  Planetary atmospheres, and models of them, are discussed from the viewpoint
of condensed matter physics. Atmospheres are a form of condensed matter, and
many interesting phenomena of condensed matter systems are realized by them.
The essential physics of the general circulation is illustrated with idealized
2-layer and 1-layer models of the atmosphere. Equilibrium and non-equilibrium
statistical mechanics are used to directly ascertain the statistics of these
models.
