chemistry of the atmosphere - the atmosphere Flashcards
(14 cards)
what is the proportion of gas present in the atmosphere today
- 78% is nitrogen
- 21% is oxygen
- smaller proportions of other gases which include, carbon dioxide, water vapor and noble gases such as argon
how old is earth
what does this mean
4,600 million years old meaning scientists can’t be certain about early atmosphere
what do scientists think about during the first few billion years
intense volcanic activity
why is this important
these activities released the gases which are found in our atmosphere today
water vapor?
water vapour was released during the volcanic activity, as we called down, it condensed to form our oceans
during this early stage what did earths atmosphere mostly consist of
carbon dioxide with little or no oxygen
which planets was earths atmosphere first like
mars and Venus
what are the main differences between the early atmosphere, and our atmosphere today
- the early atmosphere contained large amounts of carbon dioxide however the atmosphere today only contains a small amount
- the early atmosphere contains very little oxygen where as it makes up 21% of out atmopshere today
what happened to carbon dioxide when the water vapor condensed into the oceans
a small amount got dissolved into the ocean to form a weak acid - this reacted with minerals to form precipitates
what did some of the carbon dioxide in the sea make
corlas, shells
what was formed when muscles and other things like them died
formed the sedimentary rock - limestone
where did the oxygen come form
photosynthetic algae which produced oxygen into the atmosphere
overtime what else produce oxygen
overtime plants evolved which took in carbon dioxide and let out oxygen
as oxygen increased what did this lead to
an atmosphere where animals could evolve
