CH-5

AIR
Atmosphere: Thin layer of air surrounding the Earth which
contains life-supporting gases, dust particles, and water vapour.
Troposphere: The layer closest to the Earth's surface where all
weather phenomena take place; it extends up to a height of 13
km above the Earth's surface.
Stratosphere: It extends up to a height of 50 km. It is suitable
for flying aeroplanes as it does not have any clouds or other
weather phenomena.
Mesosphere: It lies on top of the stratosphere. It extends up to
a height of 80 km.
Thermosphere: It lies above the mesosphere. The lower part
of this layer is known as ionosphere, which reflects radio waves.
It extends between 80 km and 400 km.
Exosphere: The upper most layer of the atmosphere. It
contains light gases such as hydrogen and helium.
Meteorites: Small pieces of matter that fall on the Earth from
outer space
Weather: Day to day condition of the atmosphere in a place.
Climate: Average weather condition in a place over a long
period of time.
Temperature: Degree of hotness or coldness of air.
Insolation: Amount of solar energy entering the Earth.
Ions: Electrically charged particles.
Atmospheric pressure: Pressure exerted by the weight of air
on the Earth's surface.
Wind: Movement of air from high pressure areas to low
pressure areas.
Local winds: These are winds that blow in one particular place
for a particular period of time.
Periodic winds: These winds blow in a particular direction
during a specific part of the day or year.
Permanent winds: These winds blow throughout the year
without changing their direction.
Coriolis effect: Causes winds to deflect to their right in the
Northern and to their left in the Southern Hemispheres.
Trade winds: Blow in the Tropical regions, from the Sub-
tropical High Pressure belts to the Equatorial Low Pressure
belts.
Westerlies: Blow from Sub-tropical High Pressure belts to Sub-
polar Low Pressure belts.
Easterlies: Also known as Polar winds; they blow from Polar
High Pressure belts to Sub-polar Low Pressure belts.
Monsoon winds: Seasonal winds which reverse their direction
with the change of season.
Sea breeze: Wind blowing from sea to land.
Land breeze: Wind blowing from land to sea.
Importance of atmosphere:
1. Keeps us protect from the harmful rays of the sun.
2. Protect earth from heat
3. Regulate the temperature
4. Layer where weather phenomena takes place.
Composition of atmosphere:

Composition of atmosphere
Air is a mixture of gases like nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon
dioxide. Nitrogen makes up the bulk of air, constituting 78% of
air volume. Oxygen constitutes 21% of air volume. Gases such
as carbon dioxide, argon, helium, ozone, hydrogen, etc., make
up just 1% of the total volume of air. Among the gases,
nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ozone are especially
important.
1. Nitrogen helps in the growth of living organisms. Humans
and animals get nitrogen from the food they eat. In other
words they get nitrogen from the plants. Even plants
cannot directly utilise the atmospheric nitrogen. They get
nitrogen from the bacteria that live in soil and their roots.
These bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form
that plants can use.
2. The second most abundant atmospheric gas, oxygen, is
the breath of life. Humans and animals take in oxygen
from the air they breathe. Green plants release oxygen
into the air during photosynthesis. Oxygen is constantly
being used up by humans and animals, and replenished by
plants. So the quantity of oxygen in the air remains almost
the same. This natural balance can get disturbed if we cut
down plants and trees. Oxygen is also important for
combustion.
3. Carbon dioxide plays an important role, although it is
present in a small quantity compared to nitrogen and
oxygen. It traps heat from the Sun and keeps the Earth
warm enough to sustain life. Without it, the Earth would
have been too hot or too cold to support life. It is CO, gas
that green plants use to make food and release oxygen. In
the presence of sunlight, plants take in carbon dioxide and
convert it into starch by the process of photosynthesis.
4. Ozone is also an important gas as it protects us from the
harmful ultraviolet rays of the Sun.
5. Besides gases, air also contains water vapour and dust
particles. The amount of water vapour and dust particles
in the air varies with time and place. Water vapour plays a
very important role in determining the weather conditions.
There would be no rain or snowfall in the absence of water
vapours. Dust particles help condense water vapour into
 water droplets to form clouds, which eventually cause
rainfall. Besides dust particles, air also contains other solid
matter like pollen grains, volcanic ashes, and smoke.
Structure of atmosphere:
The atmosphere is divided into five layers troposphere,
stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere.
Troposphere:
1. Lowest layer
2. Denest layer
3. Contain the bulk of total mass
4. Weather phenomena takes place
5. The temperature falls 1*C per 165 meters this is known as
normal time lapse.
6. Upper limit is known as tropopause.
Stratosphere:
1. Lies above the troposphere
2. Most stable layer
3. Upper limit is known as stratopause.
4. The lowest part is known as ozonosphere
Mesosphere:
1. Upper limit is known as mesopause
2. Layer above the stratosphere is known as mesosphere.
3. Temperature reaches -100*C.
4. Meteorites enters in this layer and burn in this layer.
Thermosphere:
1. Extend between 80km to 400km.
2. Lower part is known as ionosphere.
3. Contain ions
4. Temperature reaches 1500*C in this layer
Exosphere:
1. Upper most layer
2. Density of air is very low
3. Contains helium and hydrogen
4. Layer merges into outer spacr
 5. Temperatures reach 1500*C.
Weather and Climate:
Weather and climate play an important role in our lives.
Weather refers to the day to day changes in the atmosphere at
a particular place.
