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What is the Atmosphere?
The atmosphere is a layer of gases that surround the Earth. Without the atmosphere there would be no life on Earth. There are four layers in the atmosphere which are the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesophere and the thermosphere.
The troposphere is the lowest layer and where all weather occurs is between 6 and 10 miles thick. The stratosphere is above the troposhere and is about 30 miles. Above the strosphere is the mesophere which is about 50 miles. The uppermost layer is the thermosphere which has two parts called the inosphere and the exosphere. The Exosphere is the outermost layer and begins at about 400 miles above the earth. The gases of the atmosphere are a mixture of 78.09 percent nitrogen, 20.95 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon, .03 percent carbon dioxide and variable traces of neon, helium, kyrpton and xenon. Return to the Earth Page
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