Mercury is a small planet and therefore has trouble holding on to an atmosphere.How then do scientist...?

Question

account for the extremely thin atmosphere that was found around the planet in 1985?


Does anybody know the answer for this???Please help!Thanks:)

Answer 1

Atmosphere:
Mercury actually has a very thin atmosphere consisting of atoms blasted off its surface by the solar wind. Because Mercury is so hot, these atoms quickly escape into space. Thus in contrast to the Earth and Venus whose atmospheres are stable, Mercury's atmosphere is constantly being replenished.

Answer 2

Because of its low escape velocity, Mercury has difficulty retaining atmospheric gases, and like a number of other bodies in the solar system, it has a tenuous atmosphere that for all practical purposes, doesn't exist. There are only traces gases present in Mercury's thin atmosphere. The solar wind and radioactive decay are thought to be the two major sources of the gases for Mercury's atmosphere.

Answer 3

Mercury is too small for its gravity to retain any significant atmosphere over long periods of time.
But it does have a trace atmosphere with some hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, calcium and potassium.
The atmosphere is not stable - atoms are continuously lost and replenished from a variety of sources:
- hydrogen and helium atoms probably come from the solar wind, diffusing into Mercury’s magnetosphere before later escaping back into space
- radioactive decay of elements within Mercury’s crust is another source of helium, as well as sodium and potassium
- water vapor (and therefore oxygen and hydrogen) is likely brought to Mercury by comets impacting on its surface and material ejected by comets as they approach the sun

Answer 4

No one knows for sure, but a couple of theories suggest that the rarefied atmosphere might result either from tiny meteorites vaporizing as they hit the planet or from atoms knocked loose from the surface by the stream of charged particles called the solar wind. A third recent idea is that gases are venting up through fractures in the surface of Mercury.

Answer 5

Mercury's atmosphere is not stable. the atoms are lost to and replenished. The presence of hydrogen and helium can be traced back to solar winds as the ions from the sun are caught the magnetic field of mercury. Other trace gasses like oxygen and chemicals like calcium and phosphorous are most likely due to radioactive decay of elements in mercury's crust. They may well also result from meteorite impacts.

Answer 6

The gravitational field of any object /planet can be calculated.
If this field (force) is strong enough and more than the kinetic energy of the gases present in the planet then tthere will be atmosphere, thickness can also be calculated using necessary datas.

F (force)= G Mm/ r^2

E(field)=GM /r^2]

G= const. , M= mass of 1 body

m= mass of 2 body

r= distance between 1& 2