What are the components of the atmosphere?

Let's take a moment to talk about air. Most of the time, we're completely unaware of its presence, yet it's always around us, filling our lungs and constantly exerting pressure on our organs. Scientifically, air is the collection of gasses surrounding us in the Earth’s environment.

This gaseous envelope is known as the Earth’s atmosphere , and its unique composition is different from that of other planets with atmospheres in our Solar System. Where does the atmosphere come from? The answer lies in the same force that, according to legend, caused the apple to fall on Isaac Newton’s head - the force of gravity. Earth's mass creates a gravitational field that attracts all objects around it.

This applies to all matter with mass, from the solid rocks beneath us, to the oceans of liquid water, and finally to the atmosphere, which is by and large in a gaseous state. 3 View gallery ( Photo: Shutterstock ) The gas composition Most of Earth's atmosphere—around 78 percent of all the gasses—is nitrogen. Nitrogen, the seventh element in the periodic table, is tasteless, odorless, colorless, and relatively non-reactive.

The second most abundant gas, making up about 21 percent of the atmosphere, is oxygen. Humans, along with most living organisms on Earth, rely on oxygen for energy production; without it, complex life as we know it would be impossible. That’s why, when astronomers search for signs of life on other planets, the "smoking gun" is usually the proportion of oxygen in.