In the troposphere there are a series of gases that allow us to live and develop as we do today. This series of gases is known as air. Air is a vital component of life on our planet. It is not only important for the human being, but for any life of any living being. The importance of air cannot be disputed, just like the importance of water. Not everyone knows the composition of the air we are breathing and why it is so important.
That is what we are here for today. In this article we are going to talk about the air composition, the functions of air in the development of life and what is happening with air pollution today.
Composition of the air we breathe
When we breathe, we are not only incorporating the oxygen we need to live and we expel the CO2 that is not necessary from the body. The air we breathe is made up of a series of gases found in the environment. Obviously, after the formation of the planet, the composition of the air in our atmosphere has not been the same. It has been transforming for billions of years.
At the beginning of its formation, the primitive atmosphere had no oxygen content. This atmosphere could not house humans or almost any current life form. Only anaerobic bacteria and methanogens, since the atmosphere at that time was very high in methane.
However, since oxygen is present in the atmosphere, it has become one of the main and most important gases. However, we are going to see the composition of the air in parts:
- Nitrogen. This gas is the one that constitutes almost all the thickness of the composition of the air. It is in 78% of the atmospheric air. It is important because, although it is an inert gas for us, it is an essential component of amino acids and nucleic acids. These elements are key for living beings. The human being is composed of 3% nitrogen. It is the element that we breathe with the highest concentration in the entire troposphere.
- Oxygen. It is part of about 20% of the air we breathe. Although nitrogen is important, oxygen is the most important element for living beings. It is necessary to be able to carry out breathing. We can also find this element in our body, especially in the respiratory system.
- Carbon dioxide. Although it is continually being said that carbon dioxide concentrations are increasing due to the increase in the greenhouse effect and climate change, it only occupies 0,03% of the air. Don't let this information confuse you. This concentration is more than enough to be producing this increase in temperature globally. It is an element that we expel as a waste product during the breathing process.
- Water. It is another vital element for human life and for almost any living being. In the atmosphere it is also found in a percentage of 0,97%. In this case, we find it in the form of water vapor. Its concentration cannot be given very safe since it depends a lot on where we are measuring. The concentrations of water vapor in the atmosphere are higher at sea level than when we are further away.
Noble gases as composition of air
Noble gases are those inert gases that do not react with anything and are totally stable. Not all have the same presence within the composition of the air, but in general, they make up 1% of everything. We have these gases:
- Argon. It is the noble gas with the greatest presence.
- Neon. It is a fairly abundant gas in the universe and acts in the formation of air.
- Helio. It has little presence in the atmosphere since its lightness has caused it to evaporate.
- Methane. It is one of the most important greenhouse gases.
- Krypton. It is a noble gas with little presence.
Air pollution
As we have mentioned before, the composition of the air has not been the same throughout the history of our planet. Moreover, we are not talking about it being the same in the last centuries ago until today. Greenhouse gas content it has increased enormously due to human activity. These gases are treated as pollutants because they negatively affect the development of life and environmental conditions.
As air is a vital component for the survival of all living beings, the pollution we are causing is damaging our health and generally worsening the world in which we live. Air pollution can happen in a few ways. However, the most common and abundant is the one caused by human activities in which, mainly, we can say that they are industry and transportation. Due to advances in science and technology, every day we are sending more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that are harmful and harmful if we are breathing in and exposed to them.
Nature has its own ecological balance and, if the concentrations of these gases are natural, by itself they are capable of balancing their concentration and keeping it stable all the time. However, with human activity and excess discharges into the atmosphere, in recent decades it has been caused that nature is incapable of fixing by itself the mistakes that humans are making.
As a result of air pollution from the presence of these harmful gases, the air we breathe is being harmed and the health of all living beings is being affected. It is important to know that pollution can alter the composition of the air originally, so more toxic gases appear than we are breathing. All this translates into problems for health and living beings.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the composition of the air and the importance of it.