Understanding the Atmosphere | Essentials of Environmental Science

Welcome to our new special series about the essentials of environmental science
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The air we breathe is this extremely precious thing. Especially, because there is so little of it - the atmosphere is really thin, it’s like if you wrapped a single layer of plastic wrap around a basketball. That thin sheet is what makes this tiny little planet in the vast solar system, and as far as we know - universe - able to sustain life. In this episode of the Essentials of Environmental Science, we’re going to look at some ways in which human beings have negatively affected the thin layer of earth’s atmosphere by filling it with pollutants, how we study the atmosphere, and how we can protect it.
Hey, we messed up at 2:24. UVC has a shorter wavelength (higher energy) than UVB and UVA. Thanks for keeping us on our toes!
Welcome to our Learning series about the essentials of environmental science. We’ll have more from this series in the following videos, so stay tuned!
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Host/Writer: Miriam Nielsen
Co-Writer: Scott Sowell, Ph.D. www.sowellscience.com/
Editor-in-chief: Joe Hanson
Creative Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Editor/Animator: Sara Roma
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Produced by PBS Digital Studios
Theme Music: Eric Friend/Optical Audio
Music: APM

[@HotMessPBS]

Hey, we messed up at 2:24. UVC has a shorter wavelength (higher energy) than UVB and UVA. Thanks for keeping us on our toes!

[@bazoo513]

You also messed up right at 0:55 - There is ~0.93% of argon in the atmosphere, not 0.093%. Water is far more abundant than helium, neon, or indeed carbon dioxide, at about 0.4% (4000ppm) on average (by volume). Be more careful when proofreading the script and editing. For channels like yours, it is _critical_ that all data is correct, however insignificant it might be. Also, as others mentioned, please list your sources. I can easily find a way to verify your claims (and know most of them by heart, anyway, but I still _did_ verify argon and water concentrations, just in case), but you are not making these videos for 63-year-old physicists like myself. Otherwise, good work, Miriam!

[@kapekape7580]

Cold mess

[@Eric_D_6]

I thought that sounded wrong, thanks for the correction

[@philipdmiller]

This is why The Pale Blue Dot speech by Carl Sagan should be taught in every school, around the world (yep it's round), to every school child. Capture their imagination and hope they will take the time to learn all of this. Because we all live "on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam" on "the only home we've ever known"

[@green0563]

Glad Hot Mess is still going strong. I had thought it had ended some time ago, found this in my subscriptions feed. You guys are awesome.

[@TroyEagan]

Minor correction: UVC has a shorter wavelength than UVA and UVB, not longer. Shorter wavelengths correspond with higher energy levels.

[@jbw6823]

Yea. Boo boo.

[@TroyEagan]

@@jbw6823 just a minor one. And a common one for anyone outside of physics or astronomy.

[@jbw6823]

@@TroyEaganyea. Btw, Im a physicist in Silicon Valley. I do optics and optoelectronics. Just finished doing a 1MW q switched quadrupled yag system for a startup here. Nasty thing.

[@SpicyMang0s]

@@jbw6823what does that even mean 😳

[@IstasPumaNevada]

Other important takeaways for CFC's: The ban was in 1987, and we're only now, 33 years later, starting to see recovery. This is partly because it takes a really, really long time for the chlorine to disperse, and partly because it takes time to implement policy (especially if things are phased out instead of instantly stopped). But also relevant, use never dropped to 0, and there was a recent increase of CFC emissions from eastern China, and possibly other sources, around the middle-to-late part of the last decade. These are two more reasons why it's so important to get more serious about climate change NOW, and not later. Especially since the CO2/heat balance takes much longer to even out.

[@bazoo513]

And another one: everybody and their uncle in industries using (or producing) CFCs was screaming that it is impossible to stop using them, that the economy will be ruined, that we "can't afford it", and that the science linking them to ozone layer depletion is "inconclusive". Sounds familiar? But with the phaseout replacements were found, often cheaper, easily and painlessly for _every_ use (with a possible exception of some special-case fire extinguishers), the sky has not fallen, and not, three decades later, the ozone hole is healing, Aussies are back to the normal level of melanomas, and only old geezers like myself remember the whole brouhaha.

[@lemonboiyoutube]

Wow, everyone hears about air pollution causing cold and hot weather, but after this video, I've learned that it's much more than that.

[@GuitarLegendvideos]

Awesome video thankyou! Although I'm sure you want to make the video shorter not longer... I would love it if there were slightly longer gaps between your spoken paragraphs. It's easy to listen to a fast talker normally. But if it's alot of new information, suddenly a fast talker becomes difficult to process 🤣 These videoa are so helpful though!! But the average person like me especially, helps me understand everything better

[@klaudelu18]

I scrolled down, searching for a comment like this. I think that the information would sink in easier if the absolutely adorable host would articulate more and give more time and breath to her speech. Watching the video more times helps, but again, the information would sink in easier and would require fewer replays.

