Quick study academic meteorology 600dpi

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THE
ATMOSPHERE

2. It was named in 1908 by Teisserence de Bort
and means the region where air turns over.
3. The troposphere is the layer of the atmosphere
in which most of the clouds and weather phe­
nomena occur.
4. The troposphere, in turn, has two layers. The
layer that touches the Earth is called the bound­
ary layer and is about 5 to 10 miles high at the
equator.
5. The troposphere's upper limit is called the
tropopause and varies in height with both sea­
son and location.
a. At the equator, the tropopause is usually about 12
miles high, and at the North Pole, about 5 miles high .
b. In the tropopause, the temperature of the air decreases
steadily as altitude increases. The rate is about -6,50
Celsius (11.7' Fahrenheit) for every kilometer (mile)
you go up. At the top of the tropopause, the tempera­
ture is usually about -60" Celsius.

A. Gas Composition
I. The atmosphere is composed mainly of a
gas known as Nitrogen , which is odorless
and colorless.
2. Oxygen is the next most abundant element,
with other gasses represented only in trace
amounts.
3. It is interesting to note that Helium, one of these
trace gasses, was discovered to exist in the sun
before it was discovered on Earth.
a. The distinctive colors that Helium emits were seen
in the light coming from the sun.
b. Scientists were able to determine what kind of ele­
ment would emit such light.

B. Description of Composition

E. Stratosphere

I. There are several ways to describe the composi­
tion of the atmosphere:
a. By the weight of the constituents.
b. By their volume (below is a list of the principle
gasses in dry air, categorized by volume in the
atmosphere).

I . The stratosphere is the layer of atmosphere that
exists between the heights of 10-35 miles.
2. The temperature in the stratosphere increases

with height because the ozone, which is only
present in the stratosphere, absorbs ultraviolet
radiation from the sun.

F. Mesosphere

PRINCIPLE GASSES OF DRY AIR

Nitrogen
Oxygen
Argon
Carbon Dioxide
Neon
Helium
Methane
Krypton
Hydrogen

1. The mesosphere is the atmosphere above the
stratosphere.
2. The temperature in the mesosphere begins to
fall , often reaching the coldest of any part of the
atmosphere. This coldest region is about 50
miles up, and can be as cold as -100°C.

78.084
20.946
0.934
0.034
0.00182

0.000524
0.00015
0.000114
0.00005

G. Thermosphere
1. The thermosphere is the fourth major layer of
the atmosphere.
2. It starts around 50-60 miles up.
3. Temperatures that get warmer with height char­
acterize the thermosphere.

H. Ionosphere

C. Possible Origination
I. The Earth has what is known as a secondary
atmosphere, which was created after the forma­
tion of the planet.
2. The large gas planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
and Neptune, are entirely made of gas. Jupiter
has a primary atmosphere, which is an atmos­
phere that originated with the planet.
3. There are thought to be two possible origina­
tions of the Earth 's atmosphere:
a. The first hypothesized origination is by out­

gassing.
i. When the Earth formed, it was a giant spinning ball
of molten lava.
ii. As it cooled, gasses trapped in the lava were

"belched" up by large volcanoes.
iii. The combination of these out-gassed vapors, and
the biological transformation of the chemistry of
the atmosphere by hundreds of millions of years of
plant growth , has, it is thought, given us our con­
temporary atmosphere.
b. The second possible origination is by cometary
impact.

i. A comet is a giant iceberg of frozen water and
gasses.
ii. If a large comet struck the Earth several billion
years ago, it could have left a residue of water,
carbon dioxide, oxygen and other gasses.

Note: The first hypothesis is now more widely
accepted.
D. Troposphere
1. The lowest leve l of the atmosphere is known as
the troposphere.

.

I. The ionosphere is the layer within the thermos­
phere or stratosphere in which there are enough
ionized particles to effect the transmission of
radio signals.
2. Ionized particles are atoms or molecules that
have more electrons than protons [negatively
charged] or more protons than electrons

[positively charged].
3. The ionosphere begins about 20-30 miles above
the surface.
4. It reflects longer-wavelength, lower-energy radio
signals, like AM radio, back to Earth, but allows
shorter-wavelength, higher-energy radio signals,
like FM, to pass through into space.
PERCENT OF SEA-LEVEL
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE AT
SELECTED ALTITUDES

Percent of

Sea-Level Pressure


o
3.5
10
20
30
40
50
60

100
50
10
1
0.1

0.01
0.001
0.00003

A. The Earth's Tilt and the Seasons
1. The Earth spins on its axis as it orbits around the Slm.
2. The axis about which it spins is tilted with respect
to the plane about which it orbits the sun.

