Talk:Exosphere

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Exosphere is defined by the large mean free path, vs. thermal models that can be used below.

=== Exobese vs. ThermopauseBold text This difference is explained on Talk:Thermopause. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.4.182.98 (talk) 04:29, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Picture

The picture in this article is magnificently bad, for many obvious reasons. Should we just replace it with the one found on the troposphere http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troposphere page (i.e. shrink it?) Unless anyone else has better images. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.63.96.108 (talk) 17:50, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

Escape into space?

"It is only from the exosphere that atmospheric gases, atoms, and molecules can, to any appreciable extent, escape into space." - well, duh, it's the outermost layer. Molecules aren't going to jump from the thermosphere directly to space, are they? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.250.111.54 (talk) 10:07, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Presumably the implication is that particles from the thermosphere do not migrate into the exosphere and eventually out into space to any appreciable extent. Eebster the Great (talk) 01:48, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

To the contrary, the reasonable presumption is that molecules wander freely (there is no line, only a gradual transition between the various atmospheric 'layers') and almost, but not randomly.

"... mitted from the surface escape to space, are not considered to have exospheres" (Is this despite profuse visible out-gassing & particle shedding, because any slight gravitational bond is overwhelmed by the powerful 'friction' of the solar wind & light pressure? (This generalization ignores the complex turbulence of the surface & proximate materials of any 'small' object in the solar wind, whether predominantly metal or ice & rock.)

here is a poem about the exosphere(cheer)(RAP)

E-X-O-S-PH-ERE THER AINT NO WEATHER THERE SO IT AINT HARMFUL TO OUR COUNTRY! WHERE THE SATTELLITES ARE THEIR SO FAR THAT WE CANT SEE, WE CANT SEE

Exosphere

Exosphereyishnessocity!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.31.109.237 (talk) 19:13, 6 March 2009 (UTC) is wierd and funky./

Exosphere Part of Ionosphere?

Isn't the Exosphere part of the Ionosphere? If that is the case, why isn't Ionosphere mentioned in the article at all? Shouldn't it be included? Stevenmitchell (talk) 09:19, 8 October 2009 (UTC) no the exosphere is not part of the ionsphere. The ionsphere is part of the thermosphere

Assess

I believe this article should be assessed for quality, probably into the Start-Class.Us441 (talk) 22:14, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Math in caption seems inaccurate

The caption for the pic of the atmosphere layers says, "From Earth's surface to the top of the stratosphere (50km) is just under 12% of Earth's radius." According to the article Earth Radius, the whole radius is 6371 km. 50/6371 is .0078, i.e. 0.78%. I'm thinking the "12%" should be changed to "1%". Any objextions?

Adawggg (talk) 20:10, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

I noticed this myself. Not only is this clearly wrong for the reason you stated, but the articles for stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere use the same image with a similar caption which correctly reads "1%". I've gone and ahead changed this. 76.191.16.10 (talk) 14:12, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

The distance between the Earth and the Moon...

...seems to be 384,000 km. According to other Wikipedia articles. So why does this article state that it's a mere 190,000 km? That's HALF the distance. The article says that is the full distance. 187.64.231.36 (talk) 19:58, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Earth-centric

The moon has an exosphere, as do various other solar-system bodies. As a nod to that, and because it’s interesting, would it be worthwhile to quote the pressure of a pure-Hydrogen atmosphere marking the lower boundary of the exosphere? Ideally in bar. And perhaps also for pure-Nitrogen? JDAWiseman (talk) 21:51, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Gas

The introductory line of "where the density is too low for them to behave as a gas by colliding with each other" is puzzling. Collision frequency isn't a prerequisite to gaseous behaviour, and gas phase collisions do happen in the exosphere. Just as they still happen in the interstellar medium, which is typically at a much lower density and where molecules are typically considered to be in the gas phase. In fact, further down in this article, the exobase is defined as "the height at which upward-traveling molecules experience one collision on average," where that average 1 collision must, by definition, occur in the exosphere.

