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Chemistry of the Atmosphere

The Earth's early atmosphere

  • 3 things to know
  • Chemistry Paper 2

Overview

Why the evidence is limited and theories keep changing, the volcanic origin of the gases and the oceans, carbon dioxide with little oxygen, the Mars and Venus comparison, and how carbon dioxide dissolved into carbonate sediments.

What you need to know

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Key term

Explain why evidence about the Earth's early atmosphere is limited, and how its gases and oceans are thought to have formed.

Key term

Why is the evidence about the Earth's early atmosphere so limited?

Key term

Why can scientists not be certain which account of the early atmosphere is correct?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why is the evidence about the Earth's early atmosphere so limited?

    Model answer

    The Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago, so almost no direct evidence of the conditions then has survived.

  2. 2

    What has happened to scientific ideas about how the early atmosphere formed?

    Model answer

    They have changed and developed over time as new evidence and new interpretations have appeared.

  3. 3

    Roughly how long ago did the Earth form?

    Model answer

    About 4.6 billion years ago.

  4. 4

    Why can scientists not be certain which account of the early atmosphere is correct?

    Model answer

    The evidence is limited and indirect, so more than one theory can fit what is known.

  5. 5

    What is thought to have released the gases that made up the Earth's early atmosphere?

    Model answer

    Intense volcanic activity during the first billion years of the Earth's existence.

  6. 6

    How are the oceans thought to have formed?

    Model answer

    Water vapour released by volcanoes cooled and condensed to liquid water.

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