The Collision Imbalance And Evaporation-Dissolution Balance

I would like to introduce some new insight into the operation of the atmosphere that I have had. This is not about weather but about the basic support mechanism of the atmosphere.

Earth's atmosphere consists of diatomic molecules of oxygen and nitrogen with some rarer components like carbon dioxide and argon. These molecules continually collide with each other as they move around with the energy of heat. During these molecular collisions a molecule in the air has, by random chance on a large scale, an equal chance of being knocked upward or downward, eastward or westward, northward or southward.

However there is another factor involved, the surface of the earth. Molecules in the air moving downward collide with the surface and bounce off. The surface thus redirects molecules moving downward to moving upward so that of the six possible directions that a molecule can be moving, the favored (favoured) direction is upward. This is what I am naming the "collision imbalance" and claiming that it is what causes the atmosphere as we know it to exist.

Since the atmosphere is supported by molecular collisions and the resulting "upward bias" due to the surface of the earth, this means that entropy must be a factor. The collisions supporting the atmosphere against gravity must necessarily be less than 100% efficient. I find that it is this entropy, collision inefficiency, that limits the height of the atmosphere and makes it most dense at lower altitudes. This means that when we measure the decreasing air density with increasing altitude, we are actually measuring the entropy of the collisions supporting the atmosphere.

WATER AND THE ATMOSPHERE

If you look out across a body of water, do you notice something strange? If we stop and think for a minute, we realize that water is actually lighter than air and thus should be floating in the air.

A water molecule consists of one atom of oxygen and two of hydrogen. Oxygen has 8 protons in it's atom and hydrogen has 1. So, water has a molecular weight of 10. Air consists of diatomic molecules mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. Nitrogen has an atomic number of 7 so that with a diatomic molecule, it's molecular weight is 14. Oxygen has a diatomic molecular weight of 16. Carbon has 6 protons in it's molecule so a molecule of carbon dioxide has a molecular weight of 24.

So, if the oxygen in the air has a molecular weight of 16, nitrogen of 14 and carbon dioxide of 24, why does water, with a light molecular weight of 10 collect below the atmosphere in oceans, lakes and, rivers instead of floating in the air? And why does rain fall from the sky?

It is true that water does float because it is lighter than air. This is why wet air causes lower barometric pressure than dry air and the barometer drops when a storm is approaching. In fact, water would not evaporate at all if it was not lighter than air. Yet, the fact also remains that water weighs about 800 times as much as air at sea level.

The reason, of course, is that water molecules are strongly polar. The molecule consists of one atom of oxygen and two of hydrogen. This means that one side of the molecule is more positively charged and the other side more negatively charged. This causes water molecules to bond together into a matrix since opposite charges attract.

Since water molecules are bonded together by this hydrogen bonding but diatomic oxygen and nitrogen is not, a molecule in the air occupies about 120 times the space as a water molecule. This is why water is actually lighter than air but when many water molecules bond together, it becomes heavier than air.

This hydrogen bonding of water molecules makes it possible for water to collect into lakes and oceans with air above but when a water molecule is moving fast enough by the kinetic energy of heat, it can break free of the matrix of water molecules and become part of the air. This is the process known as evaporation and the water becomes water vapor (vapour).

The reason we have rain and other precipitation is that these hydrogen bonds between water molecules form again if water molecules in the air are close enough to come in contact with each other. One water molecule has a molecular weight of 10 so it will float in air. But if two bond together, their molecular weight is 20 and they will then become heavier than air.

Clouds form because the lighter water molecules get knocked higher by the collisions but the air gets too thin due to entropy at a certain altitude to support them. Water molecules thus tend to concentrate at that altitude where they can bond together and thus condense.

THE EVAPORATION- DISSOLUTION EXCHANGE

Now that I have given my version of how the atmosphere works, I would like to introduce another new concept in the operation of the earth's atmosphere. We tend to think of the evaporation of water into the air and the dissolution of oxygen and carbon dioxide into the water as arbitrary and unrelated processes. I believe that there is a very close relationship between the two.

In fact, evaporation and dissolution are mirror images of each other and much more systematic than we had supposed. Think of all the water in all the clouds and all the water vapor (vapour) in the air. Now, think of all the oxygen that dissolves in the world's water that fish require for breathing and the carbon dioxide that aquatic plants require. My claim is that the two must be at least roughly equal.

The molecular motion caused by heat causes the air and water to merge. When a molecule of water gains enough speed by heat energy to escape the water matrix, it escapes into the air. This upsets the water matrix held together by the hydrogen bonds between water molecules. It requires less energy for the water to "grab" a molecule of oxygen or carbon dioxide from the air to replace the missing water molecule's spot in the matrix than it does to rearrange the matrix.

Thus, according to my scenario, the molecule of water that escapes into the air by evaporation must be replaced by one of oxygen, carbon dioxide or, possibly nitrogen. The lighter water molecule gains enough energy to break free of the hydrogen bonds and the heavier oxygen or carbon dioxide molecule slips in to replace it, thus preserving the polar water molecule matrix.

Oxygen and carbon dioxide readily dissolve in water because most of a water molecule is also oxygen and both have polarity that enables them to fit into the matrix of polar water molecules. Carbon dioxide dissolves in water more easily than oxygen simply because it is heavier, it sinks down to the bottom of the water so that aquatic plants can breathe. Nitrogen dissolves in water poorly simply because it is lighter than oxygen.

So, I am claiming that there is a fairly precise one to one exchange between the evaporation of water and the dissolution of oxygen and carbon dioxide into water across the world. Some proof of this is the fact that no matter how much or how little oxygen or CO2 is dissolved in a quantity of water, there is little or no discernable change in the volume of the water.