Glenn Elert
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The Physics Factbook™
Edited by Glenn Elert -- Written by his students
An educational, Fair Use website
topic index | author index | special index
| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) | Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. vol. 2. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992: 278. | "5.8 × 1015 tons (5.3 × 1015 metric tons)" | 5.3 × 1018 kg |
| Campbell, I. M. Energy and the Atmosphere. New York: Wiley, 1977: 350. | "5.3 × 1018 kg" | 5.3 × 1018 kg |
| Wayne, Richard P. Chemistry of Atmosphere. Oxford: Clarendon, 1985: 210. | "5 × 1018 kg" | 5 × 1018 kg |
| Cook, A.H. Physics of the Earth and Planets. New York: Wiley, 1973: 276. | "5.27 × 1018 kg" | 5.27 × 1018 kg |
| Compton's Encyclopedia. Chicago: Compton's, 1996: 217. | "Estimated to be some 5.5 quadrillion (55 followed by 14 zeros) tons (4.99 quadrillion metric tons)" | 4.99 × 1018 kg |
The atmosphere is the transparent envelope of gases and suspendedparticles that surrounds the Earth. Many of the physical and chemicalprocesses that occur in the atmosphere are directly related toits composition. Pressure and density also are important. Atmosphericpressure, usually expressed in units called millibars, is theforce that the total mass of air in an imaginary vertical columnexerts on a given horizontal area of the Earth's surface. Thedensity in the atmosphere is proportional to the pressure (massper unit volume). This relationship, called Boyle's Law, saysthat density decreases with height in the atmosphere. As heightincreases, less mass remains above a given point, therefore lesspressure is exerted. The atmosphere provides us with oxygen andwater, two of the items were mostly needed to human survival.The physics, chemistry, and dynamics of atmospheric processesare studied to understand, predict, and control events affectingweather, climates, and pollution. A mixture of the heavier gasesin the atmosphere lies near the earth. About 95% of the atmosphereby mass below the 25 km altitude. For the Earth, half themass of the atmosphere lies below about 5.5 km altitude,and 99 per cent below 30 km. The atmosphere is mostly madeup of oxygen and nitrogen in their diatomic forms. Without chemicalprocesses involving several of the atmospheric gases, life couldnot exist. After researching in many books to find the mass ofthe earth's atmosphere, I found out that the answer is approximately5 × 1018 kg.
Louise Liu -- 1999
| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) |
Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| Lide, David R. Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, FL: CRC, 1996: 14-7. | "Mass of atmosphere: 5.136 × 1018 kg" | 5.136 × 1018 kg |
| Allaby, Michael. "Air." Facts on File. 1992: 14. | "… the total mass of the atmosphere, which is about 5 million billion (5 × 1015) tons" | 5.5 × 1018 kg |
| Fleagle, Robert G. & Joost A. Businger. An Introduction to Atmospheric Physics. Academic Press, 1963: 13. | "… the total mass of the atmosphere is 5 × 1019 kg" | 5.0 × 1019 kg |
| Macmillan Encyclopedia of Physics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996: 1236. | "The total mass of the atmosphere is approximately 5.2 × 1018 kg, more than 99% of which is within 30 km of the surface." | 5.2 × 1018 kg |
Andrea Gillespie -- 1998
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