Introduction :It has been 100 years since the total and complete destruction of planet Earth. A
group of humans who managed to escape have established a civilization on Mars. You have been
hired to work at the Intergalactic Department of Education. The latest trend in education is to
take virtual trips for students to experience areas of the earth, no longer in existence. Your job
at the I.D.E. is to create realistic trips for the students of Mars, who, obviously, have never been
to Earth before. Your goal is to make a poster to go with the virtual field trip for the 6 th Grade
students of Mars.
Element
Title / Introduction to poster–
note any signs of life
Personal
Check
Max
5 pts
Correctly identify each layer
climate (if any), temperature,
altitude and pressure (density).
10 pts
Composition of the Atmosphere
(gases that make it up)
2 pts
Importance of the layer – Unique
features *See list**
Organization / Color / Neatness
of project
Total Per Layer of Atmosphere
10 pts
3 pts
30 pts
Directions: In this activity you will
create a colorful poster showing:
1) All FIVE layers of the atmosphere,
separated by lines to represent their
“pauses”
2) A small circle (size of a nickel)
showing the molecules density in
that each layer,
3) A vertical scale showing the
altitude of each layer in both miles
and km and temperature in Celcius.
4) A variety of items normally found
in each layer (see below).
Plan your poster before coloring. Draw everything in pencil first. Be as neat as possible.
Title) Title your poster appropriately. Place your name and block under the title.
Layers) Draw/Label horizontal lines showing the separation each layers of the atmosphere.
Altitude) Label the altitude of each new layer of the atmosphere (See page 499 of text).
Density) Draw small circles (size of a nickel) in each layer showing the density of the molecules
in that layer.
Objects) Draw and label the following items in the correct location (layer) on your poster.
Commercial Airplanes
Aurora
Ozone Layer
High Flying Spy Planes
Clouds
Birds
Ionosphere
Weather Balloons
The Jet Stream
The Hubble Space Telescope
Burning Meteors
International Space Station
Colors) Use colors to accentuate each of your drawings and color the background. Also be
neat when you design it and show evidence of planning.
Notes) Attach your Chart (ws#3) to the back of the poster for credit.
Layers of the Atmosphere
Troposphere
The troposphere begins at the Earth's surface and extends up to about 6 miles high (10 km). This is where we live and
most human activities take place. As you get higher the the air becomes thinner and less dense (and therefore it is
colder). As you climb higher, the temperature drops from about 62°F (17°C) to -60°F (-51°C). Almost all weather occurs
in this region. Birds, clouds, buildings, helicopters and airplanes are all found in this area.
This layer contains about 80% of all of the atmosphere and the molecules are the most dense compared to the other
layers. The transition boundary between the troposphere and the layer above is called the tropopause. Both the
tropopause and the troposphere are known as the lower atmosphere.
Stratosphere
The Stratosphere extends from the tropopause up to 31 miles (50 km) above the Earth's surface. This layer holds
about 19 percent of the atmosphere's gases and but very little water vapor.
The temperature increases with height as the sun’s radiation is increasingly absorbed by oxygen molecules which leads
to the formation of Ozone. The temperature rises from an average -76°F (-60°C) at the tropopause to a maximum of
about 5°F (-15°C) at the stratopause due to this absorption of ultraviolet radiation in the ozone layer. The increasing
temperature also makes it a calm layer with movements of the gases slow. The only exception to this is the Jet Stream
which is a “river of air” with winds blowing to over 500 miles per hour! High flying jet planes and weather balloons are
the only man-made objects found here. The transition boundary which separates the stratosphere from the
mesosphere is called the stratopause.
Mesosphere
The Mesosphere extends from the stratopause to about 53 miles (85
km) above the earth. The gases, including the oxygen molecules,
continue to become thinner and thinner with height. As such, the
effect of the warming by ultraviolet radiation also becomes less and
less leading to a decrease in temperature with height. On average,
temperature decreases from about 5°F (-15°C) to as low as -184°F
(-120°C) at the mesopause. However, the gases in the mesosphere
are extremely thin, but thick enough to slow down meteors hurtling
into the atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour. The meteors
burn up leaving fiery trails in the night sky.
Thermosphere
The thermosphere extends from the mesopause to 430 miles (690
km) above the earth. This is the beginning of the upper atmosphere.
The gases of the thermosphere are increasingly thinner than in the
mesosphere. As such, only the higher energy ultraviolet and x-ray
radiation from the sun is absorbed. But because of this absorption,
the temperature increases with height and can reach as high as
3,600°F (1000°C) near the top of this layer. However, despite the
high temperature, this layer of the atmosphere would still feel very
cold to our skin because of the extremely thin air. The total amount
of energy from the very few molecules in this layer is not sufficient
enough to heat our skin. Satellites the International Space Station
and other rockets can begin being found in this layer.
The thermosphere also contains the ionosphere, a region of the atmosphere where charged particles (ions) exist and
sometimes get excited by solar radiation. Close to the northern regions of the earth, the ions give off light causing an
Aurora.
Exosphere
The Exosphere is the outermost layer of the atmosphere and extends from the thermopause to 6200 miles (10,000 km)
above the earth. In this layer, atoms and molecules escape into space and more satellites orbit the earth.