Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / iii / Paper 315 / 2 / e

Table of contents
- Solution e

Solution

Hydrostatic balance makes the atmospheric column mass

(P_{0} - P_{top}) / g

. Multiplying by the surface area gives the mass of a thin hydrostatic atmosphere

M_{atm} ≃ \frac{4 π R _{p}^{2} ( P _{0} - P _{top} )}{g} ≃ \frac{4 π R _{p}^{4} P _{0}}{G M _{p}},

where the second expression neglects the top pressure and atmospheric self-gravity.

 Ancestors (10)

 View article source

 Discussion (0)

There are no discussions about this article yet.

 Articles by others on the same topic (0)

There are currently no matching articles.

  See all articles in the same topic Create my own version