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PLANETARY VACUUMS, ATOMOSPHERES, & LIFE Paul H. Carr www.MirrorOfNature.org

Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

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Page 1: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

PLANETARY VACUUMS, ATOMOSPHERES, & LIFE

Paul H. Carr

www.MirrorOfNature.org

Page 2: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

VACUUM ON THE MOON 3 X 10-15 BAR

No greenhouse gas atmosphere

• Diurnal Variations:

Day 123 C (396 Kelvin)

Night -233 C (40 Kelvin)

ON EARTH

• Greenhouse gasses, blanketing the earth, give much smaller variations.

• On cloudless nights, non-condensing and increasing CO2 (100 year life) and other greenhouse gases keep us warmer than on the moon.

Page 3: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

Increasing CO2 gas density: 1. raises temperature of earth’s surface. 2. reduces temperature of the stratosphere.

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Page 4: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

-Outgoing spectral radiance at the top of Earth's atmosphere showing the absorption at specific frequencies and the principle absorber CO2 at 16 microns. -The red curve shows the flux from a classic "blackbody" at 294°K (≈31°C≈69.5°F).  Schmidt, G.A.,  2010 J. Geophys. Res.,115, D20106, doi:10.1029/2010JD014287.

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Page 5: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

Vacuum of

1 Bar 3 x 10-1510-14 0.01 92

Gravity helps hold planet’s atmosphere. Venus had a CO2 runaway greenhouse effect.

Page 6: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

PLANETARY TEMPERATURES, VACUUMS, & ATMOSPHERES.Science, 330, 356-359, 15 October 2010

Parameter Mars Earth Venus MercuryTemp. (K) 223 Day 300 Day 730 Day 700 Day 213 Night 280 Night 730 Night 100 Night

Pressure (bar) 0.01 1 92 10-14

Ultraviolet observations of VENUS’ cloud cover----Venus surface temp hotter than Mercury’s 700 K.

ATMOSPHERESVenus: 96% CO2, 3% Nitrogen.Earth: 21% Oxygen, 78% Nitrogen, 0.04% CO2

Mars: 95% CO2, 3% Nitrogen

Page 7: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

Why does our earth have 21 % oxygen, 0.04% CO2? -Neighboring Venus & Mars are mostly CO2

Page 8: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

Figure from “Cosmic Dawn” by Eric Chaisson

Photosynthesis of blue-green algae converted CO2 to Oxygen

Carbon Dioxide, CO2

Prokaryote Cells Eukaryote Cells

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Page 9: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

• Cambrian Explosion of multicellular life made possible by increasing oxygen levels.

- CO2 was converted to O2 by photosynthesis.

- Enabling animals that get energy by oxidizing sugars.

Page 10: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

Might our earth undergo a runaway greenhouse effect similar to Venus?

Fossil fuel burning is increasing CO2 concentrations. Temperature increases correlate with CO2.

Page 11: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

CORRELTAION BETWEEN TEMP AND CO2 INCREASE

From the Greenhous Effect. 11

Page 12: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

At present rate of 2.5 ppm rise per year, humans are increasing CO2 at a rate 300 times faster than the recovery from the ice age 18,000 -10,000 years ago.

CO2 CONCENTRATIONS, HIGHEST (33%) IN 800,000 YRS, COULD REACH ~1000 PPM BY 21OO.

Ice Age

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Page 13: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

• Our present level of 400 ppm could reach ~ 1000 ppm by 2100.

• Arctic became ice-free 8 M years ago when CO2 = 300 to 450 ppm.

• Antarctic melted ~ 40 M years ago, CO2 ~ 700 ppm

-Earth was ice-free, sea levels 100s meters (~300 ft) higher.

Dinosaur Extinction 65M Yr. BP Figure from Dr. James Hansen, NASA GISS

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THERMAL MAXIMUM

Page 14: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

Photograph by Ira Block When the Ocean Went Dark National Geographic October 2011, vol 220. no 4. pg. 90 http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/hothouse-earth/kunzig-text Paleoceanographer James Zachos holds a replica of a sediment core that shows an abrupt change in the Atlantic Ocean 51 -55 million years ago, at the onset of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). White plankton shells vanished from the seafloor mud, shifting its color from white to red. As planet-warming CO2 and CH4 clathrates surged into the atmosphere, Zachos says, it also seeped into the seas, acidifying the water and dissolving the shells.

Page 15: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

PROPOSED DEBATE ON

LIFE on the EXO-PLANETSBetween

Cosmologist, CARL SAGAN (1934 – 1996)

Believed many kinds of intelligent life could form, but that the lack of evidence suggests that intelligent beings destroy themselves

rather quickly.

And

Evolutionary biologist, ERNST MAYR (1904 - 2005, Bedford, MA) Single cell life in the universe is very likely,

but intelligent life very rare.

Page 16: Planetary Vacuums, Atmospheres, & Life

PLANETARY VACUUMS, ATOMOSPHERES, & LIFE

CONCLUSIONS:

• We must stop CO2 fossil fuel emissions by: -Conservation, efficiency increases, carbon emission surcharge. - Energy from solar, wind, nuclear.

• The 21% oxygen that enables our life was made possible by the emergence of plant photosynthesis.