⊰🜁 Air is life 🜁⊱

Merry meet, everyone! We PetitBianca, Willow Martine, ThatEnergyWitch and WMH are going to bring an entry to you in this #AffectionateAir team :blue_heart: 🌫

The element of Air with all its magical properties is already amazing, but there is so much more to it. What we know as "air", this breathable thing around us, is composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0,93% argon, 0,04% carbon dioxide, and other gases in smaller amounts. We, human beings, don't breathe nitrogen. However, we make really good use of oxygen. I mean ”without it we wouldn't be alive”. But there is even more to the calculation. Air carries life. Air is life.

⋄ :cloud: Clouds :cloud: ⋄

So, clouds form from the water that evaporates. We all know that water is really good for the environment and the beings that live in/on it, including humans, fishes, plants, etc. The water can come from water nascent but we also need the water that comes from the rain to survive, basically. The air carries that water in the form of clouds can travel even thousands of kilometers. All of that is possible because of the beautiful air that surrounds us.

I think is also good to point out that this rain is really damaging to the environment. The acid rains happens when sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are released into the atmosphere. These substances react with water in the atmosphere and form sulfuric and nitric acids. And these acids rains... It can damage plants, statues, and monuments with constant and frequent with these acid rains. It can happen because of natural sources and also, mainly, from artificial sources.

If your nerdy brain wants more information on this topic, see this really educational site: 🌧🧪

⋄ :honeybee: Pollen :honeybee: ⋄

Although our really nice bee friends help A LOT in the disperse of pollen, the air also helps. Plants need pollen to produce their seeds. And, obviously, everybody knows what seeds represent, don't you? The pollen can be dispersed with the help of animals, such as bees, butterflies, birds; and also by the wind. Have you ever walked next to a pine tree, in the spring, and had an allergy attack? If you have, you probably know that it is because of its pollen. The wind spread the invisible particles of pollen in the air and brings life to the other pine trees around or even far away from the ”donator” tree.

⋄ :chestnut: Seeds :chestnut: ⋄

Seeds are the product of plants, that come from other plants, that hold the life of their own and give life to new forms of living beings that we call plants. That is why we have all the different beautiful types of flowers. The amazing nature and its adaptation are so amazing that there are various different seed dispersion methods.

I think you already guessed that one of them is through air right? Most of us as a kid, or even as grown-ups, blew a dandelion just for fun. We were helping the dandelions to spread their seeds everywhere. But the dandelion seeds are only one example. Another example is the maple tree seeds that fall from the trees like a helicopter.

⋄ :earth_asia: Greenhouse :earth_asia: ⋄

We all know about the greenhouse effect because of the current global warming on our planet. Global warming being a result of the excess of greenhouse gases is damaging biodiversity. But the effect itself is not as bad as you think. Let me explain.

First, a regular greenhouse. A greenhouse is a building that has walls and ceiling made of glass to grow mainly tropical and hot weather plants. By the day, the sun warms the plants and the air inside. Even in the winter the insides of the greenhouse are warm.

The greenhouse effect works just like the greenhouse. The sun emanates its ultraviolet rays that penetrate our atmosphere, not 100% though. Part of the rays are reflected back to the universe and part invades our air. From those rays that do penetrate, some are absorbed by the air and the soil, and some are reflected back. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, let some rays scape to the universe and another part is reflected back to the earth. This process warms up Earth and allows life to appear on this beautiful planet. Without the atmosphere and the air that fills it, ultimately, we wouldn’t be here.

⋄ :dash: Bernoulli’s Principle :dash: ⋄

What is Bernoulli’s Principle?

As the forward velocity of air moving through a tube increases, the lateral wall pressure of the tube decreases. A lot of people will describe this principle as being responsible for “lift” in airplanes. If you want to get into the nitty-gritty of what Bernoulli’s Principle actually is, this is not entirely an accurate description. However, to prevent this blog from turning into a complicated and boring lecture for all the non-science nerds, I’ll just say this: Bernoulli’s Principle has to do with aerodynamics and air pressure.

Ok, let’s go back to high school physics for a moment and let’s two things:

The difference between potential energy and kinetic energy, and

Energy cannot be created or destroyed.

When air is traveling at a certain pressure it has potential energy. If the air is not contained, the pressure lowers. So now if you have air flowing through a cylinder at a certain speed and pressure, then you squeeze part of that cylinder, the pressure behind the smaller section builds up. As the air travels through this smaller section, it speeds up and gains kinetic energy. Once the air travels through the restriction it slows back down and is converted back to potential energy. In other words, this process creates a type of vacuum where air is in a way sucked into your body through your windpipe (the windpipe being the restriction).

When we are born our lungs are filled with fluid and therefore not inflated. The shock of the cold and environment to our central nervous system helps us take that first breath of life. The air fills and inflates our lungs bringing that precious oxygen into our blood stream, then removes the carbon dioxide through our first exhale. We continue this life giving breath cycle every day until we die.

⋄ :earth_africa: Nutrients :earth_americas: ⋄

The destructive apsect of the air element is seen in its tornadoes, hurricanes, and its ability to erode solid stone and wither mountains. Air’s power also manifests life; for the Amazon rainforest, air is essential to its survival. Using aerial satellites, NASA discovered that winds carry 27.7 million tons of dust (on average) from the Sahara desert to the Amazon rainforest, annually. This dust contains 22,000 tons of phosphorus, which is a nutrient essential to new growth and cell division in plants. Incidentally, an equivalent amount of phosphorus is washed away from the Amazon every year, so this acts as an apt replacement despite being a 6000 mile journey!

Air is a complex element with thousands of processes that facilitate, influence and change our lives. This is one impressive example in which air’s presence, literally, is paramount to the existence of Earth. :earth_americas:

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We hope you liked the post. Sorry for the non-sciencey fellows. But the whole post was to show how amazing the air element is and its importance to us and the lives of our planet. We also hope that you could take something from this post.

Image sources :sparkler:

Background is a phot of the sky by the sunset ∽ PetitBianca

Image 1 - PetitBianca

Image 2 - PetitBianca

image 3 - drawing from PetitBianca

Image 4 - Earth How

Image 5 - Jonathan D. Kirsch

Gif 1 - Giphy

Gif 2 - NASA