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Chapter 11: Problem 32

Why is it reasonable to assume that the primordial atmospheres of the Earth, Venus, and Mars were roughly the same?

Short Answer

Expert verified
It is reasonable to assume that the primordial atmospheres of Earth, Venus, and Mars were roughly the same because they all formed from the same protoplanetary disk surrounding the young Sun, hence, had initial outgassed atmospheres that were likely similar in composition.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding the Formation of the Solar System

All planets in our solar system, including Earth, Venus, and Mars, formed from the same protoplanetary disk. This was a giant disk of gas and dust that surrounded the young Sun about 4.6 billion years ago. This disk was composed of remnants from the molecular cloud that formed the Sun, and thus, had a similar composition across the disk.
02

Formation of Planetary Atmospheres

The initial atmospheres of these planets were formed by outgassing, a process in which gases are released from the interior of the forming planet. Since the planets formed from the same material, it's likely the gases released during this process were similar in composition.
03

Understanding the Differences in Today's Atmospheres

Despite their similar initial atmospheres, the atmospheric conditions on Earth, Venus, and Mars are very different today. These differences can be attributed to various factors that changed the atmospheres over billions of years, such as the distance from the Sun, size of the planet, presence of life, geological activity, and presence or absence of a significant magnetic field. Understanding these factors in detail, however, would go beyond the scope of this question.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Why are naked-eye observations of Mercury best made at dusk or dawn, while telescopic observations are best made during the day?

Find the largest angular size that Mercury can have as seen from the Earth. In order for Mercury to have this apparent size, at what point in its orbit must it be?

Use the Stamy Night Enthusiast \({ }^{\mathrm{TM}}\) program to observe the apparent motion of Venus on the celestial sphere. Display the entire celestial sphere (select Guides > Atlas in the Favourites menu). Open the Find pane and click the menu button in the list to the left of the label for the Sun. Select Centre from the menu that appears. Using the controls at the right-hand end of the toolbar, zoom out until the field of view is \(100^{\circ}\). Stop Time Flow and in the toolbar, set the date and time to January 1 , 2007, at 12:00:00 A.M. and the Time Flow Rate to 1 day. (a) Use the Run Time Forward and Stop time buttons to find the first date after January 1, 2007, when Venus is as far to the right of the Sun as possible, and the first date after January 1, 2007, when Venus is as far to the left of the Sun as possible. What is your interpretation of these two dates and how would you label them? (b) Set the date to December 1 , 2007 , and start the animation by clicking on the Run Time Forward button. Based on your observations, explain why Venus has neither a greatest western elongation nor a greatest eastern elongation during 2008 .

Use the Stamy Night Enthusiast \({ }^{\text {M }}\) program to observe solar transits of Venus (see Question 83). Display the entire celestial sphere (select Guides \(>\) Atlas in the Favourites menu). Open the Find pane and click the menu button for Venus (the downwardpointing blue arrow to the left of Venus) in the list. Select Centre from the menu. Use the zoom controls in the toolbar to adjust the field of view to about \(1^{\circ} \times 1^{\circ}\). (a) In the toolbar, Stop time flow and then set the Time and Date to June 8, 2004, at 12:00:00 A.M. Set the Time Flow Rate to 1 hour. Step backward or forward through time using the single-step buttons (the leftmost and the rightmost buttons) and record the times at which the solar transit begins and ends, changing the Time Flow Rate to 1 minute and the field of view to increase the accuracy of your measurement, as necessary. What is the total duration of the solar transit? (b) The ecliptic appears in Starry Night Enthusiast \({ }^{\top M}\) as a green line. During the transit, is Venus precisely on the ecliptic? If not, about how far off is it? (Hint: The Sun has an angular diameter of about 30 arcmin.) (c) Repeat parts (a) and (b) for the solar transit of Venus on June 6,2012 .

How is Mercury's magnetosphere similar to that of the Earth? How is it different? Why do you suppose Mercury does not have Van Allen belts?
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