3.lt is like a top spinning on a floor.

a. TIle top does not point directly up and down as it spins.
b. lt is inclined, in our case, at 23° with respect to
straight up and down.
4. As it orbits the sun, in a near-circular path
called an ellipse, it remains at the same angle
and pointing in the same direction.
a.This tilt means that during a certain time. half of
the year, the top part or the Earth is pointed
toward s the sun more than the lower pan.
b. During this period, the top part receives more sun­
light than the lower part, and therefore, becomes
warmer. This is summer in the upper part, the
Northern Hemisphere, and winter in the lower
part, the Southern Hemisphere.
c. When the Earth is on the exact opposite side of the
sun, the Southern Hemisphere gets more sunlight,
and it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere and
winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
d. Twice a year, the Northern and Southern

Hemispheres get the same amount of sunlight.
I. These times are called the AlIllImllal and ~ernal
Equinoxes.

ii. When it is spring in the Northern Hemi sphere. it
is autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice
versa.

B. Eledromagnetlc Radiation
I. Radiation is the only mechanism of heat trans­
fer that can transmit energy across empty space.
2. The energy that powers our weather is rrom the
sun. Therefore, the energy that powers most, if not
all , of our weather is radiative energy from the sun.
a. The visible part of the spectrum accounts for only
a small part of the radiation fi-om the sun.
b. The vast majority of the radiative energy is invisible
light in the form of radio waves, microwaves.
infrared waves, ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and gamma
rays. All of these forms of energy are the same as
light, only different wavelengths.
3. The radiation from the sun takes several differ­
ent paths after it encounters the Earth. as the
following table summarizes:

Earth

% of
Solar Radiation

Scattered by

Atmosphere into Space
Reflected by Clouds

into Space
Reflected by

Earth's Surface
Absorbed by Atmosphere

and Clouds
Absorbed by

Earth's Surface
The fraction of the total

radiation that is reflected

by the surface of a planet

is called its albedo.

The albedo for the Earth is

5%

22%

3%

20%

50%


30%





•,

C

"


C. Heat Transfer and the Greenhouse EHect
I. About 50°1r, of the solar energy that strikes the
Earth is absorbed by the surface.
2. The atmosphere is basically transparent to short­
wavelength, high-energy light. This light passes
through the atmosphere and heats the Earth.
a. When the Earth radiates away this energy in the
form of long-wavelength infrared radiation , not all
of the energy escapes back into space.
b. Some of this low-energy, long-wavelength radia­
tion is reflected back to Earth by carbon dioxide in

the atmosphere. This is the greenhouse effect.
3. Land heats up faster and to higher temperatures
than water. It also cools down quicker and to
lower temperatures than water.
a. This leads to greater temperature variations for
cities away from water than for those on the coast.
b. The body of water nearby acts as a brake, keeping the
temperature from getting either too hot or too cold.
D. Heat versus Temperature
I. There are important differences between heat
and tem perature.
a. Heat is the microscopic vibration of the particles
that constitute an object.
b. Temperature is a way of comparing the average energy
of the particles in one ohject to the energy in another.
2. Heat is energy. Temperature is relative to some specif­
ic point, such as the boiling point of water.
E. Wind-Chili Effed
I. W hen air passes over water, it causes the water
to evaporate.
a. This water may be in the ocean, a lake, or on the
skin's surface.
b. When water evaporates, it absorbs energy.
c. Since air particl es need more energy to move
aro und than water particles, water must absorb
energy in the form of heat when it evaporates.
2. The more water that is evaporated, the cooler
the surface gets.
a. This is how sweating keeps the body cool in the
summertime.

3. Wind-thill is created when cool air moves over a
surface and carries away some heat with it. It sim­
ply makes the air feel cooler than it actually is.
F. Cloud Formations
I. Cirrus Clouds
a. Cirrus cl ouds are the highe st clo uds in the
atmo sph ere.
b.They usually exist at altitudes between 17,000 and
50,000 feet.
c.Al though they never actually produce rain, they
often precede low-pressure systems that form
many rain and snow clouds.
2. M id d le (Alto) Clouds
a. Mid-level clouds are called altocumulus and alto­
stratus clouds.
b. They exist at al titudes between about 6,000 and
17,000 feet.
c. Altocwnulus clouds are generally fluffY and white.
They are very common on partly sunny days.
d. Altostratuses are grayish, uniform clouds. They
are never whi te. They are characterized by the
stratifi ed covering, which they give to the sky.
3. Low Clouds
a. The low clouds in the sky come in stratus, nimbo­
stratlls, stratoeumulus and cumulus vari eties.
b. Stratus clouds are low, gray clouds that cover the
sky uniform ly.
c. Nimbostratus clouds are those stratus clouds that
produce rain.
d. Stratocumulus clouds are stratus clouds, which cover

