10 Things About The Atmosphere That You Don't Know

10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ATMOSPHERE


1: WHAT CAUSES WIND AND WIND FLOW: The cause of wind is the differences in pressure and temperature of a given area. Winds always flow from regions of cooler temperature (high pressure) to regions of warmer temperature (low pressure). The greater the differences in temperatures or pressure, the greater the wind speed


2: WHY DOES AIR PRESSURE DECREASE WITH HEIGHT
The pressure at any level in the atmosphere may be interpreted as the total weight of the air per unit area at any elevation. At higher elevations, there are fewer air molecules above a given surface than similar surface at lower levels. Example, there are few air molecules at 50km than are found at 12km, which is why the pressure is less at 50km

3: WHY ARE GASES SUSCH AS CARBON DIOXIDE, NITROUS OXIDE, METHAN AND CFC CALLED GREEN HOUSE GASES
They are called greenhouse gases because they are able to absorb and emit infra-red radiation.

4: WHY IS IT DANGEROUS TO SEEK SHELTER UNDER A TREE DURING THUNDERSTORM
It is very dangerous to seek shelter under a tree during thunderstorm because when lightning strikes, it delivers an enormous force of electrical energy that can break off branches or even split trunk of the tree.

5: THE HIGHER YOU GO, THE COOLER IT BECOMES? TRUE OR FALSE?
It is true in the layer of the atmosphere where we live. The earth’s atmosphere is divided into five layers: TROPOSHERE, STRATOSPHERE, MESOSPHERE, THERMOSPHERE and EXOSPHERE. The statement is true only in TROPOSHERE (0-15KM above sea level) and in MESOSPHERE. A process called LAPSE RATE (the decrease in temperature with height). Outside these two layers, inversion occurs (the higher you go, the hotter it becomes)

6: DOES PLANEs FLY BEYONG THE TROPOSHERE
Negative, our planes does not fly beyond this layer of the atmosphere, perhaps because it cannot withstand the pressure of the nearest layer of the atmosphere. Our planes rarely reach 14KM.

7: WHICH LAYER OF THE ATMOSPHERE DOES RAIN OCCUR?
I need to state clearly that all our rain falls happen within our layer of the atmosphere we live in (TROPOSPHERE), outside this layer of the atmosphere, they EXIST no rain or rainfall.


8: WHAT IS NOWCASTING?
The forecasting of weather within the next six hours is often referred to as nowcasting. In this time range, it is possible to forecast smaller features such as individual showers and thunderstorm with reasonable accuracy, as well as other features too small to be resolved by a computer model.

9: WHAT IS THE IONOSPHERE?
The ionosphere is the layer of earths atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation. The ionosphere contains plasmas and is made up of three layers, the lowest is called D-LAYER(75-95KM), E-LAYER(95-100KM) and the F-LAYER(150km upwards).

10: HOW DOES THE IONOSPHERE INFLUENCE AM RADIO TRANSMISSION DURING THE DAY AND AT NIGHT
Distant AM radio stations are better received at night because the ionosphere that reflects AM stations is protected from ionizing radiation and ionized particles from the sun. when the sun comes up, it heats up the air, helping to make a part of the air that can reflect radio waves that comes from an AM radion station.