GGR112H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Coevolution, Particulates, Thermosphere
Document Summary
The principle substance of earth"s atmosphere is air-the medium of life. Air is called the exosphere, which means (cid:498)outer sphere. (cid:499) the weight (force over a unit naturally odourless, colourless, tasteless, and formless. Above an altitude of 480 km the atmosphere is rarefied (nearly a vacuum) and is area) of the atmosphere, exerted on all surfaces, is air pressure. By composition, we divide the atmosphere into the heterosphere, extending from. 480 km to 80 km, and the homosphere, extending from 80 km to earths surface. Using temperature as a criterion, we identify the thermosphere as the outermost layer, corresponding roughly to the heterosphere in location. Its upper limit, the thermopause, is at an altitude of approximately 480 km. kinetic energy, the energy of motion, is the vibrational energy that we measure as temperature. Heat is the flow of kinetic energy between molecules and from one body to another because of a temperature difference between them.