the sky unifonn!y but do not produce rain. Cumulus
clouds are low, fluffY clouds that do not produce rain.
4. Cumulonimbus
a. Th ese are the clouds that produce lightning
stonns, hail, and tornadoes.
b. They are produced when unstable air (which is
hotter than its surroundings) is lifted into the
upper atmosphere by a cold front.
c. The warm air is cooled in the upper atmosphere,
thereby producing rain .
d. The top of the cloud may be hi gh enough to pene­
trate into the jet stream , causing the characteristic
anvil-shaped top.
5. Mammatus
a. These are bulging, lumpy clouds sometimes seen
on the underbelly of a cumulonimbus cloud.

b. They are often associated with severe weather.
6. Orographic Clouds
a. This type of cloud is produced when warm air is lift­
ed by mountains into the upper, cooler atmosphere.
b. The warm air is cooled and therefore, produces
clouds and rain.
G. Mixed Skies
I. In the region of a cumulonimbus cloud, many
different types of clouds may be spawned, giving
rise to a condition known as mixed skies.

,... I. Cold air is heavi er than warm air.
"'II!

2. When a col d front is pass ing through an area,
the cold air is closer to the gro und than th e
warm air.
a. Cold fronts move faster than warm fron ts, about
35 km/hr (22 mi/hr).
b. Cold fronts lift the warm air they are moving
into, thereby cooling the ai r mass, and caus ing AfI
clouds and rai n.
3. The rain caused by cold fronts tends to be

more locali zed an d more inten se .

D. Stationary Fronts
I. A stati onary front is a hot or cold front in which
the airflow is parallel to the surface pos ition of the
front. For instance , a front can be im agined to be
like a wal l.
a. A warm front moving away fro m yo u would be
slanted away fro m you and the air woul d be bl ow­
ing in the direction it is mov ing.
b. A cold fron t moving away from you would be
slanted towards you, and the air wou ld be bl owing
in the direct ion it is movin g.
2. In a stat ionary tront, the w ind is bl ow ing left or
righ t, not in the direction of thc wa ll, hence the
tront has no motivation to move .
E. Occluded Fronts
I. An occluded fron t is a situati on in which a cold
front overtakes a warm front.
2. In this case, the coole r air of the cold fron t

meets fro m beh ind the warm ai r being li fted by
the cool air ahead of the warm fron t, an d com­
pl ex weather patterns often form .

ATMOSPHERIC
PROBES &
EXPERIMENTS
W..... Balloons

FRONTS
A. Fronts are the boundary between two air
masses.
1. Warm fronts have higher temperatures and usu­
ally more moi sture than cold fronts.
2. Stable air is that which is not greatly warmer
than its surroundings.
B. Warm Fronts
I. Warm air is lighter than cold ai r.
2. When a warm front is moving through an area,
the warm air is higher than the cold air.
3. Warm fronts usualJy move at about 25 km/hr
(17 milhr).
4. A warm front with stable air tends to produce
light to m oderate precipi tation over an extended
period for a large area.
5. The clouds often associated wiLl} these types of
fronts are cirrus , altostratu s and nimbostratus.
6. Warm fronts with unstable air tend to produce
heavy precipitation and cumulonimb us cl ouds.
C. Cold Fronts

2

A. Weather BaUoons
I. These are the most common types of atmos­
pheric probes.
2. They often carry aloft lightweight scientific
packages that measure such things as tempera­
ture, pressure, relative humidity, and altitude.
3. Balloons that transmit this information via
radio signals are called radiosondes , while
those that have their position tracked by radar
are called rawinsondes. Satellites, airplanes and
rockets obtain other atmospheric information.
B. Ancient Atmosphere
I. Scientists studying sedimentary rocks and
ancient ice formations can explore the atmos­
phere of the past.
2. Sedimentary rocks arc those in which sediment
has accumulated over time and has been
compressed into rock that contains infor­
mation about atmospheric precipitates and
composition.
3. Ancient ice formations may still have air bub­
bles trapped in them from many tens, hundreds
or thousands of years ago, and can , th erefore.
be useful tools in investigating the change in the
atmosphere over time.

