Planetary Cooling

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ihwip

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Is it possible that all inner planets start out looking like Venus and ending up like Mars?<br /><br />Maybe there is a migration of sorts that involves the lighter elements moving out from the solar system due to the solar wind but the atoms conglomerate due to gravity and the heating of these planets allows the elements to radiate into space. Could the solar wind then carry these particles off to the asteroid belt?<br /><br />Perhaps the asteroid belt is the perfect range where particles reach equilibrium with the solar wind vs the sun's gravity.<br />
 
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vogon13

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Solar wind exceeds solar escape velocity, no equilibrium in the asteroid belt, that's for sure. Voyager spacecraft can detect where/when it interacts with the thin gas of the galaxy, way, way out there.<br /><br />Asteroids aren't massive enough to retain hydrogen, either.<br /><br />And in addition, solar wind is so dilute that an asteroid would take very long time to intercept appreciable gas if it could.<br /><br />{think the three strikes rule is in play now}<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>
 
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newtonian

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IHWIP - Not totally, I don't think. Orbits are more stable than that - solar wind may become strong enough to have a noticeable influence on orbital distance - especially if there is a very strong outflow - say near our sun's red giant phase.<br /><br />[Note: a popular model has the varying compositions of inner to outer planets due in part to solar wind removing gases near the sun - hence gaseous outer planets.]<br /><br />Venus is not just hotter due to distance from the sun. Venus also underwent a runaway greenhouse effect with carbonates being converted to a very thick CO2 atmosphere.<br /><br />Earth has a similar amount of carbonates, but earth had the reverse effect - the geologic carbon cycle removed vast amounts of early earth CO2 from the atmosphere and locked it in vast deposits (many petagrams) of carbonates in earth's crust.<br /><br />A small amount of these carbonates are returned to our atmosphere though volcanic heating and outgassing.<br /><br />Man is causing a greenhouse effect which can tip a delicate balance. We must not allow (and God will not allow) a runaway greenhouse effect with carbonates heated and CO2 once again dominating our atmosphere.<br /><br />In the latter case we would become all too much like Venus.<br /><br />Your question incites this question of mine:<br /><br />Is earth still coolilng? How hot is earth's mantle? How hot is earth's core? Is earth receiving more heat that it is releasing into space - i.e. is earth heating up or cooling?<br /><br />How long will it take for earth to reach an average temperature, from core to surface, of 0C (=32F, freezing) assuming only a slight radiation input during white dwarf phase?
 
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harmonicaman

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I believe that in the case of the Earth, our Moon is responsible for tidal heating which has maintained our interior heat longer than has occurred on either Mars or Venus. As the Moon recedes and these tidal actions diminish, we should expect the interior to gradually cool off -- tectonic activity will also cease.
 
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