Weather Whys; Air Composition

This is weather wise. The air we breathe consists of more than just oxygen. Our atmosphere contains many more substances we also take in. In fact, there's a lot more nitrogen in our atmosphere than there is oxygen. Nitrogen accounts for about 78% of our atmosphere, while oxygen runs a distant second at about 21%. Third is the inert gas argon at nearly 1%. There are traces of many other elements and compounds which occur naturally in the earth's atmosphere. For instance, helium, hydrogen, methane, and neon combined make up about 1 500th of our air. Water vapor, of course, occurs naturally and so does carbon dioxide. But unfortunately, since the discovery of fire, man has been adding to the carbon dioxide concentration by burning wood and fossil fuels. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the burning of fossil fuels has increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by about 30%. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen in its place, but some people feared deforestation

has put a serious dent in the plant life available to handle that balancing effort. Another trace atmospheric gas receiving a lot of attention is ozone, which occurs naturally in the stratosphere and provides a helpful layer of protection against ultraviolet radiation. Certain kinds of man-made pollutants apparently destroy the ozone, but ironically automobile exhaust, especially in crowded urban areas, helps produce an overabundance of it. Unfortunately, one can't compensate for the other. The ozone produced with the help of automobiles doesn't do anything beneficial for the stratosphere and on earth only helps choke us up in the form of smog. Carbon has also contributed sulfur dioxide particles to the air from factory smokestacks. Sulfur dioxide can combine with tiny cloud droplets to produce acid fog and acid rain. For weather-wise, I'm Drew Barlow.