I. Hot air rises, cold air descends.

2. Hot air at the equator rises and travels north
./

and south, precipitating rain as it ascends.

3. The dry air comes down at about 2SO north
or south latitude (called the Horse latitudes).
This is, not coincidentally, whe re most of the
world 's deserts tend to be.
a. This cycle described above is known as a Hadley
cell, and this particular cell is the equatorial
Hadley cell.
b. Thc winds in the Hadley cells just north and south
of the eq uator tend to blow to the east.
c. These winds were named the trade winds, and
facilitated much of the New World exploration by
European explorers.
4. The region around the equator where the hot air
rises is known as the do/drums.
a. Sailboats have difficulty moving anywhere in the
doldrums, hence the phrase "in the doldrums."
5. Cold air at the poles descends, trave ls toward
the equator and heats up. Then, it rises near the
Arctic and Antarctic circles.
a. As it rises, it releases rain. This is the polar Hadley cell.
b.ln between these regions, air circulates oppositely
in a semi-stable system called the wastrels.
c. The wastrels often give airplanes traveling from

the U.S. to Europe very strong tail winds, some­
times as hi gh as 200 mph.

EQuat o• • •

Thermocline

B. EI Nino
I. EI Nino was named "the Son," in Spanish, by the
Peruvians, because the patterns reflected that
"he" would usually come around Christmastime.
2. EI Nino is a major change in the surface tempera­
ture of part of the Pacific Ocean, and a large
region of warm surface water off the coast of Peru.
a. The usual situation can be described thusly: Cold
air from the Arctic and Antarctic converges at the
equator off the coast of Peru, and heads westward.
b. II heads toward Indonesia, where a semi-penna­
nent, low-pressure system exists.
c. When a high-pressure system develop s over
Indonesia, the wind stops blowing from the east to
the west, and warm water begins to accumulate off
the coast of Peru (it is no longer being cooled by
the steady flow of cold air).
3. A change in the temperature of the land or water
beneath a body of air will change the way the body
of air behaves.
a. Hot air rises and carri es water; cold air sinks and
is depleted of water.
b.Therefore, a major chan ge in the surface tem­

perature of a large part of the ocean will have a
major effect on global weather patterns.
4 . The meteorological effects of EI Nino are
very complex, but they all begin with thi s
region of warm water off the coast of Peru.
e. La Nina
I. A large region of cold surface water off the
coast of Peru is referred to as La Nina.

,.. 2. La Nina, "the daughter," is so named for th~
opposite effects, in comparison to EI Nino's.
D. Weather Patterns and Air Masses
I. The air masses that influence U.S. weather fall
into roug hly eight different categories.
2. They are classified according to thei r source
region, and the nature of their source location
(l and or ocean).
a. Continental Polar
I. Cold and dry air from the interior of Canada and
Alaska.
ii. It produces cold waves in the winter and heavy
snows in the Great Lakes region.
b. Continental Arctic
i. Very cold and dry air from the Arctic basin and
Green land ice cap.
II. It also produces cold waves in winter.
c. Maritime Polar (Pacific)
I. Mild and cool air from the Northern Pacific Ocean.
ii. It produces heavy orographic precipitation in the
Wash ington State area, low clouds in the summer,

nd low stratus clouds and fog in the winter.
a
d. Maritime Tropic
i. Warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico.
ii. Brings hot and humid conditions, and frequent
thunderstorms.
e. Maritime Polar (Atlantic)
i. Cold, humid air from the Northwestern Atlantic.
ii. Brings periods of cool, clear weather in summer
and an occasional severe storm in winter.
f. Maritime Equatorial
I. Warm, humid air from the subtropical Pacific
Ocean.
II. In the winter, it brings fog and drizzle to the south­
western U.S.
g. Continental Tropical
I. Hot and dry air from the southwestern U.S. and
northern Mexico.
ii. It bri ngs very desiccated conditions to the Great
Plains and occasional droughts.
h. Cyclones and Anti-Cyclones
i. Temperature variations cause pressure differences
in the air.
ii. These pressure differences cause the wind.
3. Around an area of low p ressure, the wind tends
to move in a characteri stic counter-clockwise
motion (clockwise in Southern Hemi sphere)
called cyclonic flow. The low-pressure area
itself is called a cyclone.
4. Around an area of high pressure, the winds

have a characteristic clockwise motion (count­
er-clockwise in Southern Hemisphere), called
anti-cyclonic flow. The area of high pressure is
called an anti-cyclone.

