Hidden Nature

Table 1. The four principal zones of the

Earth's atmosphere.

the oxygen then sinks back to Earth, while the lighter hydrogen

atoms rise eventually to reunite with the hydrogen of space.

The widowed single atom oxygen atoms are now exposed to high

levels of ionizing radiation which causes them to combine with

molecular oxygen (0 2 ) to form an allotropic form of oxygen, 0 3 or

ozone, which absorbs dangerous ultraviolet radiation, a process

vital for shielding life on Earth.

Earth's atmosphere

The atmosphere is a relatively thin veneer surrounding the Earth,

containing the gases essential to life. Its total thickness is about 400

km (248 miles), which represents about 0.3% of the Earth's diame-

ter. It has four principal zones, through which the temperature

swings alternately from a falling mode to a rising mode:^2

During each of these temperature transitions, the anomaly point

of 4°C (+39°F) is passed, so that in each zone there is first a band of

negative temperature gradient, followed by a band of positive temper-

ature gradient (see Chapter 5). The three lower zones each have a

water layer close to these anomaly points, cumulus and cirrus clouds

(troposphere), nacreous clouds (stratosphere) and noctilucent clouds

(mesosphere) as shown on Fig. 7.1 which would resist the transfer of

an electric charge. Callum Coats has suggested that this could result

in the creation of a natural biocondenser, a condenser being a device

with which an electric charge can be accumulated and stored.^

(^) height (km/miles) temperature
Troposphere: 13/0 to 8 + 15°C (59°F) to -60°C (-76°F) area of weather activity
+4°C (39°F) layer 3.5/2 and the greenhouse effect
Stratosphere: 13/8 to 50/31 -60°C (-76°F) to +10°C (50°F) contains ozone layer
+4°C (39°F) layer 40/25 and very high clouds
Mesosphere: 50/31 to 80/50 +10°C (50°F) to -100°C (-148°F) rapidly falling temperature
+4°C (39°F) layer 65/40 and pressure
Ionosphere: 80/50 to 400/248 -100°C (-148°F) to +600°C(+1100°F) absorbs Sun's shortwave
+4°C (39°F) layer 100/62 radiation
HIDDEN NATURE