ASTRON C12 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Solar Wind, Escape Velocity, Runaway Greenhouse Effect
Document Summary
An atmosphere is a layer of gas that surrounds a world. Collisions of individual atoms or molecules in an atmosphere create pressure that pushes in all directions. Planetary atmospheres exist in a perpetual balance between the downward weight of their gases and the upward push of their gas pressure. One bar (measurement of atmospheric pressure)= 1. 03 kg/cm2= pressure at sea level. Greenhouses gases absorb infrared light, trapping this infrared light and slowing its escape to space (greenhouse effect). They do this by absorbing and reemitting infrared radiation, heating the lower atmosphere) Interactions between atmospheric gases and energy from the sun: most light comes from the sun in visible light, sun also emits significant amounts of uv light and x rays, and planetary surface emits infrared light. The sky appears blue because the atmosphere scatters blue light much more than red light, and the blue light reaches you from all directions when the sun is overhead.
