Law of Universal Gravitation:

This law states that every point mass of matter in the universe attracts
every other point mass with a force directly proportional to the product
of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of their
separation.
r
Mm r
F = G 2
r r

Basic Equations for Atmosphere:

The basic equations that govern the atmosphere can be formulated as a
sett off seven equations
ti
with
ith seven unknowns:
k
th three
the
th
components
t off
the velocity v (components u, v, w: v= ui+vj+wk), the pressure p, the
temperature T, the specific humidity q and the density .

The seven equations, written for the atmosphere are:

13. Newtons Law of Motions:
Newton's first law, which states that a body at rest remains at rest and a
body in motion remains in motion until acted on by a force.
The Newtons second law states that in an unaccelerated coordinate
system the resultant force acting on a body equals the time rate of
change of momentum of the body.
r
d
F = (mv )
dt

Itisthecentralequationindevelopmentofthephysicsofatmospheric
motions.
Newton's
N
t ' third
thi d law
l
off motion
ti states
t t that
th t for
f every force
f
exerted
t d on a
body A by body B there is an equal and opposite force exerted on body B
by body A.
FA,B = FB,A

4. The continuity equation or the conservation of mass:

5. The conservation of water mass:

r
r

= ( v )
t

r
r
q
= ( v q ) + ( E C )
t

where E and C are evaporation and condensation respectively

6. The first law of thermodynamics (the conservation of energy):
Q = Cp

dT 1 dp
d

dt dt

where
e e Q iss heating
eat g rate
ate pe
per u
unitt mass
ass aand
d Cp tthee spec
specificc heat
eat at co
constant
sta t
pressure.
7. The equation of state:

pV = nR pT
p = R pT

These seven equations do not form a closed system.

TheEarth'sGravitationalField:
Thegravitationalforceisforcethatexertedbytheearthonamuchsmaller
object.
If we consider the earth to be a sphere
p
of mass M,, in which densityy depends
p
only on distance from the center, then a small external mass m at a distance
r from the center of the earth is attracted toward the center of the earth by
a force given by universal gravitational force.
A gravitational field is said to be associated with the earth; a mass
experiences a force at any point in this field.
field For a small mass within the
earth the attractive force turns out to depend only on the portion of the
earth's mass within a sphere whose radius is the distance of the small mass
from the center of the earth.
earth

The gravitational force exerted on a mass m by the earth may be written

convenientlyy in the form
F = mg*
where

r
M r
g * = G 2
r r

The vector gg* is called the gravitational force per unit mass or the
gravitational acceleration, and it is directed vertically downward toward
the center of the earth. The above term can be written in term of earth
radius R as
g* =

g0 *
GM

R 2 (1 + z / R ) 2 (1 + z / R ) 2

where g0* is the gravitational force per unit mass at sea level.

HydrostaticEquation:
Allplanetarybodies(planets,moons,asteroids)possessgravitationalfields,
butnotallpossessatmospheresbecausethereisconstantescapeofgas
molecules.Rateofescapedependsonstrengthofthegravitationaland
magneticfieldsandonthevelocitiesofthemoleculesneartheouterlimit
oftheatmosphere.
Uncharged molecules which move upward with speeds in excess of the
escape velocity and which fail to collide with other molecules or become
ionized leave the p
planet's ggravitational field and are lost to the atmosphere.
p
Ionized molecules moving in the earth's magnetic field are also strongly
influenced by an induced electromagnetic force.
Thepresenceoftheatmosphereasashellsurroundingtheearthisadirect
consequenceoftheearth'sgravitationalfield.

