It surrounds us during our entire lives, and we breathe it in and out from our first to our last moment. Without it, there would be no life on our planet. We are talking about one of the four elements, air. The air combines gases that make up the earth’s atmosphere. Dry air is mainly composed of two gases: Nitrogen (N2) is the primary air component at 78.08 percent. At 20.92 percent, oxygen (O2) is the second most crucial component.
Furthermore, air contains noble gases (0.93 percent in total), mainly argon, as well as helium, neon, krypton and xenon. In addition, carbon dioxide (CO2) makes up 0.037 percent, and is one of the main air components due to its importance for living organisms and the climate. The air also includes methane, hydrogen, nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and carbon monoxide. In this article of Gazettely, we will tell you nine interesting things about the air that you probably don’t know.
How much it weighs
Just how much does the air in a room weigh? Suppose we are in conditions that chemists call “standard” (0 °C temperature and 1 atmosphere of pressure), and we consider the air to be composed only of oxygen and nitrogen. Since (as the gas equation says) one cubic meter of air weighs about 1.3 kg (or just a little less) and that in an average room (5 x 4 x 3 meters) there are 60 cubic meters, then the weight of an “air chamber” will be 60 x 1.3 = 78 kg, as much as a person!
Would you like to make art?
There is one who, through the air, have defined a new concept of sculpture, which is no longer based on the use of solid and heavy materials such as marble or bronze. The American Janet Echelman from 1997 gave shape to the spaces of cities with her suspended installations, which was created with sheets and nets. The idea came to her while observing a group of fishermen who were repairing their nets. Today Echelman – who has exhibited her works during significant events such as the Olympics – works with aeronautical engineers, landscapers and lighting experts.
Until it’s breathable
There was a time when the earth’s atmosphere was (and will be) unbreathable. It was completely devoid of oxygen four billion years ago (it is a poison to many living things). It arrived a billion years later, wiped out most of the cells that inhabited the planet at that time. Similar conditions to today stabilized about 540 million years ago. But in one billion years, the sun (which has since become brighter) will cause the oceans to evaporate, giving rise to a greenhouse effect that will make the earth uninhabitable.
Cold but hot
There are some places where the temperature is high, but you can feel cold. One example? The thermosphere, the atmosphere layer between 90 and 500 km altitude, has temperatures up to 1,000 °C. Yet, astronauts, during their spacewalks, have to wear air-conditioned suits. In fact here the air is rarefied (there are few molecules), and the transfer of heat, in the absence of conduction, happens only by radiation.
How many farts do we make?
Many scientific journals have certified it: every adult makes up to 2.5 liters a day. We are talking about farts, a mix of nitrogen, CO2, hydrogen, gas and methane sulfur produced by bacteria in the colon – and emitted by human and animals. David Wilkinson of JM University in Liverpool claims that 200 million years ago, the dinosaurs with their “farts” helped raise the planet’s temperature.
Compact and shipped
Invented at the start of the 19th century in England, the pneumatic mail used a circuit of tubes and a compressed air system to deliver telegraphic messages inside capsules. It became widespread in various parts of the world but gradually fell into disuse. And yet it still has several applications today: for example, in malls, for sending cash into safes, or in drugstores, to move drug packages from the warehouse to the counter. Technology is based on compressors, turbo wheels and diverters capable of moving objects weighing a few kilograms at over 15 m/s (54 km/h) for hundreds of meters.
How much do we breathe in? (And other numbers)
A 70-kg man inhales 6 liters of it per minute. While babies up to 6 months make 30/60 inhalations per minute, babies from 6 to 12 months reach 24/30. For children from 1 to 5 years old, the breaths are between 20 and 30 per minute. From 6 to 12 years of age, it reaches between 12 and 20. There are about 300 million alveoli in the lungs, and they have a total exchange surface area of between 70 and 100 m².
The fried air? There is such a thing!
The air is also an ingredient. The fans of molecular cuisine, where the recipes call for the use of “airs,” know this well. These are foams produced with emulsifying substances such as soy lecithin, which dilute ingredients with a very strong flavor (lemon juice, parsley, mint). Apparently, the air was invented by the guru of molecular cuisine, Ferran Adrià, when he saw carrot juice coming out of a centrifuge.
So how does it trigger lightning?
We have studied them for years, but lightning still hides many mysteries. For example, we have no evidence that, in the clouds, ice particles and “round snow” are the ones that transmit the electric charge to the air. And more importantly: despite decades of studies with probes, the electrical field that would be necessary to trigger them has never been recorded. In fact, the calculated one theoretically turns out to be ten times more intense than the one actually measured.