It includes changes in temperature, rainfall, sunshine, wind
speed, direction, etc., at a given time and place.
Weather refers to a short-term variations in the atmosphere.
Weather affects our day-to-day life.
Climate refers to general weather conditions over a region over
a long period of time, usually 30-35 years.
Climate does not vary from day to day.
Remains unchanged for long period of time.
Temperature:
Temperature is a degree of coldness and hotness.
Insolation: the amount of solar energy entering the earth
surface.
Terrestrial radiation: The earth surface absorbs insolation
during the day and looses heat at night by earth. This radiation
is known as terrestrial radiation.
GR: Air gets heated up not through Insolaton, but by heat
radiation give off by land.
There are four process which the atmosphere gets
heated up convection, conduction, radiation, and
advection:
1. Convection: refers to the transmission of heat from one
part of a liquid or gas to another by the movement of
particles.
2. Conduction: refers to the transfer of heat from one body
to another through direct contact.
3. Radiation: refers to the transfer of heat energy by a body
in the form of waves.
 4. Advection: refers to the horizontal transfer of heat by
winds. Winds transfer heat from one place to another.
The uneven heating of the Earth gives rise to planetary winds.
Ocean currents: Rivers of hot or cold water which flow within
oceans.
Atmospheric pressure: Atmospheric pressure is the pressure
exerted by the weight of air on the Earth's surface.
Atmospheric pressure varies from place to place and
from time to time due to the following factors:
Air temperature: The distribution of air pressure depends on
the air temperature.
Air density: If the density of air is low at a given place, it
exerts less pressure on the Earth's surface to form a low
pressure area.
Moisture: containing moisture is warmer, lighter, and less
dense than dry air.
Altitude: As the atmosphere is held in place by the
gravitational pull of the Earth, its density decreases with height.
Pressure belts:
Due to differences in temperature, density, moisture and
altitude, atmospheric pressure varies from place to place. This
coupled with the rotation of the Earth leads to creation of
pressure belts.
There are four permanent pressure belts in the world:
Equatorial Low Pressure belt: This belt lies between 5°N
and 5°S latitudes. Temperatures remain high all through the
year in this region due to high rate of insolation.
Sub-tropical High Pressure belts: There are two Sub-
tropical High Pressure belts located between 30 deg and 35 deg
latitudes in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Areas
falling under these belts experience low temperatures
compared to the Equatorial regions.
Sub-polar Low Pressure belts: There are two Sub-polar Low
Pressure belts located between 60° and 65° latitudes in the
Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The low temperatures in
these regions should have ideally led to the formation of high
pressure belts.
Polar High Pressure belts: There are two Polar High Pressure
belts, lying in the North and the South Poles. As the
temperature in these regions is extremely low, the air becomes
very cold and heavy, creating high pressure conditions here.
Wind:
The horizontal movement of air is called wind.
The vertical movement of air is known as air current.
Winds can be of three types local, periodic, and
permanent:
1. Permanent Winds:
Trade winds: Trade winds derive their name from the Latin
word trado, which means 'constant'. In the Northern
Hemisphere, they blow from northeast to southwest and are
therefore called northeast trade winds. In the Southern
Hemisphere, they blow from the southeast to the northwest
and are therefore called southeast trade winds.
Westerlies: blow from Sub-tropical High Pressure belts to Sub-
polar Low Pressure belts. They are called 'westerlies'. They
bring rainfall to the western margins of the continents.
Easterlies: Easterlies are also called Polar winds. They blow
from Polar High Pressure belts to Sub-polar Low Pressure belts.
2. Periodic Winds: Periodic winds blow in a particular
direction during a specific part of the day or year. Monsoon
winds, land and sea breezes are examples of such winds.
Monsoon winds are seasonal winds which reverse their
direction with the change of season.
3. Local winds: Loo is an extremely hot and dry wind that
blows in the northern Indian plains during the months of
May and June. Harmattan is a dry, dusty wind which
originates in the Sahara desert and blows over West Africa
 between November and March. The term 'Foehn' is used to
describe warm, dry, and strong winds that blow down the
slopes of mountains. Chinook is a foehn-type wind which
blows in the eastern parts of the Rockies
4. Variable winds:
Cyclones and anti-cyclones are examples of such winds.
A cyclone is caused when a low pressure area is surrounded by
high pressure on all sides.
Anti-cyclones happen when a high pressure area is surrounded
by low pressure on all sides.
Anti-cyclones move clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and
anti- clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
Humidity:
The amount of water vapour or moisture present in air at any
time is called. humidity.
The amount of water vapour present in a unit volume of air is
called absolute humidity.
It is expressed in kilograms per cubic metre. Relative humidity
is the ratio of the amount of water vapour present in air and the
maximum water vapour air can carry at the temperature and
pressure.
The conversion of water vapour into water droplets is called
condensation.
The process through which condensed water falls on the
surface of the Earth is known as precipitation.
Rainfall is the most common form of precipitation.
Rainfall can be of three types:
(i) Convectional rainfall: The upward and downward
movement of air as it warms or cools is called air current.
It is common in the Equatorial regions.
(ii) Cyclonic rainfall: We know that winds blow from high
pressure areas to low pressure areas pressure centre. This
type of rainfall is common in temperate zones
(iii) Orographic rainfall: Such winds cause rainfall on the
side of the mountain they strike, also called the windward
side. The other side of the mountain, which does not
receive much rainfall, is called the leeward side.