A. Thunderstorm
1. Thunderstorms are cau sed by warm, moi st air
rising though the atmosphere.
a. As the air rises, it cools adiabatically (adiabatic
cooling results from the gas ex panding).
b.lf the ri sing air remains warmer than the sur­
ro unding air, it will continue to rise, as hot air is
lighter than cold air.
c. When it reaches sufficient altitude, it cools below
its dew point and rain results.
2. The top of the thundercloud can be as high as
50,000 feet.
a. The anvil-shaped top is the result of the higher
parts of the cloud entering the j et stream.
3. A thunderstorm producin g one inc h of ra in on a
sq uare yard of surface (3 feet by 3 feet) will
deposit about 2.5 million raindrops.

Beaufort
Force

Name

0
1

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Calm
Light Air
Light Breeze
Gentle Breeze
Moderate Breeze
Fresh Breeze
Strong Breeze
Moderate Gale
Fresh Gale
Strong Gale
Whole Gale
Storm
Hurricane

Miles
Per Hour
<1
1-3

4-7
8-12
13-18
19-24
25-31
32-38
39-46
47-54
55-63
63-73
>73

B. Downbursts and Mlcrobursts
I. Inside of a thunderstorm , there are very strong
winds .

2. These winds resu lt from temperature and pres­
sure differences w ith in the c lou d.
a. Winds going up are call ed updrafts, and are
caused by hot air being li fted by a cold fron t.
b. The downward winds are called downdrafts.
I. The rain, which causes them . falls, cooling the air.
and therefore, making it heavier.
ii. A very intense downdraft is ca ll ed a downbursl.
and can generate winds of 70+ mph .
III. Very small downbursts are called microbursts.
3. Downbursts and microbursts are lead ing causes
of aircraft accidents.

e. Tornadoes

I. A to rnado is a whirling vo rtex of wind .
2. Strictly defined, a/ilflllt'l is the co lumn of wind
that descends from the cloud but does not yet
touch the Earth.
3. The tornado begins when the nannel c loud
makes contact.
4. Th e specif ic ca uses of tornadoes are currently
unknown, but the large-scale impetus for these
storm s is known.
a. The effect is simil ar to an icc skater spinning very
fast.
b. When her arms are stretched out fully, she spi ns at
a certain rate .
C. As she brings her ann in , she spins faster and
faster. The effect is ca lled conservation a/angular

momentum.


5. A large cumulonimbus cloud has a slow, diver­
gent spin.
a. As the warm air rushes upward through the cloud,
it translates its slow rotation into the extremely
fast rotation of the tornado.

111.

G.Ozone

loss of life, especially on the right side of hurri·

canes (in the North ern Hemisphere).
The right side is especially dangerous because the wind
has the speed of the storm and the speed of the wind
relative to the center of the storm added together.

1. The ozone layer screens Ollt harmful ultraviolet
rays from the sun.
2. Man-made chemicals called chlorojlourocar­
bons tend to both destroy the ozone layer and
warm the surface of the Earth.
3. Chlorofiourocarbons (CFCs) are used in refrig­
eration, aerosols and insulation .
4. The result of the large quantities of manmade chemicals in the upper atmosphere has
altered the chemistry of the ozone form ation
process, and created holes in the ozone laye r over
the Pol ar Regions.

The following is a compendium of facts about
tornadoes:
I. More tornadoes occur in tornado alley (Texas,
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Ohio) than
any place on Earth.
2. They occur most frequently in May.
3. The strongest wind in a tornado can be as high
as 300 mph.
4. A tornado in Bangladesh killed more than
1,000 people in 1989.
5. The average path length ofa tornado is about 5
miles long and 200 yards wide.
6. The largest tornado outbreak on record

occurred on April 3, 1974, when 148 tornadoes
struck j 3 states and killed 315 people.
7. A waterspout is a tornado over water.
8. Most tornadoes spin counter-clockwise, the
same direction as hurricanes.
FUJITA-PEARSON TORNADO SCALE

Force Path Length
Path
(mph)
(mUesY: - _W
::..;;.iclth
0-72
73-112
113-157
158-206

0-1
1-3.1
3.2-9.9
10-31
32-99
99-315

0-17 yd.
Light
18-55 yd.
Moderate
56-175 yd. Considerable
176-556 yd.

