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
About [90,000 kilograms](https://phys.org/news/2016-07-curious-case-earth-leaking-atmosphere.html) escapes every *day*. That sounds like an awful lot, doesn’t it?
It is, but it is a miniscule portion of the Earth’s total atmosphere, which is estimated to weigh [about 5.1 quadrillion kilograms](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html).
9 * 10^4 kg / 5.1 * 10^(18) kg
So we should be good for a little longer, I guess.
Latest Answers