Earths Atmospheric Evolution- Step by step Get the brain thinking (answer these questions on your own sheet

of paper, page 9 in the book may help): 1234Why is the atmosphere important? What is the current composition of our atmosphere? How will the atmosphere in this room change if the room is sealed with everyone inside? What gases made up Earths early atmosphere?

Lets model: 1- First you will model the early atmosphere of Earth. a. The gases in this atmosphere are likely to be similar to those produced by present day volcanoes. b. The Early Atmospheres composition is: i. 74 % water vapour iv. 5 % nitrogen ii. 12 % carbon dioxide v. .4% hydrogen iii. 9 % sulfur oxides vi. .2 % argon c. On the large sheet of paper labeled Early Atmosphere, model the early atmosphere using the seven different colored beads supplied in the baggie. For hydrogen and argon you will at least want to place one bead. i. Draw your key on your own sheet of paper. 2- Now model todays atmosphere: a. Using the above pie chart model todays atmosphere on the large sheet of paper labeled Todays atmosphere i. Use the same key- so you can compare 3- Think about how these two models differ. a. Put the two models beside each other and compare them. b. On your sheet of paper suggest how it happened. You dont have to be 100% right, just see what you think. Label this suggestion- How I think it happened so you can look back at it later and for me. 4- Now you are going to help the atmosphere evolve: a. Move the todays atmosphere model to the side. b. Take the large sheet of paper that is divided into three sections labeled- evolving atmosphere. i. Move all the beads from your early atmosphere into the atmosphere section of the evolving atmosphere c. Think about the following questions/ thoughts as you move beads.

i. What happened to the water vapour? 1. Clue rainfall. The Earth had cooled enough for most of the water vapour to condense as rain by 4000 mya. This formed the early ocean. 2. Is there some water vapour in the atmosphere? a. Will you move all the beads of water vapour to the ocean? i. Move all but one of the water vapour beads to the ocean. ii. What happened to the carbon dioxide and sulfur oxides? 1. Carbon dioxide and sulfur oxides are both soluble in rainfall so some dissolved in the oceans. a. Move 3 carbon dioxide and 2 sulfur oxide balls to the ocean. iii. What did the early bacteria do? 1. Bacteria evolved soon after the oceans formed. They absorbed carbon and sulfur compounds as they grew and when they died they sank to the ocean floor becoming locked up in ocean floor sediments. a. Move 5 carbon dioxide and 4 sulfur oxide beads to the ocean sediments section. iv. Compare the Evolving atmosphere with Todays atmosphere 1. How do they compare? a. What is missing? i. There is no oxygen in the evolving atmosphere. b. How do you think it got there? i. Photosynthesizing algae evolved in the oceans. The oxygen produced by photosynthesis reacted with iron dissolved in sea water and precipitated out to form sea floor sediments. c. Place one oxygen bead from your supply into the sea floor sediments. v. Where did the hydrogen go? 1. It is very light element. It rose into the upper atmosphere and was lost in space. a. Please remove the hydrogen beads from the atmosphere. vi. So how did the oxygen get into the atmosphere? 1. 2 billion years ago, the iron in the oceans had absorbed all the oxygen it could so the free oxygen appeared in the atmosphere for the first time. 2. Place two oxygen beads in the atmosphere. vii. What about the remaining carbon dioxide and sulfur oxides in the atmosphere? 1. More and more were dissolved in the oceans, and were locked back up in the ocean floor sediments. Move the carbon dioxide and sulfur oxides from the atmosphere to the ocean sediments section. 5- How does your evolving atmosphere compare with todays atmosphere? a. Write a few notes on your own piece of paper. label them end comparision b. Label a section called questions/ follow up and answer the following: 1. Does this modeling activity accurately demonstrate how the Earths atmosphere evolved? 2. What elements are the rocks that formed from the ocean sediments likely to contain? 3. Can the amounts of water vapor illustrated in the final model change? a. Why? 4. Is there less atmosphere around us now then there was during the early atmosphere?