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The thermosphere contains an appreciable concentration of elemental sodium located in a 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) thick band that occurs at the edge of the mesosphere, 80 to 100 kilometres (50 to 62 mi) above Earth's surface. The sodium has an average concentration of 400,000 atoms per cubic centimeter.
The thermopause is the atmospheric boundary of Earth's energy system, located at the top of the thermosphere. [1] The temperature of the thermopause could range from nearly absolute zero to 987.547 °C (1,810 °F).
Total atmospheric mass is 5.1480 × 10 18 kg (1.13494 × 10 19 lb), [36] 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 ...
From the Earth's surface to the top of the stratosphere (50km) is just under 1% of Earth's radius. The exosphere is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet or natural satellite where molecules are gravitationally bound to that body, but where the density is so low that the molecules are essentially collision-less. [ 1 ]
These layers are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. The troposphere is the lowest of the four layers and extends from the surface of the Earth to about 11 km (6.8 mi) into the atmosphere, where the tropopause (the boundary between the troposphere stratosphere) is located. The width of the troposphere can vary depending ...
The Earth's weather is a consequence of its illumination by the Sun and the laws of thermodynamics. The atmospheric circulation can be viewed as a heat engine driven by the Sun's energy and whose energy sink, ultimately, is the blackness of space. The work produced by that engine causes the motion of the masses of air, and in that process it ...
Exosphere: The outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere extends from the exobase upward, mainly composed of hydrogen and helium. Thermosphere: The top of the thermosphere is the bottom of the exosphere, called the exobase. Its height varies with solar activity and ranges from about 350–800 km (220–500 mi; 1,150,000–2,620,000 ft).
The composition of Earth's atmosphere is determined by the by-products of the life that it sustains. Dry air (mixture of gases) from Earth's atmosphere contains 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and traces of hydrogen, helium, and other "noble" gases (by volume), but generally a variable amount of water vapor is ...