Atmosphere:  The subtle secrets of nature

By divine command, the earth and the heaven cooperate in making of atmosphere, even though unwillingly, as there are forces that tend to drive them apart. Holy Quran explains the phenomenon:

Then, turning to the nebulous heaven, He said to it and the globe (the earth): ‘’Come, whether willingly or unwillingly.’’ They both said: ‘’We come willingly…’’ (41:11)

The command, ‘’cooperate, even if unwillingly indicates that there is difficulty in cooperation of the earth and its heaven. The scientific fact stands that molecules and atoms in the atmosphere try to escape in the space, while the earth tries to attract and captivate them. In other words, their partnership is unwilling; it is forced.

For the formation of an atmosphere, the motions leading to the escape of molecules have to be counterbalanced by the gravitational attraction of the earth. This is an almost difficult condition to fulfil. Allah (SwT) mediates this impossibility. From the standpoint of geophysics, these extremely difficult conditions require the preservation of atmospheric temperature, proportionate gravitational attraction on the part of earth and the non-violation of this balance by various radiant energies arriving from space.

It is by the subtle preservation of the factors noted that atmosphere maintains its balance. According to scientific studies the balance of gases works it out. The earth absorbs part of the atmosphere it requires, especially nitrogen. The active and violent nature of oxygen is counterbalanced by nitrogen. Furthermore the gases called ‘noble gases (helium, argon, neon, krypton, xenon, and radon) which prevent the combination of nitrogen and oxygen in the course of time and particularly during lightening strokes are also present in trace but optimal amounts. The atmosphere always maintains its nitrogen/oxygen balance in the proportion of 5:1.

The geophysical systems find ample explanation in Holy Quran, only if we care to understand