Atmospheric Composition
Average composition of dry atmosphere (mole fractions) | ||
---|---|---|
Gas | per NASA |
|
Nitrogen, N2 | 78.084% | |
Oxygen, O2 | 20.946% | |
Argon, Ar | 0.934% | |
Minor constituents (mole fractions in ppm) | ||
Carbon Dioxide, CO2 | 383 | |
Neon, Ne | 18.18 | |
Helium, He | 5.24 | |
Methane, CH4 | 1.7 | |
Krypton, Kr | 1.14 | |
Hydrogen, H2 | 0.55 | |
Water | ||
Water vapour | Highly variable; typically makes up about 1% |
Notes: the concentration of CO2 and CH4 vary by season and location. The mean molecular mass of air is 28.97 g/mol.
Read more about this topic: Atmospheric Chemistry
Famous quotes containing the words atmospheric and/or composition:
“Nor has science sufficient humanity, so long as the naturalist overlooks the wonderful congruity which subsists between man and the world; of which he is lord, not because he is the most subtile inhabitant, but because he is its head and heart, and finds something of himself in every great and small thing, in every mountain stratum, in every new law of color, fact of astronomy, or atmospheric influence which observation or analysis lay open.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“There is singularly nothing that makes a difference a difference in beginning and in the middle and in ending except that each generation has something different at which they are all looking. By this I mean so simply that anybody knows it that composition is the difference which makes each and all of them then different from other generations and this is what makes everything different otherwise they are all alike and everybody knows it because everybody says it.”
—Gertrude Stein (18741946)