Tagged Questions
4
votes
2answers
56 views
Attenuation mass-thickness for sunset light
We are able to look directly at the sun near sunset and sunrise, which clearly demonstrates the fact that our atmosphere attenuates visible light. Let's imagine it follows the typical attenuation ...
2
votes
2answers
157 views
Minimum size of an asteroid to actually impact earth
From what I understand, an object entering the atmosphere will start to burn up from the tremendous resistance of the atmosphere. Presumably, for asteroids under a certain size, they will burn up ...
1
vote
1answer
83 views
Is the Earth's atmosphere a Faraday cage?
X-ray telescopes are required to be above the atmosphere as the atmosphere blocks EM waves with wavelengths < UV . Does this mean that the Earth's atmosphere can be thought of as a Faraday cage ...
5
votes
1answer
265 views
Why does the sun “shine brighter” some days?
Today, the sun seems extremely bright; more dazzling than usual, and even the roads seem to be brighter so it's not just when you look up in the sky. Is more light actually getting through (perhaps ...
6
votes
2answers
150 views
Is it possible to use a balloon to float so high in the atmosphere that you can be gravitationally pulled towards a satellite?
A recent joke on the comedy panel show 8 out of 10 cats prompted this question. I'm pretty sure the answer's no, but hopefully someone can surprise me.
If you put a person in a balloon, such that ...
4
votes
2answers
291 views
What does the phrase “limb of the earth” or “atmospheric limb” mean?
What does the term limb of the earth (see this question, for example) or atmospheric limb mean? The phrase strikes me as very odd, since earth is nearly spherical. Do other planets with atmospheres ...
3
votes
2answers
83 views
Assuming that the Sun wouldn't evolve into a red giant, how long would the Earth's atmosphere last?
It's not going to last forever - Jeans Escape is going to eventually act on the atmosphere after trillions of trillions of years: see http://faculty.washington.edu/dcatling/Catling2009_SciAm.pdf
3
votes
3answers
260 views
Ozone Hole in the South Pole
Perhaps this should be a chemistry question, but it seems to have physics attributes. There's a perennial ozone "hole" around the south pole created by destruction from Cl based chemicals like CFCs. ...
