AST 309L Venus C.

Morley

How Venus Ended Up a Burning Hot Hellscape

Part A:
“Venus is closer to the Sun, so it’s hotter”

We can estimate the temperature of a planet — ignoring its atmosphere

— by calculating its equilibrium temperature. Assuming that there is no
atmosphere, and the planet reflects about the same amount of starlight
as the Earth does, we can estimate the temperature with this equation:
where T indicates the temperature of the planet, Earth, star, or Sun, R is the
radius of the star or Sun, and D is the distance from the star to the planet.
T star
1. Use this T planet =T Earth ×( ) ׿ equation to
estimate the T Sun temperature of
Venus. The semimajor axis of Venus’s orbit is 0.723 AU, and the ‘equilibrium
temperature’ of the Earth is 255 K.

T(Venus) = 255 K X (1) X (1) X (1 AU / 0.723 AU)^1/2 = 300 K (rounded up)

2. The surface temperature of the Earth is actually about 290 K. Why is the
surface hotter than our estimate?

The Greenhouse Effect heats the Earth’s surface, increasing the

temperature.

3. Venus’s surface temperature is actually 735 K. What do you think is

different about Venus’s atmosphere compared to Earth’s?

Venus’s surface must be denser in greenhouse gases, warming the surface

even more so than the Greenhouse effect on Earth.

4. If “Earth2” was orbiting at a distance of 1 AU around a small red dwarf star

with a temperature of 2900 K (half the Sun’s temperature) and radius of 0.25
solar radii, what would the approximate temperature of Earth2 be?

T(Earth2) = 255 K x (2900 K / 5800 K) X (.25 AU / 1 AU)^1/2 X (1 AU / 1

AU)^1/2
= 64 K (rounded)
AST 309L Venus C. Morley

Part B:
“Where are the gases?”

1. Venus and Earth were both born close to each other in the inner solar
system, and started with the same amount of ices and gases within their
interiors. How did each planet form its atmospheres? Would this process
have been the same on both Earth and Venus?

Each planet gets their atmosphere from outgassing from the interior. Earth’s
CO2 dissolved in the water and went into rocks, but Venus’s CO2 stayed in
the surface, further warming the surface.

2. Each planet initially outgassed an atmosphere containing carbon dioxide

(CO2) and water vapor (H2O gas). After the initial atmosphere was created,
where did the water go on Earth?

Earth’s water formed into our present day oceans.

3. Earth and Venus have the same total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), but
Venus’s atmosphere has 100 bars of CO2 while Earth’s has 0.0004 bars of
CO2. Where is most of the CO2 on Earth? How did it get there?

Most of Earth’s CO2 is in its oceans. During the atmospheric formation, the
CO2 dissolved into the water and then went into rocks.

4. Venus is hot enough that it doesn’t have oceans. How does this change
the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere vs. the interior? Why? How has the fact
that Earth has an ocean and Venus has no ocean changed the fate of each
planet’s surface?

Because Venus has no oceans, much of their H20 was lost from the runaway
greenhouse effect. Earth’s surface experiences more erosion, so its surface
will be much less cratered than the surface of Venus.
AST 309L Venus C. Morley

5. Venus is the same size as Earth, but lacks a magnetic field. It’s the same
size as Earth. Why doesn’t it have a magnetic field? (hint: it has a rotation
period of 243 days)

Venus’s slow rotation makes it hard to have a magnetic field as hydrogen

and oxygen will be lost to space.

6. Venus formed with the same amount of water as Earth, but that water is
GONE. Water vapor gets broken by UV light in the upper atmosphere, into
hydrogen and oxygen. Where could the hydrogen and oxygen have gone?
How is this related to the (lack of) magnetic field?

Hydrogen and Oxygen are lost to space due to the lack of a magnetic field.
AST 309L Venus C. Morley

Part C:
“Runaway!”

1. If you moved Earth slightly closer to the Sun, it would heat up a little. How
does heating up the ocean surface change the evaporation rate of water?
How do you think the water vapor abundance in the atmosphere changes?

The Earth would receive more intense sunlight, increasing the surface
temperature. I think the temperature increase will cause an increase in water
vapor in the atmosphere.

2. With this new atmospheric abundance of water, would the surface of the
Earth heat up or cool down? Why?

With more water vapor in the atmosphere, Earth’s temperature would heat
up. The increased water vapor increases the Greenhouse Effect.

3. If the surface of the Earth changes in temperature as you described in

question 2, how does that affect the water evaporation rate? How does that
in turn change the surface temperature?

As temperature increases, the rate of evaporation increases as well. The

abundance of gasses in the atmosphere may block thermal radiation from
the planet, keeping the surface warm.

4. Describe why this process is sometimes called the “Runaway Greenhouse

Effect”.

It’s an uncontrollable process that starts to feed itself in a cycle of further

heating.
AST 309L Venus C. Morley

5. What stops the runaway greenhouse effect from happening normally

today on the surface of the Earth? (hint: there’s another greenhouse gas that
affects our surface temperature).

The lower level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere helps prevent the
runaway greenhouse effect.