What keeps earth's atmosphere in place?

How do scientist know for sure Mars has no molten core?

i thought the atmosphere is just there becuase it's just there but i think theres probebly more to it then that

excuse me ignorance

Originally posted by mrwupy

Mars has gravity.

Yes it does, it also has an atmosphere...

The atmosphere comes from the magnetic field that a molten core generates. Mars does not have a molten core because it is a dead planet. It has no atmosphere because it is a dead planet.

Mars has an atmosphere...

Yes, Mars has gravity. So does Earth. Earth has a thick atmosphere, Mars does not. Gravity has nothing to do with it.

The electromagnetic field holds our atmosphere in place.

I've yet to hear a better argument on the question at hand.

If that argument was true, then Venus would not have an atmosphere.

Gravity keeps the atmosphere in place, Earths magnetic field helps protect it from being stripped away, and various agents on the planet (volcanoes for example) replenish it. Venus's magnetic field is weaker than Mars (even weaker size vs strength) but it's atmospheric pressure is over 90 times that of Earth. This information can be verified at various web sites (NASA, astronomy web sites) and planetariums or libraries.

reply to post by earth2


They don't. It's guesswork

They currently believe that due to Mars's size, the core has cooled off much quicker than Earth's. But, we are also guessing on what is at the center of Earth. Molten metal spinning core is the biggest theory right now, although there are some other good ones that actually explain the magnetic field flip very well. But there is simply no way to prove any of them. (yet)

reply to post by Shadow_Lord


The major reason for the existence of an atmosphere around a celestial body, is the relative strength of gravity in comparison to thermal energy. Small planetary bodies have far too small mass and therfore too weak gravitational fields to adequately slow down or stop molecules with high thermal energy. An atmosphere is present when gaseous molecules become "trapped" in the gravitational field so that a permanent envelope persists.

The only requirements of the existence of an atmostphere, are the strength of the gravitational field and the sources of gaseous molecules.

The gaseous molecules are drawn by gravity towards the surface. The surface is inpenetrateable and will push back any gasous molecule that tries to penetrate it. The result is a higher pressure near the surface of the solid body. The atmosphare can be sliced into layers. Each layer rests on the layer beneath. The gravitational force acting on a layer balances out by the pressure difference across the layer.

The primary source of molecules is often the planet surface but a smaller portion may arrive through space. The primary loss of molecules is due to solar wind and thermal energy. Hot molecules have enough kinetic energy to escape the gravitational field. Smaller molecules are lighter and therfore escape even at lower temperatures.

The solar wind and other high-speed particle streams will collide with molecules and push the outer regions of the atmosphere away from the celestial body thereby depleting the number of molecules in the atmosphere. Close proximity to stars will also increase the thermal energy of the atmosphere, which expands and molecules are lost to space. The tail of comets are actually "lost atmosphere" of the solid body.

The thickness of an atmosphere is comparable to a dam construction. The gravitational field makes the dam, but there will be no water in the basin unless the influx is equal or higher than the outflux. The pressure at the surface depend on the mass of the atmospheric molecule basin and the strength of the gravitational field. In the case of gaseuous fluids, density and compressibility are important in determining the dam capacity.

Enjoy!

Gravity holds earth's atmosphere in place. Earth's magnetic field (magnetosphere) protects our atmosphere from the solar wind. If earth had no magnetic field earth would still have an atmosphere but it would be much thinner than it is.

Gravity holds Mars' atmosphere in place. Mars has essentially no magnetic field so its atmosphere is not protected from the solar wind. Because of this much of Mars' atmosphere has been swept away by the solar wind. Because of this and because Mars' gravity is less than earth's, Mars has a very thin atmosphere.

Gravity holds Venus's atmosphere in place. Venus has essentially no planetary magnetic field but it has a very strong ionosphere, a layer of charged particles in the outer atmosphere. This ionosphere is what protects Venus's atmosphere from the solar wind. It does not work as well as earth's magnetosphere though, and it does allow lighter gases to be stripped from the atmosphere. Water vapor is a light gas, oxygen is a light gas, carbon dioxide is a heavy gas and composes 95% of the atmosphere of Venus.

[edit on 24-10-2008 by Phage]

Magic, clearly.

That, or maybe gravity.

