Layers of the Atmosphere

3/21/2012

Layers of the Atmosphere

BrainPop! video

Layers of the Atmosphere - Summary

Troposphere: where weather forms

Closest layer to the Earth Up to 16 km above Earth's surface at the

equator, 8 km above the surface at the poles Storms take place here 75% of the atmosphere is in the troposphere Gets cold near the top of the troposphere, near

-75 Celsius.

Stratosphere: where the protective ozone layer floats

16 – 50 km above Earth's surface Protective ozone layer 20% of the molecules in the atmosphere are in

the stratosphere It gets warmer in the stratosphere the farther

away you get from Earth

Mesosphere: where shooting stars burn

50 – 80 km above the Earth's surface Space debris burns up as it enters the

mesosphere (because of friction) Temperature drops as you get farther from

Earth, getting as low as -90 Celsius

Thermosphere: where temperature rises

80 – 640 km above Earth's surface Air is thin, but absorbs a lot of solar radiation so

the temperature can get as high as 230 Celsius Two layers inside: ionosphere and

magnetosphere Ionosphere contains electrically charged

particles that can interfere with radio broadcasts Charged particles in the magnetosphere are

affected by Earth's magnetic field and can create the Northern & Southern Lights

Exosphere: farthest layer

640 – 64,000 km above the Earth's surface Air gets thinner and thinner as molecules drift

into space

In class assignment

Create a graphic organizer to summarize information about the layers of the atmosphere. Each section of your graphic organizer should describe what the layer is and properties of the layer.