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Kendra M - Week9Day1
Kendra M - Week9Day1
Kendra M - Week9Day1
Morley
2. The surface temperature of the Earth is actually about 290 K. Why is the
surface hotter than our estimate?
Part B:
“Where are the gases?”
1. Venus and Earth were both born close to each other in the inner solar
system, and started with the same amount of ices and gases within their
interiors. How did each planet form its atmospheres? Would this process
have been the same on both Earth and Venus?
Each planet gets their atmosphere from outgassing from the interior. Earth’s
CO2 dissolved in the water and went into rocks, but Venus’s CO2 stayed in
the surface, further warming the surface.
3. Earth and Venus have the same total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), but
Venus’s atmosphere has 100 bars of CO2 while Earth’s has 0.0004 bars of
CO2. Where is most of the CO2 on Earth? How did it get there?
Most of Earth’s CO2 is in its oceans. During the atmospheric formation, the
CO2 dissolved into the water and then went into rocks.
4. Venus is hot enough that it doesn’t have oceans. How does this change
the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere vs. the interior? Why? How has the fact
that Earth has an ocean and Venus has no ocean changed the fate of each
planet’s surface?
Because Venus has no oceans, much of their H20 was lost from the runaway
greenhouse effect. Earth’s surface experiences more erosion, so its surface
will be much less cratered than the surface of Venus.
AST 309L Venus C. Morley
5. Venus is the same size as Earth, but lacks a magnetic field. It’s the same
size as Earth. Why doesn’t it have a magnetic field? (hint: it has a rotation
period of 243 days)
6. Venus formed with the same amount of water as Earth, but that water is
GONE. Water vapor gets broken by UV light in the upper atmosphere, into
hydrogen and oxygen. Where could the hydrogen and oxygen have gone?
How is this related to the (lack of) magnetic field?
Hydrogen and Oxygen are lost to space due to the lack of a magnetic field.
AST 309L Venus C. Morley
Part C:
“Runaway!”
1. If you moved Earth slightly closer to the Sun, it would heat up a little. How
does heating up the ocean surface change the evaporation rate of water?
How do you think the water vapor abundance in the atmosphere changes?
The Earth would receive more intense sunlight, increasing the surface
temperature. I think the temperature increase will cause an increase in water
vapor in the atmosphere.
2. With this new atmospheric abundance of water, would the surface of the
Earth heat up or cool down? Why?
With more water vapor in the atmosphere, Earth’s temperature would heat
up. The increased water vapor increases the Greenhouse Effect.
The lower level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere helps prevent the
runaway greenhouse effect.