Is there a pushing force of gravity?
2007-09-23 10:51:51 · 8 answers · asked by swimafisha 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Um, you do realize that ozone is a gas, just like the rest of the atmospheric gasses, right? Ozone is not a cover on the earth, with the hole allowing anying to be "sucked" through. If anything could suck the atmosphere off of the earth, the ozone would go with it as it is part of the atmosphere. If you are asking why the atmosphere stays on the earth and doesn't dissapate into space, the answer is because of gravity, and the fact that our magnetic field of the earth protects the earth from the solar wind that could strip the gasses off of the planet.
2007-09-23 11:01:27 · answer #1 · answered by theseeker4 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Okay, you have a few misconceptions we should clear up first.
The ozone layer is not some kind of shield that keeps the oxygen close to the surface of the Earth. It is merely an atmospheric layer rich in ozone (which is itself an allotrope of oxygen) that helps to block some of the UV radiation pouring in from sunlight. Having a hole in it is bad because more UV light gets through, NOT because the oxygen or any other gas could escape through it.
Secondly, gravity does play a role. Specifically, gravity holds the atmosphere to the Earth. The atmosphere is an envelope of gases surrounding our planet. Each molecule in that envelope has its own random speed. The average speed of the gas molecules is a function of temperature; on average, the higher the temperature, the faster the molecules move. Lighter gases move even faster than heavier gases; that explains why we find plenty of oxygen and nitrogen in our atmosphere, but not so much hydrogen or helium. The lighter gases bled off into space long ago.
There is one last misconception that needs addressing: space doesn't "suck" anything. Although it's frequently used for ease of calculation, there's really no such thing as negative pressure. When the window on a spaceship breaks, what happens is that the huge difference between the internal pressure and the external pressure causes a net movement of gas molecules outside of the ship. Anything that gets caught up in this current is blown out of the ship, but you shouldn't think that there's any physical force outside the ship pulling objects outward. The same is true for our atmosphere....there's no force out in space sucking it away from the Earth.
2007-09-23 18:07:37 · answer #2 · answered by Lucas C 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
HOLE
a hole in the ozone layer lets harmfull rays IN
gravity holds the air in place
AND the ozone layer is not like a balloon over the earth
it's a a small area over the poles
You need to READ MORE or watch DOCUMENTARIES
since whatever you are doing has left you clueless
2007-09-23 18:18:31 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
When I was an undergraduate during the Cold War, I studied at a technical university where there were vacuum pumps running at all hours of the night. The story that passed around campus was that these pumps were all attached to a sphere at the center of campus. When they had an absolutely perfect vacuum, they were going to seal up the sphere, fly it over Moscow, and break it open so the vacuum would expand and suffocate all the Russians.
Unfortunately, vacuums don't expand any better than they suck. But it made a good story.
2007-09-23 18:10:59 · answer #4 · answered by anobium625 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The ozone hole is not a hole. It is simply a region with no ozone. And earth's gravity keeps the atmosphere including oxygen at the earth.
2007-09-23 18:15:13 · answer #5 · answered by Renaissance Man 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The vacuum of space is not like suction, it is merely a place where there is very little matter. Some of our atmosphere is lost to space because of agitation of molecules by cosmic rays, they reach very high speeds and if there is no collision with other molecules they zip off into space.
2007-09-23 18:00:43 · answer #6 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
because the gravity from earth is stronger than the vaccume of space. its all to do with mass, any object in the universe is attracted to something that is bigger than itself not nothing. as far as the vaccume of space goes it is nothing to a matter. the matter is more attracted to another mass that is bigger than it self.
2007-09-23 18:02:05 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
man, when you take something literally, you take it really literaly!!!....
it just doesn't work that way.... I'd try this one, but I'm laffing too hard at the moment.........................
2007-09-23 18:02:53 · answer #8 · answered by meanolmaw 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