Each molecule of air is attracted toward the center of mass of the earth by
the force of gravity and is restrained from falling to the earth by the upward
force exerted by collision with a molecule below it.
it
This collision produces a downward force on the lower molecule, and this
force is balanced, in the mean, by collision with a still lower molecule.
Therefore, molecules above a horizontal reference surface exert a downward
force on the molecules below the surface, a force which is called the weight
of the gas above the surface.
surface
Because weight is proportional to the force of
gravity, the weight of the atmosphere includes the
effect of the earth's rotation but does not include
inertial effects which arise from accelerations
measured with respect to the rotating earth.
Under static conditions (accelerations negligible)
the weight of a vertical column of unit base cross
section extending from the earth to the top of the
atmosphere
t
h
i equall to
is
t the
th atmospheric
t
h i pressure,
and the weight

Vertical column of differential

cross section.

The force of gravity exerted on a unit volume of air at any point in the vertical
column is expressed by g,
g where represents the mass per unit volume
(density). The pressure at any height z is expressed by

p = gdz
z

The most important equations in atmospheric physics is the hydrostatic

equation Which is derived with respect to height z holding x,
equation.
x y,
y and t
constant is
p

or,

= g

z
1 p

=g
z

The hydrostatic
Th
h d t ti equation
ti states
t t that
th t the
th pressure decreases
d
upward
d att a rate
t
equal to the product of density and force of gravity per unit mass.
The
h hydrostatic
h d
i equation
i holds
h ld under
d the
h condition
di i that
h the
h pressure and
d
gravity forces balance.

GravitationalTides:
According to the Newtons third law, the gravitational forces which are
exerted by the moon and sun on the earth and the atmosphere are equal
and opposite
pp
to those exerted byy the earth on the moon and sun.
The earth and moon form a system of two coupled masses in rotation
about their common center of mass. Because the mass of the earth is
about 80 times that of the moon, the center of mass is at a point about
1/80 of the distance between the centers of the earth and moon or about
1600 km below the earth
earthss surface.
surface The earth and moon rotate about this
point once in 27.3 days.

Successive positions of the earth with respect to the center of

mass of the earth and moon. Parallel arrows represent centrifugal
force when the earth is in position 1 .

Everyunitmassintheearthandtheatmosphereexperiencesanequaland
parallel centrifugal force due to the 27 3day
parallelcentrifugalforceduetothe27.3
dayrotationofthemoonabout
rotation of the moon about
theearth,andthetotaloftheseforcesmustbeequalandoppositetothe
totalgravitationalforceexertedbythemoon.
However gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the
However,gravitationalforceisinverselyproportionaltothesquareofthe
distancefromthemoon,sothatgravitationalforceisgreaterontheside
facingthemoonthanitisonthesideawayfromthemoon.Theresultantof
the two forces called the tide generating force (gravitationalforces
thetwoforces,calledthetidegeneratingforce(
gravitational forces ).
)

The resultants of the centrifugal and gravitational forces and the

consequent distortion of the atmospheric shell.

The tide generating force can be obtained by replacing the centrifugal force
per unit mass by the gravitational force acting at the distance (D) of the
center of the earth from the moon, that is, by GM/D2 where M represents
the mass of the moon.
Th gravitational
The
it ti
l force
f
acting
ti att point
i t A is
i GM/(D R)2 so that
th t the
th difference
diff
is given by

1
2GMR

GM 2

2
3
D
(
D

R
)
D

so long as R is much less than D. At point B on the opposite side of the earth
the result is the same except for the sign.
sign

Corioliseffect:
TheCorioliseffectisadeflectionofmovingobjectswhentheyareviewedin
arotatingreferenceframe.

As air moves from high to low pressure in the northern hemisphere, it is deflected to
th right
the
i ht by
b the
th Coriolis
C i li force.
f
I the
In
th southern
th
h i h
hemisphere,
air
i moving
i from
f
hi h to
high
t
low pressure is deflected to the left by the Coriolis force.
The amount of deflection the air makes is directly related to both the speed at which
the air is moving and its latitude. Therefore, slowly blowing winds will be deflected
only a small amount, while stronger winds will be deflected more. Likewise, winds
blowing closer to the poles will be deflected more than winds at the same speed
closer to the equator. The Coriolis force is zero right at the equator.