Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants Quotes

“Air is the clear gas that surrounds the Earth. It is a mix of many other gases, dust particles, and water molecules. Most of air is nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and other trace gases, including carbon dioxide and helium, which make up less than a tenth of 1%. We call the air around Earth the atmosphere. Gravity pulls the atmosphere toward the center of the Earth. (That’s why it doesn’t just fly off into space.) Atmospheric pressure is the force of the air pushing against objects. Atmospheric pressure is highest at the Earth’s surface because gravity is pulling all the air above it toward the center of the planet. (That’s a lot of air!) There is less and less air as you travel from the planet’s surface toward space. So there is less pressure! It’s like being in an ocean. When you float near the top of the ocean, there is only a small amount of water pushing down on you. When you swim at the bottom of the ocean, all the weight of the water between you and the ocean’s surface is pushing down on you. That is much heavier!”
― Andrea Beaty, Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants