Why does earth's atmosphere gases not escape into the near-vacuum of space?

Question

Gasses Xpands to fill a vacuum. Why does earth's atmosphere gases not escape into the near-vacuum of space?

Answer 1

gravity and magnetism

Answer 2

Gravity pulls everything towards the earth, doesnt matter how far away it is...everything

The closer something is to th earth, the grater the gravitational force is between the object and the earth.

Also keep in mind that the greater the mass of the object is, the greater its pull to the earth is.

Since water, rocks, and well...people are more massive than a molecule of oxygen or nitrogen, the pull is greater on rocks, water and of course people. The lighter gasses in our atmosphere are ultimately held close to the earth by gravity, but since the force on heavier objects is greater, the heavier objects stick directly on the earth, while the gasses collect over them.

Answer 3

The mass of earth attracts the comparatively lighter gasses. The further from earth the gasses are located, the less loosely they are held. Some gasses to escape but the loss is minimal.

Answer 4

The atmosphere IS leaking away... slowly. It depends on the escape velocity from Earth (~10 km/s) and the speed of the molecules of air. The vast majority of air molecules are moving too slowly (or in the wrong direction) to escape, but some are going faster than others. You might look up "Gaussian distribution" to see what proportion of the molecules are moving at what speed.
Also, the Earth is "outgassing" or releasing gases from inside, such as from volcanoes, and meteorites (perhaps watery ones) are adding to our atmosphere... but eventually, it will all be gone.

Answer 5

Gravity. Certain gasses that the Earth cannot hold in by gravity are released into space

Answer 6

Earth have Gravity .