about 3,900 C.
°

b) The core inside (Inner Core)

The core inside is the core of the earth that exist in layers in the thickness of about 2,500
km, is composed on the material of iron and nickel at temperatures were very high which is
approximately 4.8000 C, will however remain in a state of a solid with a density of about 10 g /
o

cm3. It was due to the pressure that is very high on the parts of the earth more.

B. ATMOSPHERE COMPOSITION AND LAYER

The atmosphere is a collection of gases held
near the Earth by gravity. It is also pulled away from
the Earth because a vacuum exists in the harsh
conditions of space. One of the most fundamental
properties of the universe—the second law of
thermodynamics—states that energy (and, there-fore,
mass, because energy and mass are related by
Einstein’s theory of relativity) moves from areas of
higher concentration (in this case, Earth’s lower
atmosphere) to areas of lower concentration (outer
space). The atmosphere thus represents a place where a
balance is generally achieved between the downward-directed gravitational force and the
upward-directed force of buoyancy. This balance is termed hydrostatic equilibrium. This
extremely thin and delicate zone known as the atmosphere makes life as we know it possible on
the planet. When you look in the sky the atmosphere appears to continue infinitely, but if Earth
were the size of an apple, the atmosphere would have the thickness of the apple’s skin.

Technically, the atmosphere is a subset of the air because it is composed solely of gases.
By contrast, air contains not only gases but also aerosols—solid and liquid particles suspended
above the surface that are too tiny for gravity to pull downward. Solid aerosols include ice
crystals, volcanic soot particles, salt crystals from the ocean, and soil particles; liquid aerosols
include clouds and fog droplets.

Because the atmosphere is composed of the lightest elements gravitationally attracted to

the Earth, many assume that it has little or no mass. Compared with the mass of the solid Earth
(6 ×1024 kg; or 6 × 1021 metric tons) and oceans (1.4 ×1021 kg; or 1.4 × 1018 metric tons), the
atmosphere is indeed light. But the atmosphere has a substantial total mass of 5 × 1018 kg (5 ×
1015 metric tons).

The mass of the air is in constant motion, giving considerable impact to the surface
environment. For example, a tornado can cause catastrophic devastation to a location. In the case
of a tornado, the mass of air has substantial acceleration. According to Newton’s second law of
motion, force is the product of mass and acceleration. The two factors combine, in this situation,
to produce a force capable of devastation.

The atmosphere is an extremely complex entity that must be viewed simultaneously on

many levels, both temporally and in three spatial dimensions (west–east, north–south, and
vertical). Atmospheric processes can be difficult to understand. To appreciate the nature of the
atmosphere properly, we must first understand the origins of the atmosphere and its changes
since the origin of the planet.

a. Atmosphere Composition
The atmosphere is the mixture of different types of gases, including water vapour and
dust particles.. Earth's atmosphere consists of Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon dioxide and traces of
the noble gases (Argon, Krypton, Xenon, Neon and Helium) plus water vapour, traces of
Ammonia, Organic matter. Ozone, various salts and Suspended solid particles. Nitrogen and
Oxygen are the two main gases of the atmosphere. 99 percent part of it is made up of these two
gases. Other gases like Argon, Carbon dioxide, hydrogen, Neon, Helium etc. Form the remaining
part of atmosphere. The details of different gases of the atmosphere are given in the table 1.1
 Gas Percentage of Air
Nitrogen (N2) 78,08
99,03
Diatomic Oxygen (O2) 20,95
Argon (Ar) 0,93
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) 0,036
Neon (Ne) 0,00182
Helium (He) 0,000524
Krypton (Kr) 0,000114
Hydrogen (H2) 0,00005
All Others 0,0003
Table 1.1 Composition of Atmosphere

The abundance of N2 has increased as a percentage of the total atmospheric volume

primarily because it is not removed as effectively from the atmosphere as are most other
atmospheric gases. The residence time—the mean length of time that an individual molecule
remains in the atmosphere of N2 is believed to be approximately 16.25 million years.

The next most abundant gas in the present-day dry atmosphere is oxygen, comprising
approximately 21% of the atmospheric volume. About 0.93% of the remaining 1% of the dry
atmosphere is composed mostly of argon (Ar), and a wide array of atmospheric trace gases
constitute the remain-der. Of these, CO 2 is the fourth-most abundant gas in the dry atmosphere,
representing 0.039% of the dry atmosphere, or 390 parts per million (ppm). It plays an especially
important role in maintaining the temperature of the planet at a level comfort-able for life in its
present form. Earth’s early atmosphere apparently contained far more CO2 than today’s and little
or no O2.

