Why did Earth retain most of its water while Venus and Mars lost theirs?

What will be an ideal response?


The basic answer is that Earth was at just the right distance to retain water as liquid. Venus lost its water because it was too hot. At its closer proximity to the Sun, Venus was warm enough to keep all its water in gaseous form in the atmosphere. When the runaway greenhouse effect became prominent, Venus became even warmer and the water vapor escaped into space. Mars was far enough from the Sun that it was cold enough for the water vapor to freeze out of the atmosphere, resulting in thick polar caps.

Physics & Space Science

You might also like to view...

A sample of highly-radioactive material is somewhat

A) warmer than the environment. B) cooler than the environment. C) neither of these

Physics & Space Science

Energy and Mass: The total energy of a moving electron is 0.758 MeV. What is the speed of the electron in terms of c? The mass energy of an electron is 0.511 MeV.

A. 0.739 c B. 0.794 c C. 0.306 c D. 0.933 c

Physics & Space Science

An electron has the same de Broglie wavelength as a 1.8 eV photon. The speed of the electron is closest to:

A) 1,100 m/s B) 980 m/s C) 910 m/s D) 840 m/s E) 770 m/s

Physics & Space Science

A thermodynamic process that happens very quickly tends to be:

a. isobaric. c. isovolumetric. b. isothermal. d. adiabatic.

Physics & Space Science