I think we discussed this earlier – Zara gives the link.
Basically it is more the other way around – it is the Earth’s gravity that holds the atmosphere in place. If we didn’t have an atmosphere the Earth wouldn’t be a nice place to live – we would have no air to breathe! There is some good discussion of the relationship between gravity and our atmosphere here: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy00/phy00589.htm
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