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One classical thermal escape mechanism is Jeans escape, [1] named after British astronomer Sir James Jeans, who first described this process of atmospheric loss. [2] In a quantity of gas, the average velocity of any one molecule is measured by the gas's temperature, but the velocities of individual molecules change as they collide with one another, gaining and losing kinetic energy.
Hydrodynamic escape is a mass fractionating process since all isotopes are dragged by protons with the same force but heavy isotopes are more gravitationally bound compared to light ones. [11] Therefore, hydrogen preferentially drags lighter isotopes to space, leaving the residual atmosphere enriched in heavier isotopes. [ 12 ]
Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science that studies the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and that of other planets. This multidisciplinary approach of research draws on environmental chemistry, physics, meteorology, computer modeling, oceanography, geology and volcanology, climatology and other disciplines to understand both natural and human-induced changes in atmospheric ...
A University of Colorado, Boulder team has discovered that Mars has an atmospheric "escape route" which may have helped hydrogen drift into space at much faster rates. Mars Express data shows that ...
The escape of any atmospheric gas can be diffusion-limited, but only diffusion-limited escape of hydrogen has been observed in our solar system, on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan. [1] Diffusion-limited hydrogen escape was likely important for the rise of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere ( the Great Oxidation Event ) and can be used to estimate the ...
Atmospheric pressure is the force (per unit-area) perpendicular to a unit-area of planetary surface, as determined by the weight of the vertical column of atmospheric gases. In said atmospheric model, the atmospheric pressure , the weight of the mass of the gas, decreases at high altitude because of the diminishing mass of the gas above the ...
In physics and chemistry, effusion is the process in which a gas escapes from a container through a hole of diameter considerably smaller than the mean free path of the molecules. [1] Such a hole is often described as a pinhole and the escape of the gas is due to the pressure difference between the container and the exterior.
Because H 2 is the lightest element, atmospheric H 2 can readily be lost to space via Jeans escape, an irreversible process that drives Earth's net mass loss. [7] Photolysis of heavier compounds not prone to escape, such as CH 4 or H 2 O, can also liberate H 2 from the upper atmosphere and contribute to this process.