- There's more in the sky than just what we can see.sky background. sky and clouds background. image by Sergey Sukhorukov from Fotolia.com
The Earth's atmosphere is a relatively thin blanket of gasses surrounding the planet's surface, averaging a thickness of only seven miles. It is divided into four layers: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere. These layers contain a number of gasses, two in abundance and several others in minuscule amounts. - Nitrogen makes up 78% of our atmosphere. It is an inert gas and essentially just fills up the space not used by more active gasses.
- Oxygen makes up another 20 to 21 percent of our atmosphere. It's essential for life on Earth, and interestingly enough, it is poisonous when highly concentrated. Our concentration of 20 to 21 percent seems just right.
- The other 1 to 2 percent of our atmosphere is made up of various trace gasses, including the following:
Argon - 0.93 percent
Carbon Dioxide - 0.036 percent
Neon - 0.00182 percent
Helium - 0.000524 percent
Methane - 0.00015 percent
Krypton - 0.000114 percent
Hydrogen - 0.00005 percent
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Trace Gasses
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