Atmosphere and Oceans History of Earth's Atmosphere I: The origin of the modern atmosphere by Julia Rosen, Ph.D., Anne E. Egger, Ph.D. Reading Quiz Teach with this 1. Air is a mixture of many different gases. true false 2. While studying the abundance of elements on Earth, Francis Aston discovered that Earth contains more heavy elements than light elements. Earth contains fewer noble gases than expected. Earth contains more neon than other planets. Earth contains 56 different elements. 3. What factor did NOT contribute to the loss of Earth’s primordial atmosphere? Earth’s atmosphere contained light elements like neon that easily escaped. Earth is a relatively small planet with a weak gravitational pull. Collisions between planetesimals helped drive off gases. Larger planets like Jupiter pulled Earth’s early atmosphere away. 4. Which of the following has not been identified as a factor in changing the chemical composition of Earth’s atmosphere? Volcano eruptions Subduction Mass spectrometry Oceans 5. Using your understanding of the processes that shaped Earth’s atmosphere, infer the main component of the atmosphere of an imaginary planet, which had volcanoes but no oceans. Carbon Dioxide Nitrogen Argon Oxygen 6. Compare Jupiter and Saturn, which have both retained most of their primordial atmospheres but differ significantly in size. Both of their atmospheres contain a significant amount of helium, the lightest noble gas. Which one of the following statements is true? Jupiter has more helium than Saturn. Saturn has more helium that Jupiter. Jupiter and Saturn have the same amount of helium. Jupiter and Saturn have the same amount of helium as Earth. 7. Look at Fig. 7 in the text and evaluate the following statement: There is relatively more neon on Earth compared to other planetary bodies than krypton (T/F)? true false 8. Payne’s research revealed that the brightness of an emission line depended on the distance of the observer from the object emitting light. the concentration of the element alone. whether the atmosphere contained oxygen. the concentration of the element and its excitation state. Score Quiz
