Index Table

1.2 INTRODUCTION: Without oxygen, no life on earth. ........................................................... 2

1.2.1 Concentration of atmospheric gases over the years................................................... 3
1.2.2 Requirements to a habitable planet: .............................................................................. 4
1.2.3 Life conditions on Pandora .............................................................................................. 4
1.2.4 Conclusion : ....................................................................................................................... 5

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 1.2 INTRODUCTION: Without oxygen, no life on earth.

Welcome in this video of atmosphere, we are going to create the atmosphere, we

create the setting, we enter in the core of the subject, we are going to place ourselves
in our environment and to do so, let’s ask ourselves three questions :

(1) Why do we breathe ? Breathing is a movement whose only purpose is to bring

oxygen from the outside to the inside.

(2) What are our lungs good for ? Our lungs are an interface between the external
and internal world, between an air and fluid environment, between air and blood.

(3) What’s the link between oxygen and life ? An atmosphere containing O2 is an
indication of the existence of life. Oxygen allows each cell of our body to have a
metabolism and to function.
There needs to be an atmosphere with oxygen. It hasn’t always been like that. At it’s
beginning, 4 to 5 billion years ago, the atmosphere was highly volcanic, like it still exists
in some volcanic regions of the world, full of water vapour (gas phase of water) and
CO2 (14% at that time), completely incompatible with life. There was no oxygen back
then. What are the conditions to have oxygen in the atmosphere? First, you need
a temperature that allows water to be in its liquid state; Then, there has to be density
and enough gravity to hold that atmosphere around the planet’s surface. And so,
gradually, thanks to water vapour and CO2, two gases that played an important role at
that time to stabilize the temperature on the surface of the earth, Earth could finally
cool down and water could appear in its liquid form.

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 1.2.1 Concentration of atmospheric gases over the years.
Let’s draw a first diagram together, a diagram of the concentration of atmospheric
gases through the years starting at 4.5 billion years. At that time, even if the numbers
are not very accurate, there was approximately 70% of water vapour. As the earth
gradually cools down, water vapour disappears around 4 billion years, while the
oceans appear. The CO2, whose content starts at 14% of the atmospheric composition,
is also going to be gradually reduced because volcanic emission is lowering. It is not
going to disappear completely, but you know there is little CO2 in the atmosphere. The
requirement will be fulfilled around 3 billion years, allowing plants or bacteria to produce
sugar and at last oxygen, from CO2, liquid water and light. From there, oxygen has
gradually reached a stable level of 21% of atmospheric gases.

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 1.2.2 Requirements to a habitable planet:
Let’s go on with the requirements to a habitable planet. If you understood the foregoing,
you’ll easily understand this diagram about the requirements to a habitable planet. On
the abscissa we write the relative distance between the earth and the sun, on the
ordinate we write the density, which is the mass of the earth allowing it to attract and
keep the atmosphere around. We write down the relative density, so the earth is placed
on the intersection of values of 1. Now you can easily place other planets of our solar
system, like Mars, farther away and smaller, or Saturn, also farther, but bigger… Or
even the Moon, far too, but way smaller than the earth. Where is it habitable? On the
right side of the line, it’s too cold, so the water is in its solid state; on the left side of the
line, it’s too hot, the water is in its vaporous state ; above the density is too high and
the planet retains toxic gases like Sulphur ; below there is no atmosphere because it
isn’t held down, that’s what happens on the moon. So the requirements to a habitable
planet for living beings are centered around the earth. What about the other « habitable
» planets?

1.2.3 Life conditions on Pandora

There is one you know… It’s Pandora ! On Pandora, human beings have to wear a
mask, and yet it’s a highly oxygenated atmosphere, there is photosynthesis, vegetation
is luxuriant. Why do we have to wear a mask ? Let’s analyse Pandora’s atmosphere
together : Pandora has roughly the same size as the earth, its concentration in Nitrogen
and Oxygen is also the same. The problem comes from the volcanic emissions, way
more significant on Pandora : so the content in CO2 is almost 18%, that’s very high in
comparison to the earth where it is 0,03%, that’s incompatible with life : you would pass
out after 20 seconds and, because of pH changes, you would die quickly. But there’s
more : there’s Hydrogen Sulphide, which is an irritating gas produced in volcanic

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emissions, it’s the « stink bomb » ; there’s also Xenon, a radioactive gas.

1.2.4 Conclusion :
We created the setting, the environment, life, water, O2, CO2, respiration,… Take the
time to think about all of this.