The evolution of Earth’s atmospheric composition (including O2) involves significant

interactions with the biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. About 3.5 billion years ago an
interesting development occurred in the extensive waters of primordial Earth that profoundly
affected the evolution of the atmosphere. Single-celled organisms, called prokaryotes, began to
appear. These simple ancestors of bacteria and green algae absorbed nutrients directly from the
surrounding environment. Prokaryotes released CO2 to the atmosphere as a byproduct of
fermentation, the process by which simple organisms acquire energy through the breakdown of
food. The evolution of prokaryotes led to more complex, often multicellular, organisms called
eukaryotes, which contain more complex internal structures and release even more CO 2 into the
atmosphere. Most life on Earth is believed to have evolved from the further development of
eukaryotes. Prokaryotes and eukaryotes would have had to develop in the oceans, however, be-
cause without oxygen in the atmosphere the protective ozone (O3) layer could not have formed to
protect terrestrial life from the harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation emitted by the Sun. Over time,
CO2 continued to accumulate, as it became a larger and larger component of the atmospheric
volume.

By about 3 billion years ago another major development in the history of life on Earth
apparently caused another major change to the atmospheric composition. The early evolution of
eubacteria, and later, protists, and eventually aquatic green plants led to a significant extraction
of CO2 from the atmosphere in photosynthesis the process by which green plants derive energy
through the breakdown of food—and in the accumulating bio-mass of those plants. O 2 is released
into the atmosphere as a byproduct of photosynthesis. As green plants began to populate Earth,
first in the oceans and later on land after the presence of O 2 gradually led to the formation of
ozone (O3) and the O3 layer atmospheric CO2 decreased in concentration while atmospheric O2
simultaneously in-creased. Today most of the atmospheric CO 2 is stored in vast quantities of
sedimentary rock, originally extracted from the atmosphere by living things. The amount of
atmospheric O2 present today probably represents a similar percentage to that of CO 2 in the early
atmosphere

Constant and Variable Gasses

Constant gases are those that have relatively long residence times in the atmosphere and
that occur in uniform proportions across the globe and upward through the bulk of the
atmosphere. These gases include nitrogen, oxygen, argon, neon, helium, krypton, and xenon.
Variable gases are those that change in quantity from place to place or over time (Table 1.2)
 Gas Ppm of Air
Water Vapour (H2OV) 0,1-40.000
Carbon dioxide (CO2) ~390
Methane (CH4) ~1,8
Hydrogen (H2) ~0,6
Nitrous oxide (N2O) ~0,31
Carbon monoxide (CO) ~0,09
Ozone (O3) ~0,4
Fluorocarbon 12 (CCl2F2) ~0,0005
Table 1.2 Concentrations of Variable Gases of the Atmosphere
Several other variable gases are important. Among these, CO 2 is most abundant. As
stated earlier, the variable nature of CO2 stems from its in-creasing quantity over time, since the
late 1700s. The rate of increase is about 0.4% per year or by about 35% since 1800. Other
notable variable gases include CH4, nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon monoxide (CO), tropospheric
ozone (O3) and a family of chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Humans have had
at least some influence in the concentration of all these gases, and CFCs are entirely human
derived. Collectively, these gases make up only a small amount of the atmosphere, but they can
have important implications for some processes.

 Water Vapour
Gaseous form of water percent in the atmosphere is called water vapour. Water vapour
present in the atmosphere has made life possible on the earth Water vapouris the source of all
kinds of precipitation. The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere varies widely across space
because water and energy must be available at the surface for evaporation to occur. Water vapor
content is maximized over locations with abundant energy and surface water, so the wettest
atmospheres occur over tropical waters and rain forest regions. In addition, water vapor is largely
limited to the lower atmosphere because as height increases, atmospheric water vapor is
increasingly likely to condense to liquid water in the cooler, high-altitude conditions. Its
maximum amount in the atmosphere could be upto 4 percent. Maximum amount of water vapour
is found in hot-wet regions and its least amount is found in the dry regions. Generally, the
amount of water vapour goes on decreasing from low latitudes to high latitudes.

