AS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Runaway Greenhouse Effect, Flattening, Sulfur Dioxide
Document Summary
Venus is the object in the solar system with the thickest atmosphere, excluding the jovian planets. When trying to figure out a planet"s composition based on its density, we need to take into account the fact that planets are compressed by their own gravity (especially near the center. ) Earth, for example, would be much less dense if you could disassemble it. In the back of your textbook are celestial profiles for each planet. Both a density and an uncompressed density are listed. Uncompressed density means a calculation of what the density would be if the planet were not compressed by its gravity. Large objects are compressed more than small objects. Atmosphere: 95% carbon dioxide, much thinner than earth"s: less than 1% of the density. Mars"s moons: phobos and deimos: small and irregularly shaped (less than 30km across, may be captured asteroids: composition appears to be different from the planet.
