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atmospherics

Posted by Nick Thompson on Jun 12, 2012; 4:44pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/atmospherics-tp7580159.html

So, somebody asked me, in my role as a weather nerd, how come the nitrogen in the atmosphere doesn’t all fall to the bottom on still nights and suffocate us all.  I asked the question of stupid-answers-to-stupid-questions-asked-by-stupid-people.com and THEY said, well, there’s just too much going on.  N molecules and the O molecules are just too busy, what with convection and windcurrents, and all, to separate, even on still nights.  Now, that business doesn’t prevent cold molecules of Nitrogen and Oxygen to separate  from warm ones, or wet ones (not sure what that means) to separate from dry ones. I was hoping that somebody on FRIAM could give some sort of a clue what kind of a mixture AIR is?  It is suddenly seeming kinda special. 

 

 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

http://www.cusf.org

 

 


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