In the same way, its amount goes on decreasing with increasing altitude. Water vapour
reaches in the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration. Evaporation takes place in
the oceans, seas, rivers, ponds and lakes while transpiration takes lace from the plants, trees
and living beings.
Surprisingly, some locations that experience little precipitation may have abundant
water vapor in the atmosphere. The maximum amount of water vapor that may exist in
the atmosphere is directly related to air temperature. When high temperatures combine
with a nearby surface water source, high amounts of water vapor are usually present.
For example, the Red Sea region tends to have high quantities of atmospheric water
vapor despite the lack of precipitation. This region is dry not because water vapor is unavailable
but because the region lacks a means by which the precipitation process can occur easily.
As implied by the Red Sea example, deserts are generally not the regions of lowest
atmospheric water vapor content. Instead, polar regions are normally the driest locations on
Earth from an atmospheric moisture perspective. This is because little energy is present in cold
air to evaporate water. Furthermore, as air cools, water vapor readily condenses to form clouds
and perhaps precipitation, thereby minimizing the mass of water vapor in the atmosphere. So the
regions with the least water vapor tend to be the coldest locations on Earth. Over such
locations in winter, the water vapor content approaches zero. The total will never actually reach
zero because there is always at least some water vapor present in the lower atmosphere, but the
total reaches about 0.00001% of the atmospheric volume in central Antarctica.
 Ozone Gas
The amount of ozone gas in the atmosphere is very little. It is limited to the ozone layer
but it is very important. It protects the living beings by absorbing the ultra-violet rays of the sun.
If there was no ozone gas in the atmosphere, there would not have been existence of living
beings and plants on the earth surface.
 Dust Particle
Dust particles are generally found in the lower layers of the atmosphere. These particles
are found in the form of sand, smoke and oceanic salt. Sand particle have important place in the
atmosphere. These dust particles help in the condensation of water vapour. During condensation
water vapour gets condensed in the form of droplets around these dust particles. Due to this
process the clouds are formed and precipitation is made possible.

b. Atmospheric Structure
The atmosphere may be divided into a series of layers based on thermal qualities (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 The vertical structure of the atmosphere

1. Troposphere
The lowest layer of the atmosphere is called the troposphere. This is a very thin zone
confined to the first 8 to 20 km (5 to 12 mi) above Earth’s surface, yet this atmospheric layer
contains approximately 75% of the mass of the atmosphere. The troposphere, the basal part of
the atmosphere, is the most important zone for organisms and is composed mainly of Nitrogen
and Oxygen. It also contains Argon and Carbon dioxide and traces of Helium, Neon, Krypton,
Nitrogen -di- Oxide, Hydrogen, Carbon dioxide, Ozone, Ammonia, Sulphur dioxide etc. The
troposphere contains more than 75 per cent of contents of the earth's atmosphere.

Nearly all the earth's weather conditions including most clouds, rain, and snow occur in
this layer. Meteorologists forecast the weather by studying the troposphere. The troposphere also
contains most of the aerosols and water vapour in the air. The compressibility of air allows its
weight to exert a downward force on, and compress the lower atmosphere. This layer therefore
also contains air of the greatest mass per unit volume: density. The term “troposphere” is derived
from the Greek word meaning “to turn”. This indicates that the troposphere is a region in which
mass is constantly overturning, largely as a result of thermodynamic (heat-driven) processes.

The troposphere is usually warmest near the earth's surface because sunlight that passes
through the air heats the ground and seas. Most insolation passes through the atmosphere before
being ab-sorbed by the Earth’s surface. The heated surface then warms the air directly above it
through the process of conduction. This gives the lowest layers of the atmosphere buoyancy and
causes the air to rise in a process known as convection. Eventually this air cools and sinks.
Because this vertical movement is integral to the development of most weather-related processes,
the troposphere is sometimes referred to as the “weather sphere”.

Because the atmosphere is heated primarily from Earth’s surface and because the
compression of atmospheric gas decreases with height (as the weight of the atmosphere above it
decreases), a decrease of temperature usually occurs with in-creasing height through the
troposphere. This de-crease is known as the environmental lapse rate. Through the troposphere,
air cools at an average rate of 6.5 C°/km (or 3.5 F°/1000 ft), although this value may vary widely
from place to place and from day to day, and even on an hourly basis.

According to one form of Charles’ law, in an ideal gas (which the atmosphere
approximates), density decreases as temperature increases if pressure remains constant. Air that
is warmer than sur-rounding air thus rises. Because Earth is not heated equally and relatively
warm air rises, the tropo-sphere does not have a uniform depth.

Sometimes, especially at night and during winter, the air near earth's surface becomes
cooler than the air above. The temperature in a thin layer of the troposphere then increases with
altitude. This abnormal situation is called a thermal inversion. The worst air pollution outbreaks
occur during thermal inversions because the cold air near the ground traps the pollutants,
preventing them from rising and scattering. A thermal inversion lasts until rain or wind breaks up
the overlying layer of warm air.

The temperature of the troposphere decreases about 6.5 °C for every kilometer of
increase in altitude. The top of the troposphere is called the tropo-pause. This feature marks the
boundary between the troposphere below and the next layer of the atmosphere above (Figure
2.5). The average temperature at the tropopause is about -57°C (-70°F), which represents quite a
decrease from the 15°C (59°F) average temperature of the surface. The temperature stops
decreasing at the tropopause, which is the upper boundary of the troposphere.

