On the averaging of ratios of specific heats in a multicomponent planetary atmosphere

The use of adiabatic relations in the calculation of planetary atmospheres requires knowledge of the ratio of specific heats of a mixture of gases under various pressure and temperature conditions. It is shown that errors introduced by simple averaging of the ratio of specific heats in a multicomponent atmosphere can be roughly 0.4%. Therefore, the gamma-averaging error can become important when integrating through the atmosphere to a large depth.