Air

Deutsch: Erdatmosphäre / Español: Atmósfera terrestre / Português: Atmosfera terrestre / Français: Atmosphère terrestre / Italiano: Atmosfera terrestre

The air around us is called atmosphere. It is a layer of a mixed gas (consisting of different single gases) surrounding the whole globe and kept by Earth's gravity.

The atmosphere is a shield against ultraviolet solar radiation by absorbing it.

Like the window panes in a greenhouse the atmosphere keeps the heat from the sun. This is warming the surface and reduces temperature extremes between day and night.

The single gases combining the air of our atmosphere are

• 78 % nitrogen,
• 21 % oxygen,
• <1 % argon,
• 0.04% carbon dioxide, and
• other gases.

The mass of the atmosphere is about 5.2 Pt (peta tons or quadrillion tons or 10¹⁵ tons)

About 75% of the atmosphere is within 11,000 meters from the surface. The higher you go the thinner will be the atmosphere.

There is no border between our atmosphere and the outer space, but per definition the atmosphere ends in an altitude of 100,000 meters.