Homosphere

From Citizendium
Revision as of 06:00, 29 August 2024 by Suggestion Bot (talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

The homosphere is the layer of Earth's atmosphere where chemical constituents are well-mixed. The main reason for this well-mixed condition is that the mean free path between molecules is small compared to the scale of bulk motions of the air. Thus, gases do not separate according to their molecular weight, as bulk air motions keep mixing the atmosphere.

The homosphere begins at the Earth's surface and extends to an altitude of about 80 km. The homosphere is composed of the troposphere, the stratosphere, and the mesosphere. Above the homosphere is the heterosphere, which is stratified according to the molecular weight of its constituent gases.