[@ryko9975]

This is the best Hot Mess video I have ever seen! A lot of videos that talk about CC feel repetitive, but this was fascinating

[@MortyMortyMorty]

It's great to have you back guys :D

[@Celosten]

The description says that Joe Hanson is the host. He looks a little different today.

[@bazoo513]

For the better :o)

[@suhrdjoshi]

Shorter wavelengths have higher energies, the narration had an error. If UVC is more harmful than UVA, then it is bluer and not redder, as correctly shown in the graphic.

[@dianewallace6064]

Great! Very thorough.

[@alial-fatlawi5565]

Great video, I just want to point out that the situation we're in is very dire. We still pollute way to much

[@jagan541]

Nice work

[@matthewbasnett7594]

You mentioned that CO2 was not considered an air pollutant but what about it’s affects on cognition at high ppm’s such as indoor spaces, bedrooms and classrooms?

[@a.randomjack6661]

Studies have shown higher concentrations of CO2 (1000 ppm and more) to be detrimental to the cognitive process. Due to poor ventilation, 1000+ ppm of CO2 is often found in classes...

[@samanthabailey02]

Thank you

[@jbw6823]

To get an idea of how thin the atmosphere, you can look up at a plane in the sky. Theyre up at 30k ft. Everest is about the same height. You cant breath ar half that high. Gives you a metric you can see everyday.

[@andreaswagner6022]

At least in Germany the cooling towers nowadays also emit the other pollutants. The old chimneys are mainly not used anymore.

[@nataliediaz7733]

Yuh watching this video for school 🤓🤪

[@omegamagna]

This is a great video! I cannot wait to watch more of your videos. That being said, you talk really fast.

[@jbw6823]

Excellent. Ask s denier a single thing about the atmosphere and they dont have a clue.

[@DragomirSangeorzan]

Unfortunately, it takes a pandemic or economic crisis to decrease fossil fuel use. See: Jevons paradox... gains in efficiency are used for increasing output and consumption, not for reducing the footprint.

[@dejayrezme8617]

I think if you do a comparison between the kyoto protocol as an example of the world listening to science you also have to point out the monumental difference. It didn't require massive economic changes and interventions. And all power flows from economics so the billionairs that rule our planet didn't care so much. They also didn't have enough time to react with a PR campaign. Of more of our dear leaders would have been affected, you'd still see comments here like "UV is good for you! Plants grow better with it!"

[@alexandrereyes3272]

Very good video ! Although I would've loved to see the sources of some plots. I am a little bit surprised by the decrease of NOx particules considering the large increase on the number of Disel engines in the US.

[@max96479]

Carbon Monoxide is COx

[@klokoloko2114]

carbon MONOxide is CO or CO1 if you want. 1 carbon atom and 1 oxigen atom. Concentration in air just 1% is lethal.

[@pXnTilde]

This channel: We examined tons of scientific studies and carefully make educational videos about global climate change KZbin: haha wikipedia global warming

[@STNG17-]

Is Ozone a product of UVC that blocked by O2 and convert it to O3, or UVC blocked by O3 itself with no chemical reaction? Because my understanding is UVC pretty much blocked by anything in our atmosphere.

[@a.randomjack6661]

I have been a subscriber here since your 1st video and I also have alerts ON. This is the 2nd video I notice "today" I did not see. I never miss these. I guess the all mighty Algorithm does'nt like you as much as I do. Thanks for your work, it's really good quality stuff.

[@hunterbidensvaxmandates]

Carbon dioxide from cars is completely harmless, main concern is pm 2.5 particles

[@pottedrosepetal6906]

So I was wondering why they didnt say "COx" but then I thought more and was like "I see what you did here".

[@phosphorus4]

I mean it's written as monoxide(must be for a reason)…

[@pottedrosepetal6906]

@@phosphorus4 CO2 was completely left out, however, it would have also fit most of those criteria.

[@danielohearn5408]

@@pottedrosepetal6906 CO2, although it is important when considering heat within the troposphere, is not a pollutant; it's a requirement for plant metabolism, and we exhale it.

[@gibbonholder3274]

Ras House Music 🎶 Laborie Beach ⛱️ St Lucia

[@patrickshock25]

👍

[@BloodAsp]

No mention of cow's, or volcanoes?

[@lexiberg1646]

According to the NOAA humans produce over 60 times the amount of CO2 volcanos do.

[@klokoloko2114]

All weight of CO2 in atmosphere is 3000 billion tons and we put in air every YEAR new 40 billion tons, so about 1% increase every year. Before industrial revolution CO2 was 270ppm and today is 420ppm. That's 100% our activity. Did you know that before industrial revolution population was 600 million people and today is 7800 million people on earth. You won't believe it but only with our breathing all 7,8 billion people contribute 7% of total our CO2 emissions. These 3 things that we need are more than 85% of all CO2 emissions that we produce 1) heating in winter 32%, 2) transportation (cars, planes, ships) 28% and 3) electricity usage 26%. Cows burp methane though mouth so this is one of the problems, since methane (CH4) is 28 times more stronger than carbon dioxide (CO2) gas.

