According to numerous sources online, the percentage of oxygen is approximately the same at sea level and 10,000 meters. Since oxygen is heavier than nitrogen, shouldn't the percentage of oxygen decrease with altitude?
Answer
If you were to surround the atmosphere by an adiabatic envelope and allow it to come to equilibrium, it probably would settle into such a state. However, the atmosphere is not a static place. It is actively mixed due to heating of the ground by the sun, and by cooling of the upper atmosphere by radiation into space. This makes the surface air less dense than the air above it, causing highly turbulent convection cells to form. Also significant is the differential heating between the equator and the poles, which also drives convection on a global scale. The mixing effect of all this turbulent convection is much greater than the very slow tendency for the gases to form concentration gradients due to their differing densities.
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