UNIT 1 ENVIRONMENT Environment is a French word Environ MEANS -encircle or surround Defined as ones surroundings Abiotic+biotic = Environment Global

lobal environment consists of 1. Atmosphere 2. Hydrosphere 3. Lithosphere 4. Biosphere ATMOSPHERE Atmosphere absorbs most of the cosmic rays from outer space Also absorbs Electro Magnetic Radiations from sun Atmosphere transmits near UV rays, visible rays, near infrared rays and radio waves UV radiation is tissue damaging Atmosphere maintains heat balance of the earth by absorbing infrared from sun and reemitted by earth Different layers of the atmosphere are troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere, and exosphere(ionosphere) Composition of trophspheric air is 1. Nitrogen-78% 2. Oxygen-21% 3. Argon-0.9% 4. Carbondioxide-0.03% 5. Neon-0.001818% 6. Helium-0.000524% Ozone layer is present is stratosphere Reaction showing ozone layer formation O2+hv=2O O2+O=O3 Ozone serves as a blanket in reducing the cooling rate of earth Stratosphere is present about 50km above the surface of the earth Mesosphere is characterised by cold temperature and low pressure, temperature is -95oC Mesosphere is 80-90km above the earths surface Thermosphere extends to about 500km above the surface of the earth Above thermosphere ionization of oxygen molecules takes place therefore termed as ionosphere Exosphere is the outer space extends to 32190km form the surface of the earth. It has very high temperature due to solar radiation HYDROSPHERE About 97% of the earths water supply is in oceans 2% is locked in polar icecaps, and glaciers 1% is available as fresh water Major uses of water are for thermal power plants 50%, irrigation-30%, domestic-%, industrial consumption-12%

Pure water contains two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen by volume One part of hydrogen and eight parts of oxygen by weight Melting point-0oC Boiling point-100oC Density-1 Specific heat- 1cal goC Structure of water as shown by x-ray diffraction studies on ice crystals has tetrahedral arrangement, in which each water molecule is surrounded by 4 neighbouring water molecules pH of rain wateR is < 7 because of dissolution of gases oceans cover about 70.8 % of earths surface pH of ocean water is around 8.1+_0.2 ocean water contains 2000 times more dissolved salts than fresh water common dissolved salts are chloride, sulphates of sodium, calcium, potassium, strontium ocean water contains about 3.5% of dissolved solids LITHOSPHERE Information about earths surface is given by seismic waves or earth quake waves earth is divided into Crust, Mantle and Core Outer core is liquid but the inner core is a solid Thickness of the earth -6371km Volume- 1.08210-27cm3 Mean density 5.5gcm-3 Mass-5.9751027 Mass %- 100 BIOSPHERE Biosphere is synonm with biota The term biosphere is coined by Austrian geologist- Edward Suess in 1875 Vladimir I vernandsky Russian chemist defined biosphere as surface envelope of earth naturally capable of supporting the life Biota= sum of all living creatures on earth Biosphere extends to about few 100 metres above and below the ground surface Biome is a life zone Ecotone is the transition zone between two biomes About 10 million species are estimated to be existed on earth out of which 5milliom occur in biome alone ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES the systematic study of the effects of humans on the environment Environmental tragedies Mercury poisoning in minamata, Japan Severe smog in London in1952 Massive oil spillage by Tarrey canyon accident One who is interested in the study of effects of environmental regulations on a segment of the economy is called as an ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIST

The first international meet on environmental issues was held in Stockholm in Sweden under the sponsorship of United Nations. The major achievement of this meet was creation of UNEP with head quarters in Kenya UNEP stands for UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM