The Earth's atmosphere contains:
- Nitrogen, 78 %
- Oxygen, 21 %
- Argon, 0.9 %
- Carbon dioxide, < 0.1 %
- Water vapour, constantly changes
The main gases in air can be seperated by fractional distillation:
- Air is filtered to remove dust
- Water is removed
- Carbon dioxide is then removed by absorption
- The remaining gases are compressed & cooled to -200 degrees
- Just like oil fractions, the column is hotter at the bottom than top
Nitrogen & oxygen are used to freeze food & increase shelf life, reduce chances of explosion in oil tankers, etc.
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