What is air made of?

Online enyclopedia and dictionary of weather terms for the school classroom or college. Book quality descriptions that make the science of meterology understandable, even to kids

HOME	CLOUD/PRECIP FCST MOVIE	TEMPERATURE FCST MOVIE	2005 HURRICANES
NATIONAL RADAR	WATCHES & WARNINGS	STORM REPORTS	2007 HURRICANES

What is air made of?

Dry air is primarily made up of nitrogen (78.09%) and oxygen (20.95%). The remaining 1% is made up of argon (0.93%), carbon dioxide (0.03%) and other trace gases (0.003%). Water vapor (water in its gaseous state) is also present in air in varying amounts.

Interesting facts:

CARBON DIOXIDE: The amount of carbon dioxide, although small, will double in the next 100 years as more petroleum and coal is burned to fuel societies need for energy. About half of the carbon dioxide produced in this way get absorbed by vegetation, which uses it for "food".
OXYGEN: While we know that vegetation produces oxygen as part of photosynthesis, the origin of the huge amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is somewhat of a mystery. It is thought to have been produced from chemical reactions in ocean sediments.

and NOW at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble ...some things your teacher probably never told you about... (See book covers, and first page of each chapter.) more by Roy Spencer: Global Warming and Nature's Thermostat


Get your Weather, without the annoying popups, from by ZIP code or City, State	New! from WeatherStreet.com STUNNING TRUE-COLOR SATELLITE IMAGES

WeatherQuestions.com home

info@weatherstreet.com