0.34-0.9 miles
1-3.1 miles

D. Hurricanes
1. The initial step toward the formation of a hurri­
cane b egins with an agglomeration of thunder­
storms called a tropical wave.
a. The tropical wave becomes a tropical depression
when the thunderstorms organize themselves into
a single system.
2. The next stage is the tropical storm, which is
still more organized and has sustained winds 39
to 73 mph in range.
3. When the sustained winds reach the 74-mph
m ark, the storm is said to be a hurricane .
a. Hurricanes have a characteristic spi ral shape.
b. The heaviest squalls are found near the center,
which is a relatively calm region called the eye ..
c. The storm may be several hundred mil es across.
4. In the Northern Hemisphere, a hurricane spins
counter-clockwi se.
5. In the Southern Hemisphere, a hurricane spins
clockwi se.
6. In the Pacific, hurricanes are known as

typhoons.
7. On average, there are about 6-10 hurricanes
every year.
8. The most damaging part of a hurricane is the

storm surge.
a. The storm surge is an upswelling of water that
accompanies the hurricane.
b. The hurricane has a very low barometric pressure,
and it literally sucks the water up into a bulge.
I. The strong winds also whip the waves on top of the
tidal bulge up to heights of 25 feet above normal
sea level.
ii. These tidal surges cause a great deal of damage and

Scale
Number

Winds

Storm Surge

(m h)

(feet)

1
2
3
4
5

74-95
96-110
111-130

130-155
>155

4-5
5-8
8-12
12-18
>18

Damage
Minimal
Moderate
Extensive
Extreme
Catastrophic

E. Lightning
I. Excess elec­
trons in certain
parts of cumu­
lonimbus clouds
cause lightning.
a. Within the cloud,
air is swirling
very fast.
b. Smaller
a nd
larger drops of
water hold onto
their respective

electrons with
different am­
ounts of force ,
and so, drops of
different sizes
passing next to
one
another
cause
electrons to jump from one drop to another.
c. The electrons congregate at the bottom of the
cloud, giving it a negative electric charge.
d. This negative charge causes the Earth beneath the
cloud to gain a positive charge .
3. When the difference between the Earth and the
cloud becomes great enough, a spark jumps
across space, and lightn ing is produced.
a. The flash heats the air in the immediate vicinity ofthe
lightning bolt, which causes it to expand explosively.
b. Thunder is caused by the pressure wave of this
expanding, super-heated air.
4. The tempe rature of the air at the center of a
lightning bolt can be as high as 55 ,000' F,
which is almost six times hotter than the sur­
face of the sun .

A.Auroras
I . Auroras are glowing regions of the atmosphere
caused by particles traveling along the Earth's
magnetic field.

2 . The particles, which reach the Earth via the
solar wind, travel along the magnetic field lines
of the Earth like beads on a wire.
3. When large quantities of these particles pass
through the atmosphere at the same time, they
cause it to glow.

B. Mirages
1. When air is very hot, like it is just above a
roadway on a summer day, it can reflect
light just like a mirror.
2. Often, it reflects the sky, making it appear
as if water is on the ground.
C. Rayleigh Scaner'." is the scattering of blue
light by atoms in the atmosphere. The other col­
ors are not affected, so when we look at the sky,
we see only blue light being scattered toward us.

Rayleigh Scattering

AIR

F. Air Pollution

full

spectrum


I. Sources

a. The major sources of air pollution are coal com­
bustion, agricultural by-products, manufacturing
waste, and the combustion of oil.
b. The direct introduction of pollutants into the
atmosphere is called primary pollution.
c. Pollutants that react chemically with other con­
stituents of the atmosphere to form harmful com­
pounds are called secondary pollutants.
2. Impact on Nature
a. Massive quantities of sulftlr dioxide and nitrogen
oxides are emitted into the atmosphere every year by
industri al processes and automobiles.
b. Once there, they are transformed into weak nitric
and sulfuric acids by very complex processes.
c. The acidity of acid rain is about 4.5, midway between
concentrated sulfuric acid and distilled water.

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3. Impact on Humans
a. One type of air pollution is particulates In the
atmosphere.
b. Partic;tlates are tiny particles suspended in the air.
c. They contribute greatly to smog and other air
pollution problems in major cities and industri­
al centers.
d. Asthma and other lung di seases are exacerbated
by the quantity of particulates in the atmosphere.
e. One estimate has it that air pollution alone con­
tributes to the premature deaths of over 500,000
people worldwide every year.

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