Plot a graph showing the proportion of verious gases in eart's atmosphere
Answers
The problem with removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is that it's present at such a low concentration. In a power plant chimney, for instance, carbon dioxide is present at concentrations of 4-12% within a relatively small amount of exhaust air
Answer:
The Earth's atmosphere is mostly composed of a places where water vapor is high, the percentage of all other gases must go down some. This is indicated in the pie chart below. You should be familar with some of the features of the important trace gases described in the text below.
Composition of the Atmosphere near the Earth's Surface
Permanent Gases Variable Gases
Gas Name Chemical
Formula Percent
(by Volume)
Dry Air Gas
(and Particles) Symbol Percent
(by Volume) Parts per
Million (ppm)*
Nitrogen N2 78.08 Water Vapor H2O 0 to 4
Oxygen O2 20.95 Carbon Dioxide CO2 0.0400 400
Argon Ar 0.93 Methane CH4 0.00017 1.7
Neon Ne 0.0018 Nitrous Oxide N2O 0.00003 0.3
Helium He 0.0005 Ozone O3 0.000004 0.04
Hydrogen H2 0.00005 Particles (dust, soot, etc.) 0.00001 0.01-0.15
Xenon Xe 0.000009 Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) 0.00000002 0.0002
pie composition
Pie chart showing percentage concentatrations of gases in Earth's atmosphere. Water vapor is shown as a slice that can be up to 2% of the total. The concentration of water vapor is highly variable and ranges from near 0% to over 2%. Averaged throughout the entire atmosphere, water vapor makes up about 0.4% of the total.
Major Components of the Atmosphere
The Atmosphere has two main components: nitrogen(78%) and oxygen(21%). These make up 99% of the volume of "dry air". In this context "dry air" refers to all gases, except water vapor. Remember that even under the most humid conditions on Earth, water vapor is at most 2% of the atmosphere. Thus, if you were an alien studying the planet earth, you would report that Earth's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and oxygen. The text below mentions the main ways that nitrogen and oxygen gas are removed from the atmosphere and enter the atmosphere as part of chemical cycles.
Nitrogen:
Removed from atmosphere by biological processes that involve soil bacteria. Returned to the atmosphere through the decaying of plant and animal matter.
Oxygen:
Removed from atmosphere by when organic matter decays, combines with other substances, or is taken in during breathing. Is added to the atmosphere through photosynthesis by plants.
Some Important Trace Components of the Atmosphere
Trace gases by definition are scarce in Earth's atmosphere. Yet several of these trace gases are essential for the life that has developed on Earth.
Water Vapor:
The gas phase of water. Water vapor is literally individual molecules of H2O that are part of the collection of gases in the atmosphere.
Varies greatly from place to place, and from time to time. It averages only about 0.4% of the atmosphere, but varies from as much as 4% in the humid tropics to near 0% in cold polar regions.
Enters the atmosphere through evaporation of liquid water.
Water vapor condenses into liquid and solid cloud particles that grow in size and fall to earth as precipitation
Redistributes heat energy on earth and is important to the formation of storms. This is because large quantities of energy are involved in phase changes:
Evaporation (liquid to gas) energy is absorbed from environment
Condensation (gas to liquid) energy is released to the environment
Is a strong greenhouse gas that warms the earth's surface and its atmosphere. In fact water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas on Earth in that it contributes most to the atmospheric greenhouse effect.