Vibrations and sound keep our planet, our solar system, galaxy and universe intact and the way it is.
If you would like to learn more about this theory of ideas about this topic feel free to stop by that thread and give it a read. You will learn that gravity to is very misunderstood, and there are many factors that come into play here. Gravity is the affect of something else.
We must shed as many parameters as possible to get to the source.

reply to post by mrwupy


Just wondering then.. say we had a divers tank in space , floating freely.

release the oxygen, would it form in a ball? Would it be visable?, would it just freeze?

curious

try not to guess though if ya dont know haha

cheers

Originally posted by MarktheSkepticUK
reply to post by mrwupy

 

Just wondering then.. say we had a divers tank in space , floating freely.

release the oxygen, would it form in a ball? Would it be visable?, would it just freeze?

curious

try not to guess though if ya dont know haha

cheers

First, dive tanks do not contain pure oxygen (not that it matters here).

Here is what would happen:

The tank and whatever it was attached to would start moving (not that it matters here)

The air in the tank would move in the opposite direction and begin to disperse, becoming more and more diffused until , for all intents and purposes, it wouldn't be there anymore. It would be a bunch of molecules moving through space. It would not form a ball because there would be nothing to hold it together.

Now if you had a very, very, very large tank and you released the air. The air would have enough gravity of its own to hold itself together, a bit. So you might get a clump of air. It might not be a ball because there are other forces and "stuff" acting on it to keeping from forming a sphere, but it would kind of hang out with itself.

The atmosphere is electrically held to Earth.
There is an electric field of considerable size at ever meter above ground level.
Tesla found microwaves emanating from earth but I hardly know how
that would hold the atmosphere to Earth.
Ask the FBI to take a peek at Tesla's notes they locked up since 1943.
Electrical force is way stronger than gravity.

Originally posted by TeslaandLyne

Electrical force is way stronger than gravity.

The electric universe is still a new theory and pretty much considered quack science.

In time it may hold up though.

Today's mighty oak is yesterdays nut who held it's ground.

reply to post by mrwupy


Well yes new to us.
Because we are told so.

From what you have heard of Tesla, did you ever think Tesla ever
held gravity as a major force.

Wrapped up in electricity might give one a superiority complex.
However I'd take the secret Dynamic Theory of Gravity of Tesla
over anything the Illuminati is tell us is so in their mind control
of Science Dictatorship.

Gravity holds it in place.
Although they have not found gravity yet, all eyes are on the massive particle smasher they just finished building to find it.

Have a related question:

IF you took a cross section of the atmosphere would the density of air from bottom to top be a gradient ? or would it be semi constant all the way through ?

Originally posted by R3KR
Gravity holds it in place.
Although they have not found gravity yet, all eyes are on the massive particle smasher they just finished building to find it.

Have a related question:

IF you took a cross section of the atmosphere would the density of air from bottom to top be a gradient ? or would it be semi constant all the way through ?

There is an altitude pressure formula derived from the gas law using
some calculus but never could find the equation or derivation.

So if pressure varied the air density should vary.
(Which beings up and ether question which I'll skip.)

So PV = NRT where a volume is given one of the dimensions of altitude.
That must be way to find the formula.

(The inverse densities of air to ether (sqrt of) is the ratio of
light to sound velocities giving a very very fine ether.)

reply to post by mrwupy


I kind of think its of earth's ionosphere and magnetism but i think gravity will have a part to play in it somewhere. gnetism - attracting and repelling - crazy thinking!

The Erath's gravity does indeed keep the amtosphere 'in.

The mistake you are making is believing that a vacuum sucks. A vacuum doens't suck. Vacuum is a void, a nothing, it has no properties beyond non-existence. The reason a vaccum appears to suck on Earth is because there is atmosphere all around it trying to push into the void created. The apparent suction isn't caused by the vacuum itself sucking, it's caused by the atmosphere blowing into that vacuum to try to equalise the drop in pressure.

Of course in space there is no atmophere, which is precisely why the vacuum of space has no sucking power. Whether it's a vacuum cleaner or a perfectly evacuated jar if you operate them in space there woudl be absoluetly no effect on anthything around them because there si no presuure difference inside the vacuum and outside.

You are astually better off thinking of the atmophere pushing dust into a vaccum cleaner rather than imagining it being sucked in. It is far closer to reality.