What is the protective layer of the atmosphere?

What is the protective layer of the atmosphere?

The ozone layer of the atmosphere protects life on earth by filtering out some of the harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.

What are two things the atmosphere protects us from?

Gases in Earth’s atmosphere form a protective layer Nitrogen, oxygen and ozone molecules in the upper atmosphere and stratosphere absorb ultraviolet light from the Sun, providing a shield that prevents this radiation from passing to the Earth’s surface.

What happens if we don’t have ozone layer?

Without the Ozone layer in place, radiation from the sun would reach earth directly, damaging the DNA of plants and animals (Including humans). Skin cancer rates would be on the rise. Within days of the ozone layer’s disappearance, many plants would die.

Is ozone created by lightning?

Ozone is created in nature by lightning and can be smelled after a storm. It is one of nature’s most powerfuloxidizers. Ozone is created by converting Oxygen (O2) into Ozone (O3). Oxidizers are a class of chemicals that break down organic substances.

Does lightning help clean the air?

Lightning may play an important role in clearing the air of pollutants. A storm-chasing airplane has shown that lightning can forge large amounts of oxidants. These chemicals cleanse the atmosphere by reacting with pollutants such as methane. Those reactions form molecules that dissolve in water or stick to surfaces.

What lightning does to the air?

A single stroke of lightning can heat the air around it to 30,000°C (54,000°F)! This extreme heating causes the air to expand explosively fast. The expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, known as thunder.

Why do we hear thunder after we see lightning?

If we are watching the sky, we see the lightning before we hear the thunder. That is because light travels much faster than sound waves. We can estimate the distance of the lightning by counting how many seconds it takes until we hear the thunder. It takes approximately 5 seconds for the sound to travel 1 mile.

Which is faster light or lightning?

Light and Sound Speed During a thunderstorm, you see a bright flash of lightning. Multiple seconds later, you hear the loud rumble of thunder. Light travels at 186,282 meters per second (670,616,629 mph), so in theory, nothing moves faster than the speed of light.

Whats faster lightning or sound?

Lightning heats the air and causes shock waves. Lightning and thunder happen at the same time. But you see lightning before you hear thunder because light, which travels a million times faster than sound, arrives almost instantly. Sound, on the other hand, takes about five seconds to travel one mile.