Frank H. T. Rhodes
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801478239
- eISBN:
- 9780801466212
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801478239.003.0005
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Environmental Geography
This chapter details the characteristics of the Earth's atmosphere—its layering, distribution, extent, nature, and broad composition—and the ways in which it sustains life. The Earth's remarkable ...
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This chapter details the characteristics of the Earth's atmosphere—its layering, distribution, extent, nature, and broad composition—and the ways in which it sustains life. The Earth's remarkable envelope of air makes life possible by enfolding the planet in a protective embrace that shields and sustains living organisms. It provides the air we breathe, it shields us from the Sun's lethal ultraviolet radiation, it regulates and moderates Earth's temperature, it provides rain, it drives the endless cycle of erosion that produces the soil that supports our food supply, and it provides the carbon dioxide on which plant growth depends. Furthermore, is the atmosphere that paints the sky and oceans their distinctive blues.Less
This chapter details the characteristics of the Earth's atmosphere—its layering, distribution, extent, nature, and broad composition—and the ways in which it sustains life. The Earth's remarkable envelope of air makes life possible by enfolding the planet in a protective embrace that shields and sustains living organisms. It provides the air we breathe, it shields us from the Sun's lethal ultraviolet radiation, it regulates and moderates Earth's temperature, it provides rain, it drives the endless cycle of erosion that produces the soil that supports our food supply, and it provides the carbon dioxide on which plant growth depends. Furthermore, is the atmosphere that paints the sky and oceans their distinctive blues.
Marcel Escudier
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198719878
- eISBN:
- 9780191840180
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198719878.003.0004
- Subject:
- Physics, Soft Matter / Biological Physics, Condensed Matter Physics / Materials
The three fundamental principles for the variation of static pressure p throughout a body of fluid at rest are (a) the pressure at a point is the same in all directions (Pascal’s law), (b) the ...
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The three fundamental principles for the variation of static pressure p throughout a body of fluid at rest are (a) the pressure at a point is the same in all directions (Pascal’s law), (b) the pressure is the same at all points on the same horizontal level, and (c) the pressure increases with depth z according to the hydrostatic equation. dp/dz= ρg For a fluid with constant density ρ, the increase in pressure over a depth increase h is ρgh, a result which can be used to analyse the response of simple barometers and manometers to applied pressure changes and differences. In situations where very large changes in pressure occur an equation of state may be required to relate pressure and density together with an assumption about the fluid temperature. The hydrostatic equation is still valid but more difficult to integrate, as illustrated by consideration of the earth’s atmosphere.Less
The three fundamental principles for the variation of static pressure p throughout a body of fluid at rest are (a) the pressure at a point is the same in all directions (Pascal’s law), (b) the pressure is the same at all points on the same horizontal level, and (c) the pressure increases with depth z according to the hydrostatic equation. dp/dz= ρg For a fluid with constant density ρ, the increase in pressure over a depth increase h is ρgh, a result which can be used to analyse the response of simple barometers and manometers to applied pressure changes and differences. In situations where very large changes in pressure occur an equation of state may be required to relate pressure and density together with an assumption about the fluid temperature. The hydrostatic equation is still valid but more difficult to integrate, as illustrated by consideration of the earth’s atmosphere.
Jayne Elizabeth Lewis
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226476698
- eISBN:
- 9780226476711
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226476711.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
In this book, the author enlists her readers in pursuit of the elusive concept of atmosphere in literary works. She shows how diverse conceptions of air in the eighteenth century converged in British ...
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In this book, the author enlists her readers in pursuit of the elusive concept of atmosphere in literary works. She shows how diverse conceptions of air in the eighteenth century converged in British fiction, producing the modern literary sense of atmosphere and moving novelists to explore the threshold between material and immaterial worlds. The book links the emergence of literary atmosphere to changing ideas about air and the earth’s atmosphere in natural philosophy, as well as to the era’s theories of the supernatural and fascination with social manners—or, as they are now known, “airs.” The author thus offers a new interpretation of several standard features of the Enlightenment—the scientific revolution, the decline of magic, character-based sociability, and the rise of the novel—which considers them in terms of the romance of air that permeates and connects them. As it explores key episodes in the history of natural philosophy and in major literary works such as Paradise Lost, “The Rape of the Lock,” Robinson Crusoe, and The Mysteries of Udolpho, the book promises to change the atmosphere of eighteenth-century studies and the history of the novel.Less
In this book, the author enlists her readers in pursuit of the elusive concept of atmosphere in literary works. She shows how diverse conceptions of air in the eighteenth century converged in British fiction, producing the modern literary sense of atmosphere and moving novelists to explore the threshold between material and immaterial worlds. The book links the emergence of literary atmosphere to changing ideas about air and the earth’s atmosphere in natural philosophy, as well as to the era’s theories of the supernatural and fascination with social manners—or, as they are now known, “airs.” The author thus offers a new interpretation of several standard features of the Enlightenment—the scientific revolution, the decline of magic, character-based sociability, and the rise of the novel—which considers them in terms of the romance of air that permeates and connects them. As it explores key episodes in the history of natural philosophy and in major literary works such as Paradise Lost, “The Rape of the Lock,” Robinson Crusoe, and The Mysteries of Udolpho, the book promises to change the atmosphere of eighteenth-century studies and the history of the novel.
Toby Tyrrell
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262194983
- eISBN:
- 9780262283182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262194983.003.0014
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter shows that a major aim of Gaian research is explaining how large-scale environmental regulation can arise out of principles of natural selection. Here, it is described how the tendency ...
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This chapter shows that a major aim of Gaian research is explaining how large-scale environmental regulation can arise out of principles of natural selection. Here, it is described how the tendency of all biological populations to proliferate when conditions are favorable frequently exerts a pressure on resources. Resources become exhausted and stay that way. This ecological mechanism, biotic plunder, controls many features of the Earth’s environment. Evidence is presented here showing how this mechanism is responsible for the “nutrient deserts” covering the large majority of the ocean surface because phytoplankton plunder inorganic nutrients dissolved in seawater. Populations of herbivores, where there are no carnivores, can also execute biotic plunder on vegetation. The plunder of dead organic matter by decomposers ensures tight recycling of essential elements and restricts burial of organic matter on average to less than 1 percent of the total produced. Biotic plunder may also, possibly, be responsible in some way for the scarcity of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere.Less
This chapter shows that a major aim of Gaian research is explaining how large-scale environmental regulation can arise out of principles of natural selection. Here, it is described how the tendency of all biological populations to proliferate when conditions are favorable frequently exerts a pressure on resources. Resources become exhausted and stay that way. This ecological mechanism, biotic plunder, controls many features of the Earth’s environment. Evidence is presented here showing how this mechanism is responsible for the “nutrient deserts” covering the large majority of the ocean surface because phytoplankton plunder inorganic nutrients dissolved in seawater. Populations of herbivores, where there are no carnivores, can also execute biotic plunder on vegetation. The plunder of dead organic matter by decomposers ensures tight recycling of essential elements and restricts burial of organic matter on average to less than 1 percent of the total produced. Biotic plunder may also, possibly, be responsible in some way for the scarcity of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere.
