Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Students find their assigned groups of three to four students, and work cooperatively on an in-class activity worksheet comparing the geological and atmospheric cycle histories of Earth, Venus, and Mars. Students are already familiar with the Earth's cycles from a previous learning cycle and quiz, such that if an entry is to be used more than once, then it should appear in the same box on other planets as it does on the Earth (e.g. "CO2").
Students apply the individual effects of distance from sun and presence of greenhouse gases, but may result in more than one plausible result for the questions on the third page, as comparing the relative amounts of competing effects is not covered in the scope of this course.
3 comments:
Astronomy 210, fall semester 2017
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Section 70160
If Venus had originally formed farther from the sun, its atmosphere would now be thinner than it is today.
Explanation:
"Since Venus' atmosphere is so thick due to its high temperatures, which are a contribution of its close distance to the sun, if it were farther away in distance, it in turn it would not have such high temperatures and not produce such a thick atmosphere."
"The reduced heat would cause less evaporation of its oceans and cause a thinner atmosphere since it would be able to properly recycle H20 and CO2 in its atmosphere."
"It would be thinner because the oceans would have dissipated."
"It would be a lot more cooler and water would remain rather than it being completely evaporated."
"If Venus had formed further from the sun the runaway greenhouse effect wouldn't have created the thick atmosphere on the planet today. The warmer temperatures on Venus (in its current location) evaporated the oceans and caused the greenhouse effect to intensify, resulting in an extremely thick atmosphere."
"Because Venus received too much heat from the sun it became too hot, vaporizing the oceans. These vaporized oceans led to an increase in the thickness of the atmosphere."
"With cooler temperature the oceans would freeze, the CO2 and H2O) would freeze and snow out, and the atmosphere could be held onto a bit longer because of the higher mass, but eventually it would thin out."
"Warm temperature from being too close to the sun evaporated the oceans regulating in a lack of protection from the greenhouse effect, in fact making it worse than not water at all. Had it been farther, the oceans would have survived and absorbed CO2 as opposed to becoming vaporized all at the same time eventually. Basically, less of a runaway greenhouse effect."
"Venus currently has a thicker atmosphere due to severe greenhouse effect."
"Because Venus would be cooler, then it would have less of a greenhouse effect and then its atmosphere would now be thinner."
"With Venus having nearly the same mass as Earth had it been farther from the sun, the atmosphere would have been able to regulate its oceans from heat, allowing them to absorb the CO2 consistently."
Astronomy 210, fall semester 2017
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Section 70160
If Mars had originally formed with more mass, its atmosphere would now be warmer than it is today.
Explanation:
"A larger mass would probably mean more core heat allowing more volcanic activity to outgas and heat the atmosphere, therefore keeping the oceans from freezing and the atmosphere from escaping into space."
"Because it would hold onto heat longer, its atmosphere would be warmer than today."
"Warmer from core when when bigger mass."
"If Mars had originally formed with more mass, its atmosphere would now be warmer than it is today, because the larger the planet the more time it takes for a planet's core heat to cool. It would also have enough gravity to contain greenhouse gases in Mars' atmosphere, making it warmer."
"Less atmosphere would escape."
"If Mars had formed with more mass it would have trapped the atmosphere it did having causing warmer temperatures. If theo temperatures would have been kept the H2O and other greenhouse gases would not have frozen, and sunk to the ground furthering the lack of trapped heat."
"If Mars had formed with more mass, it would have been able to hold on to heat better, resulting in a warmer planet today. if it had more mass, it would have outgassed more, resulting in a thicker atmosphere. A thicker atmosphere would maintain a warmer temperature. Also more mass would allow Mars to hold on its atmosphere better."
"It would have a greater amount of mass and be closer to the sun, there it would hold more heat and energy."
"The more mass the body had, the more heat it would have retained."
"Mars would have a warmer atmosphere because a thicker mass would cause more outgassing and create a greenhouse effect that would then lead to a warmer temperature."
"If Mars were to gain more mass than it does right now, the core heat would increase (cools down slower), which would also make the outgassing warmer. It would not be as warm as Venus or Earth though, because it's still farther from the sun."
Astronomy 210, fall semester 2017
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Section 70160
If Venus had originally formed farther from the sun, its atmosphere would now be thinner than it is today.
Explanation:
"Because all the gases would escape from the atmosphere, thus creating a weak greenhouse effect."
"It would not get as much heat and the H2O and CO2 would not evaporate into the atmosphere."
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