The Earth is surrounded by a covering of air which we call the atmosphe

The Atmosphere The Earth is surrounded by a covering of air which we call the atmosphere. It reaches over 384 miles from the surface of the earth, so we can only see what occurs in the troposphere and the tropopause. Nitrogen – 78% Oxygen – 21% Argon – 1% Carbon Dioxide – 0.035% Other – 0.00253% The above information highlights what the atmosphere is composed of. It is clearly visible that Nitrogen is the dominant gas as over three quarters of the atmosphere is made up of this. It is very fortunate that Nitrogen is not a very reactive gas because if it were not, that atmosphere would be far less stable and extremely dangerous. The pie chart refers to the atmosphere today but it was not always made up of these percentages. It seems that carbon dioxide levels have raised a lot and these rises may be down to many causes such as the industrial revolution and constant deforestation. Natural functions of the atmosphere The atmosphere is vital for life and acts as a life support system to al...