Therefore, that line in the introduction appears to be nonsensical. Bluntly. --InvaderXan (talk) 18:07, 23 September 2016 (UTC)

comments

I am italian and my problems may arise from my english, but I have found hard to read this article2001:760:2C00:8001:39A2:FCC0:BCE0:4E93 (talk) 16:25, 13 April 2017 (UTC).

Two points, however, do not depend on my english

- the equations for n and l should contain k, not R

- in "In principle, the exosphere covers distances where particles are still gravitationally bound to Earth, i.e. particles still have ballistic orbits that will take them back towards Earth." there should appear a specification of the particle energy, e.g. "particles of energy kT" or something like.

The article does not seem to say that at the exobase the density drops drastically, while the effect on the satellites suggests this. Do this understanding depend on my english? Am I correct in understanding that the height of the exobase is the best scale factor available to guess the extent of the upper athmosphre?

2001:760:2C00:8001:39A2:FCC0:BCE0:4E93 (talk) 16:25, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

I agree that the equation for n should contain Boltzmann's constant k rather than the gas constant R. In other words, the stated equation gives the number of moles, not the number of molecules. Also, the ideal gas law is usually stated as pV=NkT with uppercase N for the number of molecules, or as pV=nRT with lowercase n for the number of moles.

I will change 'n' to 'N' and 'R' to k_B. Cacadril (talk) 17:44, 8 July 2023 (UTC)

I tried to check the distance at which the solar pressure equals the Earth pull. I arrive to

(u/c)*a^2  = amu g0 (RE/R)^2

R = RE sqr[amu*g0*c/a^2*u]

where u is the solar constant 1360 W/m^2, RE the Earth radius, a the Bohr radius, g0 the ground gravity. It is possible that I did a huge error, but I find a value in [] close to 1,i.e. R near RE. The fix should be a great transparency of atomic hydrogen to solar radiation, that greatly reduces my estimated cross section a^2. A reference or a comment appear useful --- in effect, I have treated the H atom as an absorb item, thT IA quite unsound 151.29.200.96 (talk) 07:20, 15 June 2017 (UTC)

The exosphere (Ancient Greek: ἔξω éxō "outside, external, beyond", Ancient Greek: σφαῖρα sphaĩra "sphere") is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet or natural satellite where molecules are gravitationally bound to that body, but where the density is so low that the molecules are essentially collision-less.[1] In the case of bodies with substantial atmospheres, such as Earth's atmosphere, the exosphere is the uppermost layer, where the atmosphere thins out and merges with outer space. It is located directly above the thermosphere. Very little is known about it due to a lack of research. Mercury, the Moon, Ceres, Europa, and Ganymede have surface boundary exospheres, which are exospheres without a denser atmosphere underneat

The exosphere (Ancient Greek: ἔξω éxō "outside, external, beyond", Ancient Greek: σφαῖρα sphaĩra "sphere") is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet or natural satellite where molecules are gravitationally bound to that body, but where the density is so low that the molecules are essentially collision-less.[1] In the case of bodies with substantial atmospheres, such as Earth's atmosphere, the exosphere is the uppermost layer, where the atmosphere thins out and merges with outer space. It is located directly above the thermosphere. Very little is known about it due to a lack of research. Mercury, the Moon, Ceres, Europa, and Ganymede have surface boundary exospheres, which are exospheres without a denser atmosphere underneath. The Earth's exosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, with some heavier atoms and molecules near the base.[2] 103.26.224.46 (talk) 05:23, 29 July 2023 (UTC)

Earth's Atmosphere Extends Far Beyond the Moon, Scientists Discover

Earth's Atmosphere Extends Far Beyond the Moon, Scientists Discover 97.120.46.138 (talk) 12:40, 15 August 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: SPAC 5313 - Planetary Atmospheres

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 January 2024 and 10 May 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Aleaton02 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Aleaton02 (talk) 02:02, 20 April 2024 (UTC)