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I've read that solar wind consists of hydrogen atoms that are, near the Earth, travelling at about 450 km/s. This is only 3/4 of the Sun's escape velocity, but then the Earth is also 150 million km away from the Sun.

Does this mean that all those particles will eventually fall back down like a ball launched from a catapult? Even if said ball was launched at say 9 km/s, it's still less than the 11.2 required to escape so it'll eventually fall back down.

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    $\begingroup$ There isn't a "the escape velocity". It depends where you are escaping from (i.e. it depends how far from the body you are). $\endgroup$
    – ProfRob
    Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 9:42
  • $\begingroup$ @ProfRob I guess then I'm talking about "surface escape velocity" of the Sun. $\endgroup$
    – cst1992
    Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 12:26
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    $\begingroup$ Well you have your answer. The escape speed at the distance of the Earth is nearly 15 times smaller. $\endgroup$
    – ProfRob
    Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 12:27
  • $\begingroup$ The answers are partly or mostly correct, but missing some things. The first is that even at Earth, there are particles flowing back toward the sun. The first velocity moment is outward for most particle populations but for some, it can be sunward. I will post an answer later. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 29, 2022 at 12:58
  • $\begingroup$ See the following for more details: physics.stackexchange.com/a/253491/59023 and physics.stackexchange.com/a/257548/59023 $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 29, 2022 at 13:34

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The escape speed at 150 Gm is about 42 km/s, namely $\sqrt{2}$ times Earth's orbit velocity of bout 30 km/s. This is vastly exceeded by the value of 450 km/s that you give, without reference. The conclusion is that the final whereabouts of the solar wind is not restricted by the Sun's gravity.

As to where the matter of the solar wind ends up, I would suspect in the Oort cloud but I give my conjecture for an expert opinion.

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    $\begingroup$ Not restricted by gravity, but restricted none the less: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 11:44
  • $\begingroup$ @SolomonSlow Correct. Interesting reading $\endgroup$
    – my2cts
    Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 12:16
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The experimental answer is simple: we see the solar wind flowing away, and we see no return flow. It is thus apparent that it is escaping.

It's a magnetized plasma: electromagnetic forces, not gravity, dominate its dynamics. It is thought that the primary avenue of escape is the heliotail.

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  • $\begingroup$ This is not entirely true. Some of the electron populations can drift sunward in order to maintain a net zero current density... $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 29, 2022 at 13:35
  • $\begingroup$ @honeste_vivere To maintain zero net current density, the overall electron flow must be outward to match the ion flow. But yes, the electron velocity dispersion exceeds the bulk outward velocity, so at any given instant a significant fraction of electrons are moving inward. $\endgroup$
    – John Doty
    Commented Apr 29, 2022 at 14:58
  • $\begingroup$ There are multiple electron populations and not all of them always drift away from the sun. Remember it's nearly collisionless, so there's no isotropic Maxwellian velocity distribution functions... $\endgroup$ Commented May 3, 2022 at 14:07
  • $\begingroup$ @honeste_vivere Indeed. But overall, the flow of the plasma is outward, with the average electron and ion velocities equal. And given that the electron gyrofrequency in the magnetized plasma is ~100 Hz, the direction any individual electron is going will change rapidly. $\endgroup$
    – John Doty
    Commented May 3, 2022 at 14:49
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Gravitational laws hold, and the solution for the trajectories of massive bodies are conic sections: Look at the answers in this question. There are stable orbits and trajectories that go off to infinity depending on the energy and momentum .

Particles in the solar wind can be modeled with fluid dynamics, having a mass per unit volume and the trajectory , of whether it will fall back or get on a stable orbit will depend on the energy and momentum carried by this fluid. So the answer for a single particle in the solar wind does not depend on its individual velocity but on the group velocity of the fluid and will have to be studied for the particular trajectory of the solar wind.

After all one expects theoretically for the particles on the earth to keep on going forever, or be dispersed if the current big bang model holds, or fall in not to the sun , but the center of the universe if the models of the big crunch turn out to be true.

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  • $\begingroup$ There is no center of the universe, even in big crunch models (which are incompatible with data) $\endgroup$
    – rfl
    Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 10:26
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Particles in the solar wind are frequently charged, and in the vacuum of space might remain charged for a LONG time. Such particles are affected by gravity, electric field, and take a curved trajectory in magnetic fields, like around Earth.

Small particles also are affected by light pressure, and having little mass relative to their surface area, are subject to repulsion from the Sun, due to incident sunlight. Rayleigh scattering deflects light, and also applies momentum to the particle.

The dynamics of solar wind particles are more complex than ballistics-in-gravity, and there's enough range in their speeds to cause nuclear reactions in the Earth's upper atmosphere. I'd expect those particles to end up... everywhere, including stuck to planets and thrown into interstellar space, and maybe even in stable orbits.

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