3 ms·

>> The amount of additional mass required to have a 100 bar atmosphere instead of 1 bar is rather incredible, and there is so far no plausible method known for

by 988747 5y ago

>> The amount of additional mass required to have a 100 bar atmosphere instead of 1 bar is rather incredible, and there is so far no plausible method known for such mass to disappear. Earth's atmosphere is constantly being blown away by solar wind[1]. I guess after 65 millions years this would add up. But I'm still not convinced if it's possible to loose enough air this way to lower pressure 100 times. [1] https://www.sciencealert.com/earth-loses-hundreds-of-tons-atmosphere-to-space-every-day https://www.sciencealert.com/earth-loses-hundreds-of-tons-at...

lazide 5y ago
If 'several hundred' is, say 500 tons (not sure which definition of ton exactly there, but we'll go with the biggest one of 2240 (or a metric long ton - 1016kg). That would put it at 508,000kg/day (or 5.08 x 10^5 kg) If there are 365 days in a year, and 65 million years, we're talking 23.7 billion days (give or take). So roughly, if the 'high end' estimate was always the case (who knows), and has been happening every day since 65 million years ago, we'll have lost 1.2 x 10^16 kg of atmosphere. Which is a lot of gas. But how much gas mass is in the atmosphere? I ran across this interesting article/paper [https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/18/6/jcli-3299.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/18/6/jcli-32...], which tries to quantify the dry mass and variations caused by water vapor. They estimate the total current mass at approximately 5.1352 ± 0.0003 × 10^18 kg With yearly shifts in mass due to water vapor on the order of 1.2 to 1.5 × 10^15 kg. As large as the amount of gas that has boiled off (making those assumptions), and if my math is correct, the total amount of gas is 2 orders of magnitude larger. Doing some random scribbling, I THINK it would add up to .2% of the total CURRENT amount of dry air in the atmosphere. So not enough to make any noticeable difference.

by 988747 5y ago

lazide 5y ago

If 'several hundred' is, say 500 tons (not sure which definition of ton exactly there, but we'll go with the biggest one of 2240 (or a metric long ton - 1016kg). That would put it at 508,000kg/day (or 5.08 x 10^5 kg) If there are 365 days in a year, and 65 million years, we're talking 23.7 billion days (give or take). So roughly, if the 'high end' estimate was always the case (who knows), and has been happening every day since 65 million years ago, we'll have lost 1.2 x 10^16 kg of atmosphere. Which is a lot of gas. But how much gas mass is in the atmosphere? I ran across this interesting article/paper [https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/18/6/jcli-3299.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/18/6/jcli-32...], which tries to quantify the dry mass and variations caused by water vapor. They estimate the total current mass at approximately 5.1352 ± 0.0003 × 10^18 kg With yearly shifts in mass due to water vapor on the order of 1.2 to 1.5 × 10^15 kg. As large as the amount of gas that has boiled off (making those assumptions), and if my math is correct, the total amount of gas is 2 orders of magnitude larger. Doing some random scribbling, I THINK it would add up to .2% of the total CURRENT amount of dry air in the atmosphere. So not enough to make any noticeable difference.