Question

rt l: Principles of Atmospheric Pressure and Wind 1. Using figure 6.1, answer the following question concerning vertical pressure changes. What happens to air pressure from the surface to the upper portion of the atmosphere in figure 6.1? a. Copyright 2008 Pearson Prentice Hall, Inc. Figure 6.1. The vertical distribution of pressure.

Answer 1

This is a clear figure from which we can see how the air pressure decreases with the height from the earth's surface.

Near the surface, we can see that the molecules are more concentrated and show less randomness (less entropy). With height, the randomness of the molecules has increased. This is due to high pressure at the surface and low pressure at the top.

Remember pressure is inversely proportional to entropy, whereas temperature is directly proportional to entropy.