Question

Calculate the molecular weight of the lightest gas that could theoretically be a significant part of Earth’s atmosphere. Ignore the question of whether or not a gas with this molecular weight actually exists

Answer 1

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The Earth's Atmosphere

Composition:

• 77% N₂ (molecular nitrogen)
• 21% O₂ (molecular oxygen)
• 1% H₂O (Water Vapor)
• 0.93% Argon
• CO₂ (0.035%)
• Traces of CH₄ (methane), Inert Gases (Ne, He, Kr, Xe)

H & He are small and light, and so moves very fast at a given atmospheric temperature. The mean speeds are greater than the escape velocity from the Earth. As a consequence, most of the H and He escaped from the atmosphere a long time ago. The Earth is too small to retain atmospheric H & He. Hydrogen gas exist as H₂ but elemental symbol is H.

molecular weight of the lightest gas (H₂ - Hydrogen) = 2.01588 g/mol

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