Up-Up-Up through the Atmosphere

The hook:  Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking freefall skydive.  Although he’s only up in the stratosphere, it looks like he’s out in space beyond our atmosphere.  This video is just so amazing.

Oh, how I have marveled at the balloon rising above the earth (so that’s what it looks like in the stratosphere?), and of that daring step into nothingness, and of his I-make-this-look-like-a-piece-of-cake landing!  But my favorite part is watching a precious mother look up into the sky as her son rises 24 miles in a capsule. And then, to witness her reaction as she anxiously watches him dive back towards the earth faster than the speed of sound! Can you imagine being the mom of a daredevil like Baumgartner? Whoa.

But not only that.  Every time I see a picture of what’s beyond us, my mind goes numb.  I can’t even take it in. Stuff like this makes me feel itty-bitty in this great big universe, and it makes God and His incredible design look… infinitesimally glorious!

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1

And with that… we started.  We started by reading the first three free chapters (about our amazing atmosphere) of Voskamp’s A Child’s Geography and then made a paper model of the atmosphere to better understand each layer. (By the way, there are many activities in the download with the paper model instructions, including some great math tie-ins for upper elementary.) Coupling this activity with a fabulous diagram of the atmosphere, we later sketched in Mt. Everest, clouds, meteors, aurora, and ozone on our paper model in addition to all the NASA aircraft.  We even added a picture of Felix Baumgartner.  And then… we hung it on the wall.

 

We viewed some on-line interactives of the atmosphere, along with a few videos, all of which are listed in our list of Earth Science resources.

• Reveal Earth’s Atmosphere Video (5 min)
• Atmosphere Animated Diagram
• Atmosphere On-Line Interactive

This simple atmospheric pressure experiment worked much better than balancing a balloon on a stick.

Although I have a background in petroleum engineering, my knowledge stops at the lithosphere.  So… we all learned:

• What ozone is and the difference between good ozone and bad ozone.
• How the ionosphere affects radio waves.
• What causes the aurora borealis.
• Where and why shooting stars blaze.
• The function of each layer of the atmosphere.
• What types of aircraft/spacecraft can be found in each layer of the atmosphere.

What a great investigation into the earth’s atmosphere!