Comparisons of Atmospheres
By: tmardakhaev • April 9, 2017 • Essay • 284 Words (2 Pages) • 971 Views
Tiffany Mardakhaev-
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CO2 | Nitrogen | Oxygen | Hydrogen | Helium | Argon | Other | |
Sun | 0% | 0% | 0% | 71% | 26% | 0% | 3% |
Venus | 96% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Earth | 0% | 78% | 21% | 0% | 0% | 1% | <1% |
Mars | 95% | 2.7% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1.6% | 0.7% |
Jupiter | 0% | 0% | 0% | 89.8% | 10.2% | 0% | 0% |
Looking at this graph we can clearly see that Earth’s atmosphere is clearly different than the atmospheres of the sun and the other planets listed which include Venus, Mars and Jupiter. When looking at the different compositions of elements that the planets make up we see that no other planet is like the planet Earth. Because of the distance from the sun, the elements composed, and the size of the Earth, life is made possible on earth. The distance of earth from the sun plays a crucial role in earth’s ability to sustain life. Jupiter and Earth were first composed of the same elements, however because earth is closer to the sun than Jupiter, the hydrogen that was originally on Earth heated up and escaped earths gravity, whereas Jupiter is almost 90% composed of it (Tyson). The size of a planet affects its ability to hang on to an atmosphere, the bigger a planet is the stronger the pull of gravity has on the elements that make up the atmosphere. Other factors that may allow these planets to sustain their atmospheres are the differences in pressures and temperatures. These findings can help a scientist figure out why the other planets in our solar system cannot sustain life like earth can.
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