Posted: 7/19/2015 11:51:06 AM EDT
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I was just now reading a random page about new Pluto discoveries. The probe indicated Pluto is outgassing nitrogen from it's atmosphere, and what they believe to be about 500 tons an hour.
If that estimate is correct, how long could a small planet's atmosphere have been sustaining that? At that rate, wouldn't it have long ago exhausted itself, considering it's a zillion years old? *I'm actually not trying to create a "young world" argument; it's just that the math is curious to me. |
| It's also worth considering that Pluto may only eject nitrogen in significant quantities (or at all) when it's close to the sun (relative to it's average distance). Pluto's orbit is significantly more elliptical than that of any planet in the solar system, and is currently much closer to the sun than it's average distance. If it only ejects significant quantities of nitrogen for the closest/warmest portion of it's orbit, then that would significantly extend the amount of time that it could continue to do so. |
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Quoted:
That would of course only hold if Pluto's mass were entirely nitrogen. Quoted:
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Mass 1.3*10**22 Kg = 2.9*10**18 tons Rate 5.0*10**2 tons/hr 5.7*10**15 hr or 1.56 Billion years give or take a factor of 10. That would of course only hold if Pluto's mass were entirely nitrogen. Those figures were done using planetary mass? Anyone want to take a crack at it, using an estimated atmospheric mass and percent nitrogen? |
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Quoted:
Those figures were done using planetary mass? Anyone want to take a crack at it, using an estimated atmospheric mass and percent nitrogen? Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Mass 1.3*10**22 Kg = 2.9*10**18 tons Rate 5.0*10**2 tons/hr 5.7*10**15 hr or 1.56 Billion years give or take a factor of 10. That would of course only hold if Pluto's mass were entirely nitrogen. Those figures were done using planetary mass? Anyone want to take a crack at it, using an estimated atmospheric mass and percent nitrogen? Yeah, 1.3 x 10^22 kg is Pluto's planetary mass. Haven't seen a detailed mass break down of it's atmosphere. That' s probably something that will be an outcome of the New Horizons mission. In any case, it's a pretty sure bet that Pluto is being replenished with nitrogen somehow. |