ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Atmospheric density

Atmospheric density is sort of like how many people are in a room.

Imagine you're in a room with only a few other people. You can move around easily and walk through the space without any problems.

But if you were in a small room with a lot of people, it would be much harder to move around because there would be so many bodies in the way.

This is sort of like how atmospheric density works! The Earth's atmosphere is made up of different gases, like oxygen and nitrogen. When we measure atmospheric density, we're looking at how many of these gas molecules are in a certain space (just like how we measure the number of people in a room).

When there are a lot of gas molecules in a certain space, the air is denser. Just like how it's harder to move around in a crowded room, it's harder for things like airplanes or satellites to move through denser air.

On the other hand, if there are fewer gas molecules in a certain space, the air is less dense. This is why atmospheric density changes as you go higher up in the atmosphere - there are fewer gas molecules at higher altitudes, so the air is less dense.

So, the next time you're thinking about atmospheric density, just remember: it's sort of like measuring how many people are in a room, and how easy or hard it is to move around in that space.