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Argon is the most abundant noble gas in Earth's crust, comprising 0.00015% of the crust. Nearly all argon in Earth's atmosphere is radiogenic argon-40, derived from the decay of potassium-40 in Earth's crust. In the universe, argon-36 is by far the most common argon isotope, as it is the most easily produced by stellar nucleosynthesis in ...
Argon (18 Ar) has 26 known isotopes, from 29 Ar to 54 Ar, of which three are stable (36 Ar, 38 Ar, and 40 Ar). On the Earth, 40 Ar makes up 99.6% of natural argon. The longest-lived radioactive isotopes are 39 Ar with a half-life of 268 years, 42 Ar with a half-life of 32.9 years, and 37 Ar with a half-life of 35.04 days.
The abundance of argon, on the other hand, is increased as a result of the beta decay of potassium-40, also found in the Earth's crust, to form argon-40, which is the most abundant isotope of argon on Earth despite being relatively rare in the Solar System. This process is the basis for the potassium-argon dating method. [72]
Total atmospheric mass is 5.1480 × 10 18 kg (1.13494 × 10 19 lb), [42] about 2.5% less than would be inferred from the average sea-level pressure and Earth's area of 51007.2 megahectares, this portion being displaced by Earth's mountainous terrain. Atmospheric pressure is the total weight of the air above unit area at the point where the ...
The argon found in Earth's atmosphere is 99.6% 40 Ar; whereas the argon in the Sun – and presumably in the primordial material that condensed into the planets – is mostly 36 Ar, with less than 15% of 38 Ar. It follows that most of the terrestrial argon derives from potassium-40 that decayed into argon-40, which eventually escaped to the ...
A stellar atmosphere is the outer region of a star, which includes the layers above the opaque photosphere; stars of low temperature might have outer atmospheres containing compound molecules. The atmosphere of Earth is composed of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), argon (0.9%), carbon dioxide (0.04%) and trace gases. [2]
Radiometric dating has been carried out since 1905 when it was invented by Ernest Rutherford as a method by which one might determine the age of the Earth. In the century since then the techniques have been greatly improved and expanded. [17] Dating can now be performed on samples as small as a nanogram using a mass spectrometer. The mass ...
The most common gases in air (i.e., nitrogen, oxygen, and argon) have a negligible ability to absorb or emit longwave thermal radiation. Consequently, the ability of air to absorb and emit longwave radiation is determined by the concentration of trace gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide. [15]