The Earth is surrounded by a covering of air which we call the atmosphere.

The Atmosphere

The Earth is surrounded by a covering of air which we call the

atmosphere. It reaches over 384 miles from the surface of the earth,

so we can only see what occurs in the troposphere and the tropopause.

Nitrogen – 78%

Oxygen – 21%

Argon – 1%

Carbon Dioxide – 0.035%

Other – 0.00253%

The above information highlights what the atmosphere is composed of.

It is clearly visible that Nitrogen is the dominant gas as over three

quarters of the atmosphere is made up of this. It is very fortunate

that Nitrogen is not a very reactive gas because if it were not, that

atmosphere would be far less stable and extremely dangerous. The pie

chart refers to the atmosphere today but it was not always made up of

these percentages. It seems that carbon dioxide levels have raised a

lot and these rises may be down to many causes such as the industrial

revolution and constant deforestation.

Natural functions of the atmosphere

The atmosphere is vital for life and acts as a life support system to

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