How many does air weigh? This question in the childhood seemed to us someone's joke because it is clear to each sane person that air if something and weighs, then it is not enough and this weight can quite be neglected. But everything that in the ordinary is represented to us insignificant, in scales of the planet can gain enormous value. In this plan the example of the terrestrial atmosphere is indicative.
Instruction
1. For a start we will accept some simplifications. First we will accept that identical atmospheric pressure, equal 101,000 Pascals acts on all Earth. In reality it not absolutely so, but is close to it. Let's accept also that the radius of Earth equals 6400 kilometers, and the planet is an ideal sphere. Actually, Earth is a little splusnut, but this deformation can also be neglected.
2. Also we will simplify our task, ""having saved"" Earth from mountains, hollows, hills and other delights of a relief. So, all small assumptions are made, at the same time the error will be not higher than 1 percent. Now it is necessary to be defined: and how to consider atmosphere weight?
3. Here everything is not as simple as it seems. It is impossible to take, to count the volume of the atmosphere and to increase it by air density. It is known that density of air decreases at increase in height, and therefore it is necessary to take integral from variable density on volume, and it complicates our task ten times.
4. Way out here what: we know atmospheric pressure on the Earth's surface, and it as we know equally in force operating normally on a surface to the area of this surface. We know surface area - it is sphere surface area with Earth radius. It was necessary to find force. It will be equal to the work of weight on acceleration of gravity.
5. Thus we have a settlement formula and it looks here so: M = P*4*pi*R^2/g. ZdesM - the mass of the atmosphere.P - atmospheric pressure.R - Earth.g radius - acceleration of gravity.
6. Substituting values from a step 1 we receive surprising figure in 5 quintillions kilograms. This number with eighteen zero. Nevertheless it is a million times less than the weight of Earth.