The scale height of an atmosphere is a measure of how tightly a planet holds ont
ID: 291996 • Letter: T
Question
The scale height of an atmosphere is a measure of how tightly a planet holds onto its atmospheric gases. This is a very useful concept because it balances the atmosphere's thermal energy of expansion against gravity's compression. As a rule of thumb, planets with larger scale heights struggle more to hold onto their atmospheres than planets with smaller scale heights. The scale height of an atmosphere can be computed as where K is a measure of the energy density of the atmosphere (which depends upon the average molecular mass of the atmosphere) expressed in units of J/kg K, T is the planet's surface temperature in units of K, and g is the gravitational acceleration at the planet's surface in units of m/s2 Review the table below. Looking at the factors that affect scale height, what can we infer from the fact that Titan's scale height so much greater than Earth's? Check all that apply. Energy Surface Surface Scale Scale World DensityTemperature GravityHeight Height J/kg K) Earth 287.9 Titan 310.2 (m/s)(m)(km) 8.5 1.37 22,00022.0 290 9.81 8500 97 Titan's higher energy density implies that molecules can be moved more easily. Titan's low surface gravity implies that Titan has a hard time holding molecules close to the surface. Titan's low temperature implies that more molecules are likely to achieve escape speed. Titan's higher scale height implies that Titan holds its atmosphere better than Earth does Titan higher scale height implies that the atmosphere's internal energy almost overcomes Titan's gravity.Explanation / Answer
there are many correct options:
option 1st i.e Titan's higher energy density implies that molecules can be moved more easily.
Explanation:
more energy density means more scale height and more scale height means more difficulty in holding on to their atmosphere, which means molecules can be moved easily.
Option 2nd: Titan's low surface gravity implies that Titan has hard time holding molecules closer to the surface.
explanation:
Scale height is inversely related to gravity, which means that if less gravity then more scale height , and if more scale height then more difficulty in holding on to the molecules close to the surface.
option 5th:Titan higher scale height implies that the atmosphere internal energy almost overcone titan gravity.
explanation:
more scale height means, loosely holded atmosphere, which means the effect of gravity has been almost nullified.
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