Question

question 1-29
if a scientist wanted to take air samples with
a weather balloon from the coldest layer of
the atmosphere, then proceed to the densest
layer of the atmosphere, which two layers
would the weather balloon be in?
mesosphere, troposphere
stratosphere, mesosphere
troposphere, thermosphere
thermosphere, stratosphere

Explanation:

To solve this, we recall the layers of the atmosphere:

1. Mesosphere: It is the coldest layer of the atmosphere (temperatures decrease with altitude here, reaching very low values).
2. Troposphere: It is the densest layer of the atmosphere because it contains most of the atmosphere's mass (about 75 - 80%) and is closest to the Earth's surface, where air is compressed by gravity.

Now let's analyze the options:

• Option 1 (mesosphere, troposphere): Mesosphere is the coldest, troposphere is the densest. This matches.
• Option 2 (stratosphere, mesosphere): Stratosphere is not the densest, mesosphere is cold but the second part is wrong.
• Option 3 (troposphere, thermosphere): Troposphere is dense but not the coldest; thermosphere is hot, not dense.
• Option 4 (thermosphere, stratosphere): Thermosphere is hot, stratosphere is not the densest.

Answer:

A. mesosphere, troposphere