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geographical mile of air cover Earth . Theboundary between Earth ’s atmosphere and outer space , the Kármán line , is about 62 miles ( 100 kilometers ) above the planet ’s airfoil . However , about 99.9 % of the mass of Earth ’s atmosphere lies below a height of 30 miles ( 48 kilometre ) , accord toAnthony Broccoli , a professor of atmospheric skill at Rutgers University .
atmosphere is light than our bodies , but all those miles of air in the standard pressure amount to a lot of weighting . " The total mess of Earth ’s ambience is 5.1 billion billion kilogram , or 11.24 billion billion pounds , " Broccoli say Live Science . When it comes to a cylindrical column of air that is 1 foot ( 0.3 meter ) in diam , " its mass is 1,663 pound sterling [ 754 kilograms ] , " he articulate .
Air gets thinner the higher you go in elevation, but air still weighs heavily on us all the time.
So why are n’t mass crush by Earth ’s standard atmosphere ?
In part , it comes down to the distribution of the press . Air flows around your consistence . Ultimately , the pressure from atmosphere " is exerted uniformly on all parts of a person ’s body — it is not just a down force , " Broccoli said .
Still , the pressure the atmosphere exert uniformly on our bodies is not piddling . It add up to or so 14.7 pound — about the weight of a large bowling orchis — per straightforward column inch ( 1 kilo per square centimeter ) , Broccoli take note .
Air gets thinner the higher you go in elevation, but air still weighs heavily on us all the time.
concern : How much does a cloud weigh ?
We are not break down by melodic line pressure sensation because " our bodies have evolved over time to hold the pressures , " saidMichael Wood , president and professor of quantitative science at Canisius University in Buffalo , New York . Broccoli added that " the zephyr inside our bodies is at essentially the same pressure push outwards , making the press forces balanced . "
This balancing of forces only occur if air can reach all sides of your body . If you push a vacuity cleaner ’s nozzle against your hand and have it suck all the air that was pressing on your skin , the power your hand then feels is the weight of the air pushing against the vacuum hose , Christopher Baird , an associate professor of physics at West Texas A&M University , explained in ablog post .
— Why is space a vacuity ?
— Why do swarm swim ?
— How much piddle is in Earth ’s atmosphere ?
Air gets tenuous as you go up in height , so atmospherical pressure level reduces with altitude as well , Wood said . This is why your ears can feel a " pop " in an airplane during ascending and descents — it can take some time before your internal air travel pressure matches the external air travel press , and the pop feel result when the atmosphere pressure on the sides of the eardrum finally equalize , accord to the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation .
This internal air pressure from our bodies " is one ground why wecannot travel in outer space without a spacesuit , " Wood told Live Science . " The pressure in space is essentially zero . Without the atmosphere pressure pushing down on the human body , the internal pressure inside the consistency would make the body inflate like a balloon until the pressure is released . "
