Gaseous layer around a planet, dwarf planet, or a star.
29
votes
8answers
9k views
Why does the atmosphere rotate along with the earth?
I was reading somewhere about a really cheap way of travelling: using balloons to get ourselves away from the surface of the earth. The idea held that because the earth rotates, we should be able to ...
5
votes
5answers
626 views
What would ACTUALLY happen to a person jettisoned into space?
[insert obligatory statement of my lack of knowledge in physics]
Alright, so we have all seen the movies where someone gets blasted out of the airlock on their starship, or their suit decompresses ...
15
votes
9answers
2k views
Why do space crafts take off with rockets instead of just ascending like an aircraft until they reach space?
I guess it's not a very educated question, but I never quite understood why spacecrafts have to shoot up and can't just reach space by simply continuing an upwards ascent like an airplane.
8
votes
1answer
2k views
From how high could have Felix Baumgartner jumped without disintegrating like a shooting star?
Today Felix Baumgartner jumped from 39 kilometres high and reached the earth safely.
Just considering friction, from how high can a human jump?
I expect that from a certain height, he would have ...
10
votes
5answers
9k views
Why does the road look like it's wet on hot days?
Often, I'll be driving down the road on a summer day, and as I look ahead toward the horizon, I notice that the road looks like there's a puddle of water on it, or that it was somehow wet. Of course, ...
9
votes
4answers
2k views
Why can't CO2 mix back with the liquid after a soda bottle has been shaken?
If you shake a soda bottle before opening it, and then open it, you get the fizz.
That is the compressed CO2 releasing to the atmosphere which is at comparatively low pressure value.
Two questions ...
8
votes
1answer
240 views
What causes a ring-like image around light of the moon?
I just encountered an interesting image in sky.
As you can see in following images there was a ring-like image around light of the moon.
I don't know if it was clouds but it was looking like it is far ...
7
votes
2answers
472 views
What determines the apparent radius of the rainbow?
Let's say I know how to compute the apparent radius of a rainbow from the viewpoint of the observer: take a photo of the scene, measure the distance to a known reference object, and its dimensions. ...
6
votes
2answers
250 views
Is apparent horizon curvature lesser due to refraction of light in the atmosphere?
I have encountered this claim while searching for sources answering " Can we see the curvature of earth from the top of world's tallest building? ".
Wikipedia article on horizon claims (with no ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
The Density of Clouds
Clouds are made up of tiny water or ice droplets, depending on temperature. This implies that cloud density is greater than that of dry air. Why don't clouds sink through their surrounding atmosphere ...
20
votes
2answers
2k views
Why is the sky not purple?
I realise the question of why this sky is blue is considered reasonably often here, one way or another. You can take that knowledge as given. What I'm wondering is, given that the spectrum of ...
3
votes
1answer
135 views
Keeping air in a well
Let's say I've got an Earth-like planet with no atmosphere: it's just a barren ball of rock. I want to live there, but I don't like domes, so instead I'm just going to dig a big hole and let gravity ...
8
votes
3answers
305 views
Extended sound of thunder
Why does the sound of thunder last several seconds even when lightning lasts for only fraction of a second?
5
votes
1answer
384 views
Estimating hydrogen loss by Jeans escape
I'm looking at Jeans (thermal) escape of hydrogen from the early Earth's atmosphere. I understand how to calculate the rate in (g cm^-2 s^-1) using the number density, average particle velocity, and ...
4
votes
1answer
169 views
Can a hovering helicopter travel half the globe in 12 hours? [duplicate]
Suppose we have a helicopter that is able to stay stationary in flight for extended periods of time. If such a helicopter stayed at point A in the sky for 12 hours straight, would it reach the other ...
4
votes
1answer
211 views
Do atmospheric physics prevent hot air balloons from ascending over 60,000ft?
I was reading the altitude records for hot air balloons on Wikipedia, and noted that the max hot air balloon altitude was about 60,000ft. It didn't really say if there was a reason why. I know that ...
4
votes
3answers
187 views
stability of hypothetical lunar atmosphere
Assume that by some means, the moon could be given an atmosphere, of the same density and pressure at the surface as the earth's. Obviously in a stable atmosphere there are temperature variations from ...
3
votes
2answers
320 views
x-ray interaction with atmosphere
Why x-ray are stopped by atmosphere while they are more energetic than UV or IR?
They certainly interact with atmosphere but I can't understand which phenomenon stop them.
0
votes
2answers
154 views
Why is the atmosphere transparent in the visible spectrum?
One of the great coincidences in physics is that the Sun happens to shine most brightly at exactly the wavelengths our eyes can see; it's an easy explanation that our eyes evolved to make the most out ...
