Why doesn’t the atmosphere (air we breathe) just float off into space?
Some objects in space have atmospheres like Earth and Jupiter. Others like asteroids and the moon don’t have an atmosphere.
Why doesn’t earth atmosphere just drift away into space?
What am I missing about the concept of atmosphere?
In: Planetary Science
If you studied closely the edge of the atmosphere (define where you want as long as it’s up in the air) you will see that half of the molecules are leaving, and half of the molecules just outside your boundary are coming back. But there aren’t as many molecules just outside your boundary as there are just inside so on average there are slightly more leaving than there are returning. This is diffusion. It is true no matter where you define the boundary, and it means that the atmosphere is actually leaving. It is being replenished from solid and water parts of the Earth.
Also take note that the atmosphere is incredibly thin. I live closer to the edge of the atmosphere than to a supermarket. Astronauts traveling to outer space from Cape Canaveral travel the same distance (vertically) as they would if they were traveling horizontally to space mountain in Disney world.
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