What is the specific volume of the entire atmosphere of planet Earth?
Answer:
A little over 17 and a quarter trillion cubic kilometres.
The atmosphere extends to the far reaches of the exosphere which is 10,000km above the earth.
Ignoring the volume occupied by Earth for the time being...
The diameter of the exosphere is therefore 10,000 + 10,000 + 12720 (diameter of the earth) = 32720km. The radius is therefore 16360km.
The volume is four thirds multipled by pi multiplied by the radius cubed (4/3 π 16360³) = 18,341,650,640,000 km³
Less the volume of Earth occupied by Earth. (4/3 π 6360³) = 1,077,605,665,000km³
18,341,650,640,000 - 1,077,605,665,000 = 17,264,044,985,000km³
depends on how you want to define the volume.
Do you want to go by total cubic feet of gas at "standard pressure and temperature"
Or the volume it actually takes up between the surface and as far up as its detectable?
The latter is easier to calculate...
Volume of atmosphere = volume of the sphere with a radius equal to radius of the earth plus thickness of the atmosphere, minus the volume occupied by the sphere of the earth.
(close enough.. both are really ellipsoids, not spheres)
Now look up the diameter of the earth and the thickness of the atmosphere... plug some numbers into a calculator and you have an answer.
There is no "specific" answer because of the difficulty in quantifying the thickness of the Earth's atmosphere (see http://www.pdas.com/atmthick.htm... ). Volume involves knowing certain spatial quantities.
But, if you want o use the upper limits of the thickness of the atmosphere (100km), then you can find "an answer".
Simple Volume formula: 4/3*pi*r^3
Take the mean radius of earth = 6370.9987 km
End up with roughly = 1014991035148.5156 cubic km
Do the same for the earth plus the atmosphere (add an extra 100km) and you get roughly = 1064966254007.9085 cubic km
Simple subtraction:
1064966254007.9085 - 1016366026179.0716 = 48600227828.8369 cubic km
Voila - hope that answers your question
That's a tough question, there seems to be a debate as too just how far out our atmosphere extends. I am anxious to see what others say the answer is to this question. Keep us thinking Ultramatem.
I agree with Hugh Jafro (is your brother's name Lar).
It all depends on what you consider atmosphere.
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