The tropopause lies about 10 kilometers over the North and South poles and about 15
kilometers over the equator, and it height varies with season. At the tropopause, the air becomes
too thin to support life. At the tropopause, the air is so cold that the clouds consist of ice crystals.
The coldest part of the troposphere is at the tropopause over the equator. There, the air has risen
so high that its temperature drops as low as 80 °C. The tropopause over the poles can be as much
as 30°C warmer than over the equator.

2. Stratosphere
The stratosphere extends from the Tropopause to about 50 kilometers above the earth's
surface. The layer above the troposphere is the stratosphere. Temperatures remain somewhat
constant from the tropopause upward into the stratosphere for about 10 km (6 mi). This is the
region of the atmosphere above the troposphere in which temperature increases with height. Any
zone of relatively constant temperature with height, such as this one, is called an isothermal
layer. Above the isothermal layer temperatures actually increase with height through the rest of
the stratosphere. The stratosphere contains relatively large amounts of ozone formed by
absorption of ultraviolet radiation. The principal chemical species in the stratosphere are
Nitrogen, Oxygen, Ozone and some water vapour and these are active chemically because of
their interaction with ultraviolet solar radiation. This increase of temperature with height a
temperature inversion is caused by the absorption of UV radiation by the triatomic form of
oxygen (O3), or ozone.

The so-called ozone layer in the stratosphere occurs because of several processes that
have important implications for terrestrial life on the planet. The increase in temperature is due to
the presence of Ozone in stratosphere and Ozone may reach a level of 10 ppm by volume in the
stratosphere. Some of the diatomic oxygen (O2) that enters the atmosphere from photosynthesis
near the surface may reach the stratosphere over time. Because O2 molecules effectively absorb
UV radiation at wavelengths between 0.12 and 0.18 μm, the O2reaching the stratosphere is
exposed to incoming harmful radiation. When this radiant energy strikes O2molecules, a
chemical reaction in the presence of light that splits the molecular bonds photodissociation is
triggered and two mon-atomic oxygen (O) atoms are liberated. Because O is inherently unstable,
it bonds quickly and easily with other atoms and molecules. Some of these O atoms chemically
bond with an O2 molecule to form an O3 molecule that effectively absorbs UV radiation at
wavelengths between 0.18 and 0.34 μm. But in the absorption process the O3 becomes
photodissociated into O and O2, and the O then bonds with another O2 to form O3. The process
then repeats endlessly, ensuring that oxygen is continuously being reworked into O3 in the
stratosphere.
 UV radiation at wavelengths between 0.18 and 0.34 μm is effectively “absorbed” actually
used in chemical processes such that only the UV radiation at wave-lengths between 0.34 and
0.40 μm filters to Earth’s surface. By the time life evolved into shallow water areas and onto land
surfaces, O2 released from photosynthesis had built a stratospheric O3 layer.

Humans have contributed to thinning the very fragile O3 layer over the past half-century
by producing CFCs. Most general uses for CFCs involved refrigeration both as a gas (Freon) and
as an insulating substance (foam and Styrofoam). CFCs were also used as a propellant for
aerosol sprays. When chlorine from CFCs and bromine are re-leased to the atmosphere, they can
make their way upward to the stratosphere where they readily bond with monatomic oxygen
atoms. Such a bond does not allow the O to bond with O2 to produce the O3 that would absorb
UV radiation. The result is that increased amounts of UV radiation reach the surface, where
adverse effects on organisms occur. The ozone formation process is responsible for the
temperature inversion in the stratosphere. The process of O 3 production and dissociation hap-
pens in the stratosphere because this is the upper-most layer for which atmospheric density is
high enough to allow O and O2 to meet and bond quickly enough so that incoming UV radiation
is absorbed effectively.

Very little moisture enters the stratosphere, and so clouds are rare. Airline pilots prefer to
fly in the stratosphere to stay above the weather disturbances that occur in the troposphere. The
stratosphere usually has a lower layer of nearly steady temperature and an upper layer in which
the temperature increases with altitude. The temperature of the lower layer is about -55 °C. The
temperature of the upper layer increases to about -2 °C at the top of the stratosphere, which is
known as the stratopause. Temperatures rise to approximately -18°C (0°F) at the stratopause,
which is about 48 km (29 mi) above the surface. The stratopause is the boundary between the
stratosphere and the layer above it.

