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What happens to air pressure as you move from the troposphere to the exosphere?
Air pressure drops about 3.5 millibars per 30 meters (100 feet) as altitude increases. This drop is more pronounced if the air is cold because cold air is denser than warm air.
Why pressure decreases with height in the troposphere?
At higher elevations, there are fewer air molecules above a given surface than a similar surface at lower levels. Since most of the atmosphere’s molecules are held close to the earth’s surface by the force of gravity, air pressure decreases rapidly at first, then more slowly at higher levels.
Why does the pressure of the atmosphere decrease?
Air molecules colliding with a surface cause atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure decreases as the height of a surface above ground level increases. This is because, as the altitude increases: the number of air molecules decreases.
Why does air pressure decrease as you go up higher into the atmosphere?
As altitude rises, air pressure drops. Earth’s gravity pulls air as close to the surface as possible. The second reason is density. As altitude increases, the amount of gas molecules in the air decreases—the air becomes less dense than air nearer to sea level.
What happens to the air pressure as you move from the troposphere to the exosphere quizlet?
What happens to the air pressure as you move from the troposphere to the exosphere? More dense air SINKS. Cold air is MORE dense than warm air and thus SINKS. Warm air is LESS dense than cold air and thus RISES.
Why does the troposphere have the highest air pressure?
The lowest layer, the troposphere, starts at sea level and reaches a height of 10 km (7 miles). 90% of all the molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere are found here. The greatest amount of air pressure is in this layer because most of the air molecules are in this area.
Why does the troposphere have high air pressure?
What is the air pressure of troposphere?
This first layer is called the troposphere, and ranges in pressure from over 1,000 millibars at sea level to 100 millibars at the top of the layer, the tropopause. Above the tropopause, the temperature rises with increasing altitude up to about 27 mi (45 km).
Would you expect the air pressure to decrease as the number of gas particles decrease?
Decreasing the volume of a contained gas will increase its pressure, and increasing its volume will decrease its pressure. In fact, if the volume increases by a certain factor, the pressure decreases by the same factor, and vice versa.
Why air pressure is highest at sea level?
Most gas molecules in the atmosphere are pulled close to Earth’s surface by gravity, so gas particles are denser near the surface. With greater depth of the atmosphere, more air is pressing down from above. Therefore, air pressure is greatest at sea level and falls with increasing altitude.