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Runaway Greenhouse and Stellar Evolution

The document outlines the evolution and eventual death of the Sun over billions of years. It begins with the Sun in a stable state fusing hydrogen. Eventually, the core will run out of hydrogen and the Sun will expand into a red giant, enveloping the orbits of planets. Later, the Sun will throw off its outer layers and shrink into a white dwarf. Over time, the white dwarf will cool and the solar system will become unstable, with planets potentially colliding or being flung out of the galaxy, leaving the Earth utterly alone.

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5 views21 pages

Runaway Greenhouse and Stellar Evolution

The document outlines the evolution and eventual death of the Sun over billions of years. It begins with the Sun in a stable state fusing hydrogen. Eventually, the core will run out of hydrogen and the Sun will expand into a red giant, enveloping the orbits of planets. Later, the Sun will throw off its outer layers and shrink into a white dwarf. Over time, the white dwarf will cool and the solar system will become unstable, with planets potentially colliding or being flung out of the galaxy, leaving the Earth utterly alone.

Uploaded by

api-3807983
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPS, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

From

Here to
Eternity
Lee Angelina Ka Yan
Wong Ka Wing
Outline
 Runaway Moist Greenhouse

 Balance in Sun

 Red Giant

 Death throes

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 2


Runaway Moist Greenhouse
 Huge amount of CO2 is being released
 Temperature increases
 H2O vaporized

 Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas


 Temperature increases further

 More H2O vaporized

 Process goes on until the oceans boil dry


1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 3
Runaway Moist Greenhouse
 Too hot for water vapor to condense in
troposphere (lowest layer of atmosphere)
 Water vapor goes up to reach
stratosphere (where the ozone layer is)
 Water vapor is subject to photolysis

γ
H 2O( g ) 
→ 2H ( g ) + O ( g )

 Hydrogen atoms produced


1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 4
Runaway Moist Greenhouse
 Escape velocity for Earth is
2GM E
vescape =
RE

The numerical value is 11.2 km s-1


 The distribution of hydrogen atoms is
3
mv 2
 m  −
N ( v ) = 4πN 0 
2
2
 ve 2 kT

 2πkT 
1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 5
Runaway Moist Greenhouse
 Portion of hydrogen escape from Earth is
3
mv 2
N  m  2 ∞ −
= 4π  ∫
2
 ve 2 kT
dv
N0  2πkT  vescape

The numerical value for 673 K is 0.0055%


 All hydrogen escape in 1.8 billion years
 Earth will lost all the water

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 6


Balance in Sun
 For the time being, Sun exists in a stable,
settled balance state
 Slight contraction of the Sun increases its
central density
 Temperature increases and speed up the
nuclear fusion reactions
 Extra heat make the Sun expand back out

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 7


Balance in Sun
 Slight expansion cools the interior
 The nuclear fusion reactions slow down
 Slowing energy production makes the Sun
to re-contract
 The Sun is in stable, settled balance state
for 90% of its life time

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 8


Red Giant
 Most of the hydrogen gas in the core of
the Sun undergoes fusion
 The core becomes mostly helium and is
surrounded by hydrogen layers
 Energy production rate decreases
 The core contracts due to gravity

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 9


Red Giant
 The gas in the core is compressed
 Temperature of the core increases
 Ignite the nuclear fusion of hydrogen gas
in the shell just outside the core
 Hydrogen-burning shell pushes the outer
layer outward
 Rapid expansion of the Sun causes it to
become more luminous
1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 10
Red Giant
 The Sun will swell to
more than 200 times
its current size
 Luminosity is

L = 4πR 2σT 4

The Sun becomes


more luminous

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 11


Red Giant
 The Sun begins to
blow off a strong wind
that carry a quarter of
the solar mass
 The Sun loses a
quarter of gravitation
pull
 Orbits of planets
expand outward

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 12


Red Giant
 Tides act on the Sun
due to the planets
 Self-rotation of Sun is
slower than the orbital
motion of Earth
 The Sun will track the
position of the Earth
in orbit

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 13


Red Giant
 Tides act on the Sun
due to the planets
 Self-rotation of Sun is
slower than the orbital
motion of Earth
 The Sun will track the
position of the Earth
in orbit

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 14


1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 15
1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 16
1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 17
Death Throes
 Sun becomes a red giant for a second time
 Sun will throw off its massive outer layers
completely to form a planetary nebula

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 18


Death Throes
 Sun becomes a tiny white dwarf
 Jupiter and Saturn are too massive to
interact with the solar system
gravitationally in a serious way
 Our solar system becomes chaotic system
 Objects would be colliding, being flung
away to interstellar space, or falling onto
the Sun
1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 19
Death Throes
 IfEarth survived, it would orbit the white
dwarf quietly and stably
 Sun would cool closed to absolute zero
 At this time, the Milky Way would have
already merged with the Andromeda
Galaxy to form a large elliptical galaxy

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 20


Death Throes
A random white-dwarf remnant to pass
close enough to tear Earth from its orbit
and send it loose into the now-dark galaxy
 If Earth can avoid collision with central
black hole, passing stellar remnants would
fling it out of the galaxy completely
 Cosmic expansion carry the galaxy away
 Earth would become utterly alone

1 March, 2008 From Here to Eternity 21

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