What if the Earth's atmosphere disappeared? Will it affect the survival of earth's living creatures?
To understand the above two questions, we must first find out what the atmosphere is tomorrow and what kind of role it plays on the earth!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >What is the atmosphere? </h1>
The atmosphere is a layer of gas mixture that surrounds the earth due to gravity, and it is the outermost gas circle of the earth, which wraps the earth like a shield shield about 1000 kilometers thick.
The main components of the atmosphere are: nitrogen 78.1%, oxygen 20.9%, argon 0.93%, the remaining 0.07% composed of a small amount of carbon dioxide, trace gas and water vapor.
The atmosphere is divided into five levels: the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the ionosphere, and the outermost stratosphere. And each layer plays a different role.
The troposphere is the lowest layer close to the ground, the most active layer in the atmosphere and the most closely related to humans. Our common weather phenomena such as wind, rain, thunder and lightning occur in this layer. The temperature in this layer gradually decreases with the increase of height.
The stratosphere is mainly dominated by stratospheric movement, which is conducive to high-altitude flight, and aircraft generally fly in this layer; In addition, the ozone layer in the stratosphere absorbs more than 90% of the sun's ultraviolet rays, protecting life on Earth from the sun's harmful radiation. The temperature in this layer increases rapidly with height.
The mesosphere refers to the atmosphere between the top of the stratosphere and 85 km. Due to the low ozone content in this layer, at the same time, the solar short-wave radiation that can be directly absorbed by nitrogen, oxygen, etc. has been mostly absorbed by the upper atmosphere, so the vertical decrease rate of temperature is very large, and the convective movement is strong. The temperature near the top of the middle layer is about 190 kai; air molecules can be ionized after absorbing the sun's ultraviolet radiation, which is customarily called the ionosphere D layer; sometimes at high latitudes, summer, and dusk, nocturnal clouds appear.
The ionosphere refers to a layer from 80km to about 500km called a thermosphere. The temperature of this layer increases rapidly with the increase of height, the temperature inside the layer is very high, the change of day and night is very large, and there is still a small amount of moisture in the lower part of the hot layer, so occasionally there are silvery white and slightly cyan luminous clouds.
The fugitive layer is also called the outer layer, the escape layer, and is also the outermost layer of the Earth's atmosphere. Under the action of solar ultraviolet rays and cosmic rays, most of the molecules in this layer of air are ionized; The content of protons and helium nuclei greatly exceeds the content of neutral hydrogen atoms. The air in the escape layer is extremely thin, and its density is almost the same as that of space, so it is often called the outer atmosphere.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > what role does the atmosphere play on Earth? </h1>
The role of the atmosphere on the earth has been described above, and it can also be understood in 5 layers here!
(1) Maintain the hydrosphere cycle
(2) Maintain excessive oxygen on the surface
(3) Absorb ultraviolet short-wave radiation
(4) Ensure the volatility of liquid water bodies
(5) Blocking outer space matter
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > what happens if the atmosphere disappears? </h1>
If the atmosphere disappears, then the earth will not be able to offset the outer space material, water oxygen will stop circulating, the earth that has lost the gas shield will be 100% baked by the sun's ultraviolet rays, and the disaster will refresh the earth wave after wave.
So will the disappearance of the atmosphere happen? Theoretically, no, but it is theory after all, according to scientists, the ozone layer over Antarctica has reached 24 million square kilometers at its peak. The ozone layer over Antarctica formed over 2 billion years, but was destroyed by 60 percent in a century. The ozone layer over the Northern Hemisphere is also thinner than ever, with an average reduction of 10 to 15 percent over Europe and North America and 35 percent over Siberia. So scientists warn that the destruction of the ozone layer above the earth is far more serious than the average person thinks.
Schematic diagram of the ozone hole in Antarctica
The stratosphere of the Earth's atmosphere accumulates 90% of the total amount of ozone in nature, which constitutes the atmospheric ozone layer. Although the mass of ozone accounts for only 1/1000000 of the entire atmosphere, and its thickness is only 3 mm, which shows that its amount is microscopic, it can absorb 99% of the ultraviolet rays from the sun, so that the earth is protected from the excessive radiation of the sun's ultraviolet rays. It is the ozone layer, the "umbrella of life", that shelters human beings and all living beings on the earth!
In recent years, the hole in the ozone layer that has been concerned about is actually the ozone content of a certain region, which has been reduced to the point where it is not enough to intercept ultraviolet rays to the point where it cannot harm organisms. Because ozone in the Earth's atmosphere is constantly decomposing and recombining, scientists have concluded that this result is likely to be caused by humans.
Some pollutants emitted by human production and life, such as fluorochlorofluorocarbon compounds of refrigerants such as refrigerators and air conditioners, and other uses of fluorofromides and other compounds, they can be stimulated after being irradiated by ultraviolet rays, forming a very active atom and ozone layer ozone (O3) action, so that it becomes an oxygen molecule (O2), this effect occurs in a chain, ozone is rapidly depleted, so that the ozone layer is destroyed.
Scientists have shown that this "hole" can and is being filled if humans take steps to reduce until the elimination of human behavior that destroys the ozone layer. The ozone in the ozone layer is naturally formed in the atmosphere higher than the ground, and its formation mechanism is: O2 +hv→O+O (the oxygen in the upper atmosphere is irradiated by ultraviolet rays with a wavelength shorter than 242 nm into free oxygen atoms); O2 +O = O3 (some free oxygen atoms combine with oxygen to form ozone, and 90% of the ozone in the atmosphere is formed in this way); O3 is an unstable molecule, and the radiation from the sun shorter than 1140 nm makes O3 decompose. O2 molecules and free O atoms are produced, so the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere depends on the dynamic equilibrium of its formation and decomposition rate.
The disappearance of the atmosphere may be a fool's dream, but the ozone layer will be destroyed by pollution, Antarctica is a good example, the good news is that the hole in the ozone above the Antarctic is slowly healing, in recent years, human beings have also made great changes to the natural ecological environment, protecting the ecological balance, is the survival of life species!
Map of the ozone hole in Antarctica in 2020