Slicing the Atmosphere

SLICING THE ATMOSPHERE

 For this activity you will need:

o Ruler with centimeters

o Pencil

o Crayons or colored pencils

With the pieces of paper connected end-to-end choose one end to be Earth’s surface. Draw a straight across the page about 2 cm from the bottom edge. This line represents sea level. Write “Sea Level” on top of the line.

Below the line write “Scale: 1cm = 1 km.” This means that each centimeter upward from the sea level line on your drawing represents one kilometer of altitude in the real atmosphere. ALL MEASUREMENTS START AT SEA LEVEL.

1. Mount Everest: The tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, is about 9 kilometers high above sea level. On one edge of your paper, measure straight up from the sea level line 9 cm and make a mark. Draw the rest of the mountain. Label it Mount Everest.

2. Thunderstorms: A giant thunderstorm cloud can be several kilometers high. Rain falls from its flat base, about 2 km above sea level. It often towers up to 11 km above sea level, where if flattens and spreads out. Draw a thunderstorm cloud and label it Thunderstorm.”

3. AIRPLANES: Passenger jets usually cruise at an altitude of about 10 km. Draw an airplane 10 cm above sea level and label your jet “Airplane.”

4. HALF ABOVE/HALF BELOW: At an altitude of just 5.5 km you’re already above half of the weight of the atmosphere. That is how much gravity compresses the air. Make a line all the way across your page at 5.5 cm above sea level. Label it like this:

______Half Above______

Half Below

5. Mare’s Tails: Wispy cirrus (SEER-us) clouds, or “mare’s tails,” are very high up—between 10 km and 15 km above sea level. Unlike lumpy cumulus (KUE-mue-lus) clouds, which are built up from water droplets, these clouds are made of ice crystals. Draw wispy clouds between 10 km and 15 km. Label them “Mare’s Tails.”

6. WELCOME TO THE STRATOSPHERE:Make another line across your page at 16 km. above sea level. That’s the end of the troposphere and the beginning of the stratosphere. Label it like this:

______Stratosphere______

Troposphere

7. JET STREAM: The jet streams are wavy currents of fast-moving air. They usually occur between 16 km and 25 km in altitude. Speeds over 500 km per hour have been recorded in jet streams, but usually the winds are around 150 km/hr. Jet streams affect Earth’s weather and are often associated with storms. Make a wide, wavy belt between 16 cm and 25 cm above your sea level line. Label this belt “Jet Streams.”

8. OZONE LAYER: The layer of ozone gas that protects us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet light is found between 25 km and 35 km above sea level. Use a blue color to represent this region. Label it “Ozone Layer.”

9. METEORS: Draw a straight line across your paper at 50 km. above sea level. That’s the end of the stratosphere. This is the mesosphere (MEHZ--oh-sfeer), where most meteors appear. They are usually small specks from space that enter the atmosphere. Normally they burn-up between 70 km and 55 km high in the atmosphere. Label this area :

______Mesosphere______

Stratosphere

10. THIN, BUT HOT: At 90 km the last layer of Earth’s atmosphere is beginning. Radiation from the sun heats what few molecules of gas that are there. Draw a line across your paper 90 cm above Sea Level. This layer rapidly fades to become “Space.” Early rockets took astronauts above this level for missions. Label this area: ______Thermosphere______

Mesosphere

11. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: Today the International Space Station orbits Earth between 330 km and 410 km above sea level. We would need 12-15 pieces of paper to include the ISS in our Slice of Atmosphere.