Encyclopedia > Air

  Article Content

Air

Air is a name for the alloy of gasses present in the Earth's atmosphere.

Dry air is roughly 79% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, and 1% argon. Air may contain 0-7 % water vapour (the 79%, 20% and 1% become accordingly a little less), and less than 1% carbon dioxide. The composition of the air changes with altitude; also exhaled air is different from what is inhaled.

Pressure decreases with altitude; this is why aircraft have pressurised cabins. The air pressure inside aircraft cabins is maintained at a pressure higher than that outside, for the comfort of the passengers and crew, although it is still slightly lower than at ground level. With a decrease in pressure comes a decrease in density, meaning the gases are more spread out at higher altitudes. Because of this, mountain climbers[?] must carry a supply of oxygen on their way up to the summit of high mountains.

Compressed air is often used in scuba diving, when diving fairly close to the surface.


Air is one of the classical elements, and is associated with many other concepts, such as the sword suit in the tarot.
Air is a French electronica band. Their acclaimed first album Moon Safari was followed by releases like Premiers Symptomes, 10,000 Hz Legend and the soundtrack to the film The Virgin Suicides.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Brazil

... This article is about the country. For other uses see Brazil (disambiguation). The Federative Republic of Brazil is by far the largest and most populous country in ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 32.7 ms