Edward Butterworth, aged 9,. of Richmond, Va.. for his‑ question:
How does air change the earth?
Let's try to imagine what the world would be like without its cozy blanket of air. There would be no clouds. For clouds are made of moisture hanging in the air. There would be no wind. For wind is air rushing about from one place to another, There would be no rain and there would be no storms, There would be no sound either, For sounds are carried by the tiny particles of which the air is made. So there would be no rain, no storms, no weather of any sort. And the earth would be silent.
What’s more, there would be no blanket between the earth and the sky: The filmy air acts as protection like a wooly closed around the earth. It shields the ground from the direct rays of the scorching sun; It acts as a screen to soften the bright light of the sun and stars. Without it the sky would look black and the sun and the stars would be glaring white fires.
The air also protects the face of the earth from invaders from apace. These invaders are grains of dust and chunks of rock and metals that forever drift around the skies, We call them meteors. Thousands of meteors collide with the earth every day„ The air, so filmy to us, acts to slow them up. They strike through it as a match strikes on sandpaper. They heat up and catch fire, Most of them burn to ashes before they reach the earth. If there were no air, they would all crash into the ground. Our earth would be covered with pit‑holes as the airless moon is covered with holes.
Certain gages in the air are made of very active atoms. The most active is oxygen, Oxygen atoms can join up with the atoms of certain rocks and minerals and change them. Without air, there would be fewer different rock substances on the face of the earth,
Oxygen, too, is necessary to all living things. Plants and animals need to breathe oxygen to stay alive. Even so, without the moving air which makes the weather, life for them would not be much fun. For the wind is necessary to mix up the worlds gases in the proper proportion for breathing.. It carries oxygen given off by the great forests all over the world, It mingles with ocean water and makes it possible for fish and seaweed to live in the sea.
Most important is what the tossing air does to the rocks on the earth's surface. Wind and rain wear down the high points of hills and mountains. Millions of tons of earth and dirt la carried from place to place. In time this upsets the even balance of the earth's outer crust, The old earth straightens it out by heaving a bump of mountains somewhere else. The restless air starts to blow off their dust and wash off their tops as soon as they begin to poke up 'their noses