Questions tagged [atmosphere]

Questions related to the chemistry and dynamics of the varying layers of the atmosphere.

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17 votes
3 answers
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Who was the first to postulate that space was a vacuum?

The fact that space is a vacuum and that the Earth's atmosphere only extends a short way above the surface is accepted as obvious. However, there is nothing a priori obvious about it: you first have ...
Emilio Pisanty's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
189 views

How did scientists know how to build spacecraft before we got them into space?

Surely the scientists working on (un)manned spaceflight understood the concept of the earth having an upper level to its atmosphere, but how were they able to determine what exactly the physics of ...
galois's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
78 views

When was the optical effects of air pollution first measured, and by whom?

It is widely known nowadays that air pollution attenuates incoming light, particularly sunlight through scattering and absorption of certain wavelengths (both in the UV and visible wavelengths). This ...
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12 votes
2 answers
3k views

How was the Ozone Layer discovered?

Related to my previous question When was the division between the troposphere and stratosphere determined?, an important atmospheric feature at this boundary is the Ozone Layer, as shown in the image ...
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11 votes
1 answer
1k views

When was the division between the troposphere and stratosphere determined?

Nowadays, science is aware of the divisions of the Earth's atmosphere, particularly the division between the troposphere and the stratosphere, as shown in the diagram below: Image source When and ...
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