Where did the earth's atomosphere come from?

Answer 1

What happened first?

First the Earth cooled, then came the dinosaurs, but they all got to big and fat so they died and turned to oil. Then came the Arabs who drilled up the oil and bought Mercedes Benzs.

Airplane - the movie.

On a serious note, the Earth is large enough so its gravity can hold an atmosphere. Its close enough to the Sun so it doesn't freeze (like Europa), yet far enough to is doesn't burn off (like Mercury) The exceptions to this have to do with composition (like Titan)and size (like the gas giants)

The atmosphere is mostly nitrogen with the second component of oxygen, the others are quite small in their percentage by comparison.

The atmosphere, in a gravitational field large enough to hold it, is the result of geothermal activity - the Earth is close enough to the Sun that the Sun's gravity keeps the planet spinning and constantly kneads the planet like a baker kneads bread dough. This is the same reason Europa is thought to have a liquid ocean under its icy surface - its being kneaded by Jupiter's gravity.

This kneading and rotation keep the core of the Earth molten which causes volcanoes which spew out all sorts of gases which are metabolized by various biological processes which create the atmosphere and the specific composition of it as we know it today.

There is an explanation of a few of the factors at play.

Earth has the atmosphere it does due to a balance between a great number of influences (distance from the sun, planetary composition, planetary mass, average temperature, tectonic activity, impact activity from asteroids and comets, biological activity and chemical activity) all acting over long, long periods of time where every one of the variables is a function OF time.

Answer 2

Some of these answers seem to be answering a different question. It isn't just the Sun heating the earth, if you leave the Earths atmosphere and go towards the Sun in space it will become freezing, How? when you are going closer to the heat source? Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation, the sunlight is filtered through the atmosphere and the solar radiation produces heat and light. Earths Atmosphere has just as important role to play as the Sun does in heating the planet.

Answer 3

During the time in Earths violent past, when there were 1000's of active volcano's ,spewing poisonous gasses into the atmosphere, it would be too deadly for any living creature to breathe the air. But plant life thrives on CO2.And all the plant life on this planet produced the oxygen, that makes up the air that we breathe today.

Answer 4

When the planet was first formed it consisted of nothing but hydrogen. The sun captured our hydrogen and this created an entirely carbon based atmosphere along with water vapor. The carbon dioxide was outgassed into the water vapor, rocks, limestone, etc. This water vapor from volcanoes provided just enough for water to condense and settle, creating the environment necessary for life. From here the life goes on to produce nitrogen (most of our current atmosphere) and the beginning life produced the supply of oxygen while consuming the carbon dioxide gas that remained in the atmosphere. Hope I helped!

Edit:
Awww **** lol, Justin beat me to the answer...Well his is accurate, the comet thing is bs

Answer 5

some think that it was transported to earth by comets that collided with the planet when it was first forming, others say that it was ejected by early volcanoes, likely a mixture of the two. with heavier elements ejected by volcanoes and lighter ones coming from comets.

Answer 6

It is believed by some the water got here by comets hitting us. The oxygen came from the water.

Answer 7

GOD, probably caused some type of chemical reaction between the sea and earth...influenced by energy from the sun.

Answer 8

all i know is that part of the atmosphere (oxygen) came from early algae that thrived in waterand it released oxygen into the atmosphere

Answer 9

the big bang?