What would happen to the atmosphere on Earth if it was adrift in space?

[CCWilson]

If our planet was slung out of solar orbit by a passing star or black hole, what would happen to its atmosphere? With no Sun to warm us, and no life to generate O2 or CO2, would some gases freeze and precipitate out? Would some be slowly lost into space or elsewhere? Would the atmosphere become thick or even solid? Would there be layering of some gases?

[RichIsnang]

This is all just speculation but here goes:

The temperature would drop rapidly, so all water would freeze, including the water vapour in the air, soon enough, nitrogen would turn to liquid, then oxygen, so the atmosphere would not do too well there. Also, without the protection of the suns magnetic field, the earths magnetic field may not be enough to protect us from the particles out in interstellar space. Life would die extremely fast, we probably wouldnt make it to Pluto before we froze to death (I have no clue how far we would get, that's just a guess). I think the main thing would be the temperature drop.

[CCWilson]

I wonder if the temperature would drop as quickly as you'd think. So much energy stored within the Earth that even out in space the core would take millions of years to cool down to base temperature, so there would be heat from the ground radiating out to the atmosphere for a long time, and the greenhouse gases would hold a lot of that in. So it would be damn cold, but a long time before oxygen and nitrogen froze. Carbon dioxide, too, but that would freeze a lot sooner than oxygen and nitrogen.

[RichIsnang]

That's a good point but then I think about the massive amounts of energy we get from the sun every second, and that only keeps us at an average of like 283K ( I don't know the exact average). I think it would drop pretty damn quickly without that energy.

[CaptainPanic]

First of all, I think that we shouldn't underestimate how much heat is stored in the oceans. You don't just have to cool the surface of the oceans, but a pretty thick layer of water. Cold water will drop, and hot water will rise. This natural convection will keep our atmosphere heated for a while.

 

The surface of the earth typically receives something in the order of 200 W/m2 (annual average, including day and night). So, while we're at normal earth-like tempertures, we also radiate 200 W/m2 into space.

 

Since the most of the earth's surface is water, we can just assume that the specific heat is 3.93 kJ/kgK (*), and the heat of fusion is 334 kJ/kg. If the average ocean is +10C, we need to get rid of 10*3.93*10³+ 334*10³ = 373.3*10³ J/kg.

 

That means that if you just want to cool and freeze the sea up to a depth of 1 meter (1,000 kg/m2), you have to get rid of 373.3*10⁶ J/m2

Since our average radiation is apparently about 200 W/m2, this is estimated to take about 1,866500 seconds (= 22 days).

 

Since our tempertare would drop asymptotically (cooling would slow down), I am guestimating that it would take years/decades before the atmosphere starts to condense into a liquid. We'd all starve long before that.

 

And about the CO2 in our atmosphere - it's just too little to actually freeze out by itself. The concentration is too low, so its

 

 

 

 

(*) Seawater has a lower specific heat than fresh water. Fresh water is 4.18 kJ/kgK.

[David Levy]

Mars - By Wikipedia: "Landforms visible on Mars strongly suggest that liquid water has at least at times existed on the planet's surface". Inorder to enable liquid water, it must have been in a similar zone location as the Earth today. Therefore, in the past it was closer to the sun. As a direct outcome - The Earth is moving outwards. So, the Earth will end at the same zone & simmilar status as Mars today....

[Moontanman]

Mars - By Wikipedia: "Landforms visible on Mars strongly suggest that liquid water has at least at times existed on the planet's surface". Inorder to enable liquid water, it must have been in a similar zone location as the Earth today. Therefore, in the past it was closer to the sun. As a direct outcome - The Earth is moving outwards. So, the Earth will end at the same zone & simmilar status as Mars today....

 

 

Do you have any evidence the Earth is moving outwards from the sun? Don't you think it's a bit more likely that Mars at one time had a denser atmosphere and was able to retain more heat than it does today?

[David Levy]

By: http://www.bbc.co.uk...d_planets/earth

 

Earth's distance from the Sun is thought to be one of the key reasons why it is home to widespread life. Our planet occupies what scientists sometimes call the Goldilocks zone. Its distance from our star means it is neither too hot, nor too cold to support liquid water - thought to be a key ingredient for life. Astronomers are searching for rocky planets like ours in the Goldilocks zones of other stars.

 

In the past, Mars was lockated in this Goldilocks zone. Not any more as it had beed drifted outwards. As it moved outwards it had also lost the atmosphere and became a frozen star.

 

I personaly think that in any Disc shape system the stars are moving outwards.

 

It is valid for all the stars in the Milky way galaxy, all the stars in any spiral galaxy, all the stars in the solar system and also for the moon - any moon.

Edited August 26, 2012 by David Levy

[ACG52]

I personaly think that in any Disc shape system the stars are moving outwards.

 

 

This is not supported by any observation. Or by any physics.

[pikkiwoki]

Do you have any evidence the Earth is moving outwards from the sun?

[CaptainPanic]

Guys, let's get back on topic, shall we? The OP suggests that in a theoretical case, the earth is flung into space. Nobody cares about Mars (not in this thread at least).

[swansont]

The incoming solar radiation will drop off as r^2, but will not simply drop to zero. (I think you can make the case that the effect will be worse than that in terms of solar flux absorbed by the earth, because as we cool we'll have snow and ice sticking around, increasing the albedo.) So one issue is on what time or distance scale do we discuss. The OP says "with no sun to warm us" which implies we're talking about a scale taking us well beyond the inner planets.

 

I think the atmosphere condenses out eventually. No weather patterns to speak of, since the planet will equilibrate.

 

If heat loss through the surface from decay is 4.4 × 10^13 Watts, we can estimate the temperature. Plugging that in to the Stefan-Boltzmann law, I get an equilibrium temp of ~35K

[JohnStu]

Earth will undergo couple different periods. I am not sure if dissapearance of solar wind would keep more gas or let go more gas.

 

 

 

Ultimately, Earth will be totally frozen and lose atmosphere completely. (due to coldness)

[Moontanman]

Earth will undergo couple different periods. I am not sure if dissapearance of solar wind would keep more gas or let go more gas.

 

 

 

Ultimately, Earth will be totally frozen and lose atmosphere completely. (due to coldness)

 

 

The atmosphere would freeze out, I doubt it would go anyplace... The solar wind tends to tear gasses away from planets.

 

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/1998/ast08dec98_1/