What is the weight of our atmosphere and does it contribute to gravity in a downward push?

Question

Apart from the size and structure of a heavenly body, could their lack of an atmosphere somehow contribute to its low gravitational force?

Answer 1

It is the weight of the atmosphere above us that causes air pressure. At sea level that pressure is about 14.7 pounds per square inch--that is a column of air 1 inch by 1 inch that extends to the top of the atmosphere contains about 14.7 pounds of air. Figure out the surface area of the earth in square inches then multiply by 14.7 and you have the weight of the atmosphere.

Since the radius of the earth is about 6,360,000 meters or about 250,000,000 inches, the surface area is 4 x pi x radius-squared or about 7.88e17 square inches. Now multiply by 14.7 pounds per square inch and you get a weight of about 1.16e19 pounds, or about 11,600 quadrillion pounds!

The atmosphere's weight causes air pressure, but it does not cause gravity. In fact, gravity keeps the air from escaping to space and actually contributes to its weight. (Turn up gravity, the air weighs more!) The earth's gravitational force is caused by its mass. Any two objects with mass are attracted to each other by gravity, so earth's mass attracts any other object with mass to it. Since the earth is so much more massive than anything on its surface, we see this as the earth pulling on things (like us), but in reality we pull just as hard on the earth as it pulls on us. But like the big truck running into the little bug, we don't see the effect on the earth.

The strength of other planets' gravities depends on how massive they are. More mass, stronger gravity. But the strength of gravity also weakens as you get farther from the planet's center, so a larger diameter will weaken gravity. For example, Jupiter is much more massive than earth, but is also larger in radius. The result is that its gravity is stronger than earth's, but not in proportion to its mass.

Answer 2

The atmosphere weighs 14.7 lbs/square inch at sea level. That means that all of the matter from sea level to the outer extent of the atmosphere over a 1 inch by 1 inch square weighs 14.7 pounds.

Because it has mass it has gravitational attraction. So a planet that has atmosphere will have a higher gravitational pull on a body which is away from the planet but a body on the surface of that planet will be pulled upward by the gravitational pull of the atmosphere and will thereby seem lighter.

Planets without atmosphere have lost it (if they ever had any) because the gravitational pull of the planet was not strong enough to hold the atmosphere down. Remember that other bodies in the universe are trying to pull the atmosphere away and that the centrifugal force of the spinning planet is trying to throw the atmosphere into space.

Answer 3

The weight of our Atmosphere is equal to 1 atmosphere. Convenient since we use what we know best to measure the rest of the Universe.

Apart from the size and structure of a heavenly body, could their lack of an atmosphere somehow contribute to its low gravitational force?

NO, just the OPPOSITE. Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus all have atmospheres, and no, Mass and proximity to superlarge bodies such as Jupiter and the Sun also decide which planets have atmospheres. The Sun has boiled away any atmosphere Mercury may have had billions of years ago. The (so-called planet) Pluto is to small for it to retain an atmosphere, much like the moon, without a centrifugal spin and heavy core, there's no way to hold it onto the surface without it drifting into space and dissappating.

Answer 4

The weight of our atmosphere at sea level is 20 pounds per square inch (PSI).

Since weight is a product of gravity, atmosphere weighing down on the surface of a planet does not contribute to the gravitational force in any meaningful way. However, since all matter (including atmospheric gasses) generate gravity, the atmosphere does slightly affect the overall gravitational pull of a planetary body. However, the lack of atmosphere on a planet does not cause the gravitational pull to diminish, rather the lack of gravity causes atmosphere to escape into space.

Answer 5

Solid bodies have definite shape and when we speak of the weight of solid bodies it will act thought its center of gravity.

For all purpose we can imagine that the mass of the body is concentrated at the center of (mass) gravity.

In the case of fluids (liquids and gases) they don’t have shape. Because of this property we cannot attribute weight as in the case of solid.

For gases we speak of pressure, we can calculate the force (weight) over a given area.

The weight of cylindrical air column over an area is calculated by the pressure multiplied by area of the base.

The earth is surrounded by air approximately up to a height of 200 000 m.

At this height the pressure is 0.000088 Pa.

On the surface of earth the pressure is 101325 Pa.

Why the pressure is is so high on the surface?

It is due to the gravitational pull of earth on the different layers of air above the earth’s surface.

Considering the mass of earth, the mass of total air on the earth is only 0.0015%.

Thus the contribution to gravity by air is negligibly small. Even if there were no atmosphere in the earth, the gravitational attraction will not be affected significantly.

Similar is the case with other planets.

Answer 6

Air pressure at the earth's surface is about 15 pounds per square inch. So if you're holding a postage stamp, you're holding up a wedge of air that weighs about 15 pounds. The mass of the atmosphere is part of the gravitational mass that attracts the moon, but since it's above you, the gravitational attraction of the atmosphere is pulling you up, opposite that of the earth, but much smaller. I don't recall hearing about any heavenly body whose atmosphere had a mass anywhere near the mass of the body.

Answer 7

Atmosphere is just a form of pressure, it can be measured in psi (pounds per sq. inch), mmHg, torrs etc. Gravity and atmosphere are two different things. Atmosphere does push you down to some extent but nothing comparable to gravitational strength. Atmosphere's magnitude is sufficient for gas manipulation.

Answer 8

extra usually than not because of this is small mass. The smaller the mass, the a lot less gravity an merchandise has (for instance, technically you and that i have gravity, notwithstanding that is so small we are able to not bodily charm to gadgets). So it has gravity, yet because it has a lot less mass than earth that is a lot less. It has no surroundings because of this too. The extra gravity an merchandise has, it is going to *commonly* have an ecosystem. it really is for an similar reason. The earth's gravity keeps our surroundings gases from flying away, notwithstanding the moon don't have a ok gravity field to carry an ecosystem there.

Answer 9

Yes. 33 Foot/pounds

Answer 10

14.7 lbs per sq. in at sea level depending on weather conditions. gravity yes... it pushes down on earth surface to help make the earth more dense.. greater density the greater gravitational attraction..