Sunscreen for Earth!
Our atmosphere has a special layer of protection high up in the sky 10-50 kilometers (or around 9 to 18 miles) from earth. This is called the ozone layer!
Ozone is a gas, (a gas molecule composed of three oxygen atoms) that soaks in a portion of the radiation from the sun, keeping it from reaching earth, as well as absorbing a portion of dangerous UV light. (called UVB: It causes skin cancers, cataracts and can harm crops and marine wildlife.) We can enjoy this protection blanket for Earth! Even though sunrays feel good on our faces, we can still easily be burned if we are out in the sun too long!
We must wear something to protect us or shade us from the sun if we are spending a lot of time out in it.
The Atmosphere of Earth
Our atmosphere is not simply air or oxygen for humans to simply breathe. It is a little more complicated than that! In fact, it surrounds earth held there by gravity that forms what we call the planet’s atmosphere. It protects all of life by creating a special pressure to make liquid water able to exist on the earth’s surface!
Water is not only necessary for life to exist, but water also absorbs ultraviolet solar radiation, and warms the surface through heat like a greenhouse, reducing hot temperatures and freezing temperatures between day and night. (this regulation of temperatures is called diurnal temperature variation)
Dry air, by itself, has 78% nitrogen, about 20% oxygen and a little under 1% argon and 0.04% carbon dioxide (what human breathe out and plants take in) There are small amounts of other gases (neon, helium, krypton, and xenon) and a fourth of a percent is water vapor (a little more than that exists at sea level). The higher you go in altitude, the atmospheric pressure changes! (This effects ovens and cooking food too!)
Plants have to be able to exist upon earth, they use photosynthesis, and animals and humans need to breathe also. The first atmosphere that surrounds the earth is called the troposphere.
The higher you go in the sky, the thinner our atmosphere gets and harder to breathe. But we won’t discuss the different layers of the atmosphere. Maybe we will in another lesson.
Earth’s environment was definitely different when God first created it than it is today.
A lot of the atmosphere and changes on our earth’s climate had to do with the amazing affect Noah’s flood left upon earth. (but that is a lesson for another time)
Pollution has caused a lot of changes in our environment and skies as well.
So much has changed our environment and atmosphere since God created it, but we do know that when he made the skies, he made everything perfect and good. And at the end of the day, that he created the firmament, God saw what he had made and thought it was good. And it was. It was perfect.
So far, we have the sky, wind, clouds, air, and also the ability to have weather! And surprisingly, there was no rain upon the earth at all. Not the entire creation. In fact, Noah was the very first man to see rain! So, there were no storms, lightning, and thunder.
But you could probably fly a kite, or a hot air balloon! Wouldn’t that be something if God never made land?
On this day God divided the waters from the waters and put the sky (earth’s atmosphere in between. This is a very important step as the atmosphere plays an important role to our survival!
Our atmosphere out of all the others in outer space surrounding other planets are not friendly for life like earth is. The Bible tells us that God made earth for man to inhabit. So, our atmosphere is as special as earth! For without it, there would be no life on earth at all!