3. Mesosphere
The layer above the stratosphere is the mesosphere, from the Greek prefix meso, which
means “middle.” Although this layer does sit near the middle of the atmosphere from an altitude
perspective in the region between the stratopause and about 80 km (50 mi) above the surface the
low density mesosphere does not represent the middle of the atmosphere by density or volume.
Because of the compressibility of gases, the middle of the atmosphere by density and volume is
only about 5.5 km (3.4 mi) above the surface well within the troposphere

Scientists believe the mesosphere has variable air motion like that of the troposphere. The
principal chemical species in the mesosphere are N2, O2, O2+ and NO+. Similar to the troposphere,
temperatures in the mesosphere decrease with height. The temperature inversion characteristic of
the stratosphere is not present in the mesosphere because it is too high for photo dissociated O2
to encounter other oxygen atoms or molecules to bond with quickly enough to absorb the
incoming UV radiation. Instead, the increased density and proximity to the surface and
stratospheric heat sources below the mesosphere make the lower mesosphere warmer than the
top of this layer. The mesosphere has the coldest atmospheric temperatures from about 28 0F {-
20C) to -2160 (-1380C). Mesosphere also has the highest clouds, which appear in summer just
after sunset, as silvery strands called noctilucent or night shining clouds.

The lowest temperatures in earth's atmosphere occur at the top of the mesosphere,
called the mesopause. Temperatures at the mesopause average approximately -84°C (-120°F).
At the mesopause over the poles, air temperatu re drops as low as 1090C during summer. Trails
of hot gases left by meteors can be seen in the mesosphere. Extremely strong winds blow in
this layer. These winds blow from west to east during the winter and from east to west during
the summer.

Few processes of consequence to weather and climate are known to occur in the
mesosphere in part because so little atmospheric mass exists in this zone. Charged particles from
the Sun that are captured by Earth’s magnetic field in the mesosphere can disrupt
telecommunications during their release of energy. These same charged particles are also
responsible for the northern lights (aurora borealis) and southern lights (aurora australis). But
even these processes have minimal effect on Earth’s weather and climate.

From the surface up to the mesosphere, the proportion of atmospheric gases is about the
same as that at the surface, except for the greater con-centration of O3 in the stratosphere. The
first three “spheres” of the atmosphere are thus sometimes collectively known as the
homosphere, which means “same sphere.” Above the mesosphere gases stratify into layers
according to their atomic weights because there is so little mass to “stir them up.” That region is
termed the heterosphere.

4. Thermosphere
The heterosphere corresponds to the final ther-mal layer of the atmosphere, the
thermosphere. Thermosphere is extending upwards from about 100 km above the surface in
which atoms tend to be ionized by incoming solar radiation. Thermosphere extends up to 480 km
above the earth surface and is characterized by steady temperature increase with height from
mesopause. The air in the thermosphere is extremely thin. More than 99.99 per cent of the
atmosphere lies below it. The chemical composition of the thermosphere differs from that of the
lower layers. In the lower regions of the thermosphere, many of the oxygen molecules in the air
are broken into oxygen atoms. The outer layer of the thermosphere consists chiefly of hydrogen
and helium.

The lower part of the thermosphere and the upper part of the mesosphere form the
ionosphere. The principal Chemical species in the ionosphere are O2, O+ and NO+. When
radiation from the sun and from other sources in outer space strikes the air in the thermosphere, it
ionizes (charges electrically) some of the atoms and molecules of the air. These charged atoms
and molecules are called ions. The ionosphere plays an important part in long-distance radio
communication. It reflects back to earth radio waves that would otherwise travel into space.

Like the stratosphere, the thermosphere is characterized by temperatures that increase

with height a temperature inversion. Unlike the stratosphere, however, where the inversion exists
because of O3 absorption of insolation, the thermosphere temperature inversion occurs because
the uppermost N2 and O2 molecules have the first opportunity to absorb insolation. Their position
allows them to attain extraordinarily high temperatures because Earth’s magnetic field captures
charged high-energy particles from the Sun.

The number of those molecules with very high temperatures is miniscule, however,
because of the sparseness of the atmosphere at such heights. The total mass of the thermosphere
accounts for only about 0.01 percent of the total atmospheric mass. The decrease of density,
mass, and volume of the atmosphere can be expressed by the mean free path of a molecule the
distance an individual molecule must travel before encountering another molecule. The mean
free path at the surface is on the order of a micrometer. By contrast, in the thermosphere the
mean free path is on the order of a kilometer or more. Despite the fact that the individual
molecules have very high amounts of energy, there are so few molecules to contain the heat that
even if you could somehow survive for more than a fraction of a second at those heights, you
would freeze to death instantly even at temperatures above 1100°C (2000°F).

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