Group members

Shazina Muhammad Bilal Nawaz Bilal Shahid Amaad Zafar Ameer Umer M.Faisal Noman Shah M. Farhan Ijaz Hazaif Allaudin Bilal Ahmad

Topic

ATMOSPHERE The gaseous envelope retained by gravity around the Earth is called atmosphere.

COMPOSITION Composed of four gasses...

Nitrogen Oxygen Argon Carbon

dioxide

78% 21% 0.95% 0.05%

Average height
Approx...

36000 ft or 16

kms.

Pressure

Force or weight exerted on a certain surface by a column of air..

Units

Atmosphere (atm), which is defined as 101,325 Pa (or 1,013,250 dynes per cm2). One (atm) equals 14.696 pounds per square inch (psi).

Examples

Gas cylinders, If we open the valve, gas moves from high to the low pressure which is outside the cylinder..

Atmospheric pressure
The atmosphere surrounding the earth consists of air. The air around and above us exerts pressure on us from all direction. This pressure is called atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure, also called barometric pressure..

Units

Millimeters (or inches) of mercury, pounds per square inch (psi), dynes per square centimeter, millibar (mb), standard atmospheres, or kilopascals.

AFFECT ON OUR BODIES

The air pressure pushes our bodies inwards from all directions with a great deal of force, but we do not feel pressure because there is air pressure inside our bodies too which pushes our bodies outwards with exactly the same force. This balance the atmospheric pressure

EXAMPLE OF BOTTLE

This plastic bottle was sealed at approximately 14,000 feet (4,300 m) altitude, and was crushed by the increase in atmospheric pressure at 9,000 feet (2,700 m) and 1,000 feet (300 m) as it was brought down towards sea level.

Example

Water boils at about 100 C (212 F) at standard atmospheric pressure. The boiling point is the temperature at which the vapor pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure around the water. Because of this, the boiling point of water is lower at lower pressure and higher at higher pressure.

FACTORS AFFECTING PRESSURE

The pressure of an atmospheric gas decreases with altitude due to the diminishing mass of gas above each location.

Scale height

The height at which the pressure from an atmosphere declines by a factor of e (an irrational number with a value of 2.71828..) is called the scale height and is denoted by H. For an atmosphere with a uniform temperature, the scale height is proportional to the temperature and inversely proportional to the mean molecular mass of dry air times the planet's gravitational force per unit area of on the surface of the earth..

High and low pressure areas

Low-pressure areas have less atmospheric mass above their location, whereas high-pressure areas have more atmospheric mass above their location. Likewise, as elevation increases, there is less overlying atmospheric mass, so that pressure decreases with increasing elevation.

Variations of pressure Height

With an increase in height the weight of air overlying the surface will reduce. Therefore pressure will fall with height. This pressure lapse rate is constant in the ISA.

Isobars

The lines joining the places of equal pressure are isobars

Mean sea level surface pressure charts

The earth surface is made up of plains mountains and oceans There are wide variations in the elevation of terrain Consequently in order to obtain an accurate surface pressure chart surface pressure Readings need to be made with respect to a common vertical datum Mean sea-level is the usual datum for which pressures are measured

QNH & QFE

The altimeter setting in aviation, set either QNH or QFE, is another atmospheric pressure reduced to sea level. QNH; The barometric altimeter setting that will cause the altimeter to read airfield elevation when on the airfield. QFE; The barometric altimeter setting that will cause an altimeter to read zero when at the reference datum of a particular airfield

INSTRUMENTS USED FOR MEASUREMENT OF PRESSURE

Any instrument that measures air pressure is called a barometer. 3 types, Mercury barometer Aneroid barometer Torricellis barometer

AFFECTS ON WEATHER
Air pressure influence the weather. It changes from altitude to altitude. When the air pressure decreases, rain may be expected. When the air pressure drops suddenly. Strom is expected.

CAUSES OF RAINFALL: During the day the surface of the earth is warm, therefore the air near the earth is also warmer. The warm air expands and becomes lighter, hence exerts lesser pressure, whereas the cold air on cooling contracts and becomes heavier and exerts greater pressure. For the same temperature and water contents the air the same pressure at all points lying on the same height. At a certain temperature when the air is laiden with more water particles, it weighs less, hence moist air exerts less pressure. That is why the weather-man predicts possibility of rainfall when the atmospheric pressure decreases gradually.

CAUSES OF STORMS

When hot due to being lighter rises up, a partial vacuum in created, therefore the air pressure at that place drops. The cold air surrounding that area therefore rushes to fill in the vacuum. This difference of atmospheric pressure causes winds, dust storm and the other type of air movement.

Barometric pressure

Barometric pressure is the force per unit area (pressure) exerted by the atmosphere as a consequence of gravitational attraction exerted upon the "column" of air lying directly above a specific point. These values are expressed in mill bars. The mill bar is a metric unit of pressure commonly used in aviation and meteorology.

GLOBAL HIGHS AND LOWS

GLOBAL HIGHS AND LOWS: Across the globe (diagram), there are several important consistently low and high pressure areas. They are as follows:

The Equatorial Low Pressure Trough: This area is in the Earth's equatorial region (010 North and South) and is composed of warm, light, ascending and converging air.

The Equatorial Low Pressure Trough: This area is in the Earth's equatorial region (0-10 North and South) and is composed of warm, light, ascending and converging air.

Subtropical High-Pressure Cells: Located between 20 N/S and 35N/S this is a zone of hot, dry air that forms as the warm air descending from the tropics becomes hotter.

Polar High-Pressure Cells: These are located at 90 N/S and are extremely cold and dry. With these systems, winds move away from the poles in an anticyclone which descends and diverges to form the polar easterlies.

Subpolar Low-Pressure Cells: This area is at 60 N/S latitude and features cool, wet weather. The Subpolar low is caused by the meeting of cold air masses from higher latitudes and warmer air masses from lower latitudes.