BBC Science Focus

How much does Earth’s atmosphere weigh?

- RICHARD EVANS, ASHFORD

Just over five quadrillio­n tonnes. Air is surprising­ly heavy. A cubic metre of air at sea level weighs about 1.3kg and all the oceans only weigh 270 times as much as the atmosphere. We tend to underestim­ate the mass of air because we spend all our lives surrounded by it, and it presses down on us from all directions equally.

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