When earth was first formed, its atmosphere was likely composed of hydrogen, helium, and other gases that contained hydrogen. Yet this atmosphere didn't last for very long because the solar wind from the sun blew it away. Solar wind is stream of charged particles such as electrons, protons, and alpha particles. We now have a magnetic field surrounding earth that shields us from solar wind.

The second atmosphere formed a little after 4.5 million years ago (mya) and was produced due to volcanic outgassing. Outgassing is the release of gas that was trapped in some other material. In this case, volcanic outgassing released hot gases trapped deep within the interior of the planet. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, and other gases similar to the ones produced by volcanoes today were expelled. 

Over a vast amount of time, millions of years, the earth gradually cooled. When the temperature dropped enough, water vapor condensed and went from a gas to liquid form. This created clouds. From these clouds, the oceans formed and the oceans absorbed a lot of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A small amount of oxygen was produced by the photolysis of carbon dioxide and water vapor by ultraviolet radiation.

Lastly, we have the third atmosphere. Around 2.5 mya, the amount of oxygen available in the atmosphere started to rise due to the evolution of photosynthetic organisms that produced oxygen. These organisms were oceanic cyanobacteria. Over time, aerobic organisms evolved and consumed some of the oxygen produced. Read more about how oxygen became a major part of our atmosphere here. 

This is the composition of the atmosphere we have today:

The stratosphere is the second layer. It starts above the troposphere and ends about 31 miles (50 km) above ground. Ozone is abundant here and it heats the atmosphere while also absorbing harmful radiation from the sun. The air here is very dry, and it is about a thousand times thinner here than it is at sea level. Because of that, this is where jet aircraft and weather balloons fly.

The mesosphere starts at 31 miles (50 km) and extends to 53 miles (85 km) high. The top of the mesosphere, called the mesopause, is the coldest part of Earth's atmosphere, with temperatures averaging about minus 130 degrees F (minus 90 C). This layer is hard to study. Jets and balloons don't go high enough, and satellites and space shuttles orbit too high. Scientists do know that meteors burn up in this layer.

The thermosphere extends from about 56 miles (90 km) to between 310 and 620 miles (500 and 1,000 km). Temperatures can get up to 2,700 degrees F (1,500 C) at this altitude. The thermosphere is considered part of Earth's atmosphere, but air density is so low that most of this layer is what is normally thought of as outer space. In fact, this is where the space shuttles flew and where the International Space Station orbits Earth. This is also the layer where the auroras occur. Charged particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the thermosphere, exciting them into higher states of energy. The atoms shed this excess energy by emitting photons of light, which we see as the colorful Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis.

The exosphere, the highest layer, is extremely thin and is where the atmosphere merges into outer space. It is composed of very widely dispersed particles of hydrogen and helium.