[@sking2173]

Hot Mess, why have you stopped producing videos ??

[@deawinter]

Unfortunately, Kids These Days very much know what Voltron is

[@danielohearn5408]

Why does the main method measuring pollutants from an air quality prospective involve a category called PM which includes dust particles, and pollen? Measuring PM is the like measuring dollars from sand in the ground. High PM doesn't tell you anything about how healthy the air is breath in -- fact: PM readings will be high when there is steam or high humidity in the air, and that measurement will be indistinguishable between when there's an actual dangerous pollutant in the air. There is such thing as gas chromatography, can the EPA not afford it? If science shows that millions of people die each year from pollution one can't help but think they should be held accountable.

[@claudiasuarezmoreno6543]

que si que si

[@ColCurtis]

You say the atmosphere thickness is similar to the thickness if plastic wrap on a basketball, then in your next animation the atmosphere looks thicker than the diameter of the planet.

[@antzerobooks]

i'm taking a wild guest that all these people staying indoor all around the world is a breath of fresh air for earth

[@mikeg9b]

It would strengthen your credibility if you cited your sources of information.

[@mikeharrington5593]

Try the NASA or Wiki websites - they are not difficult to use for simple research.

[@lorenzo--rossi]

Voltron...or Golion?

[@kapekape7580]

im gonna like every comment just beacause i had a good day today

[@littlebitofeverything652]

It is very interesting subject and I do want to know more about it, but for me personally you talk to fast ....

[@Herr_Vorragender]

Are you saying coal is not clean? But think of all them jobs. Besides, it's raining, so earth can't be heating up. Besides besides, the sun is getting hotter.

[@klokoloko2114]

Where did you hear those false claims?

[@Herr_Vorragender]

@@klokoloko2114 Oh buddy, these claims are all over the place. :( Mainly Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit etc People are going full mental! You know Joe Rogan? Everybody does. His most modern oppinion is, the virus isn't that bad, because it doesn't kill as many people as expected. But someone else takes the cake of insanity. Michael Moore with planet of the humans. He actually does claim that coal is cleaner than regeneratives.

[@klokoloko2114]

@@Herr_Vorragender More didn't know what he was doing and Rogan was probably high. World was gone mad :(

[@talyah23]

Why do you never talk about agriculture's effect on the environment? It's such a glaring issue to ignore for fear of meat eating retribution.

[@andersmatte]

Its not true. Co2 is 0,042% about in the athmosfhere. Green energy is worse than fossile because of fossile have at least double the enrgymass as green. That we should concentrate on is environment, that not same as the climate.

[@mahdipasague1517]

Why she speaks so fast😕

[@MrSvenovitch]

Life is a very temporary undertaking, why don't you just make your peace with that instead of dreaming of you or your descendants forever roaming in circles trying to find meaning on a meaningless rock. It'll all be over soon and it will be quiet, without anxiety and painless. Embrace the end times!

[@napsy_]

Talk about pessimism damn…

[@samyaktamrakar5829]

You definitely need to breathe😂miss..

[@klaudelu18]

She is absolutely lovely, and I think the video would be even more effective if she would articulate her words more, and give more breath to her sentences.

[@ShirinRose]

@@klaudelu18 Agreed. I found she spoke a bit too fast for me to understand her comfortably, and I'm a native English speaker. But great video otherwise!

[@ExtraSweetSour]

Second comment

[@klaudelu18]

2nd like 2 the 2nd comment.

[@BrBlBa]

FIRST COMMENT

[@klaudelu18]

Second like to the first comment.

[@brucewilson1958]

I'm 66. You are young. I realize that your target audience is also young. And the current young have an extremely short attention spans. And you want to stand out because there's so much competition. My point is; your rate of speech is unnatural, not conducive to learning, and frankly, annoying to the point that turned you off, even though I was interested in your topic. No one talks that fast unless they have had 12 shots of espresso or just smoked meth. No one thinks that fast. No one comprehends information delivered at that place.

[@sking2173]

I must respectfully disagree. I will far more often turn off a video because of a slow delivery; I hate when someone takes a minute to say what should be said in 10 seconds. I like this woman’s delivery. She enunciates very clearly for one that speaks so rapidly, so thusly is easy to understand. I like it !

[@fjaviermo]

Don't like the stories written/told by Miriam. Yes, we are in a huge crisis and we are the reason for it. But that's not how we bring people together to solve it. When hearing Miriam I feel like she is pointing guilty to the viewer. Between the lines I read we are not worth of the planet we live on. And so on, and so on. She may be right, but it will just created rejection from people, even from those being on the same page. She has improved from their previous scripts and performances, but she is still not the mind/voice we need to talk the rest of human kind into doing something to solve this crisis.

[@fjaviermo]

Maybe I'm biased by Joe. I'm still following this channel because of him. Please, give him more words and screen time.