How does radiant energy reach earth?
Now for the short answer: Radiation.
If a surface only absorbs energy and doesnt reradiate it, what happens to its temperature?
Well, it sounds like the surface would get hotter. Energy would excite the electrons and whatnot in the surface causing them to move around faster. This is where usually light or some form of radiation is emitted, but if nothing is radiated outwards, the only thing that is possible is that the surface would increase in temperature.
Why is mars so cold compared to Venus?
Mars has a lower albedo, a large percentage of light, similar composition of atmosphere and further than Venus Why is it that mars is so cold compared to Venus.
Could solar powered devices floating high above Venus freeze the excess CO2 in large chunks and shoot them towards Mars where it would be of use to colonists?
Let's take this step-by-step:Solar powered - yes, but they would need a back up or batteryFloating - I'm going to make an assumption here that you mean either in a high, steady orbit (needs booster pushes from time to time) or lower on the planet and need fans or something similar. Possible, but getting super heavy now.Freeze excess CO2 - Venus is an average of over 800 degrees F. CO2 freezes at around -115. This is a VERY big difference and requires A LOT of energy. Also, you would need something to process it.Shoot them to Mars - Yes. Will the CO2 survive the trip? I'm not well-versed enough to answer that. In some sizes, yes, but what size? What is the loss? Space debris is also a challenge. You would also want to launch then the planets are closest to each other. Which can occur as much as 2-4 times per Mars Orbit of around 2 Earth years.Of use to Mars Colonists - then you need a place to catch it, break it down, and heat it to make use of it.At this point, you'd be better having a mining facility on Venus (but those temperatures...) and launching, but then you have a whole host of other issues.A sci-fi book? I'd buy it. Viable option with our current technology? No
How much more energy would solar panels on Mercury produce than solar panels on Earth?
How much more energy would solar panels on Mercury produce than solar panels on Earth?Solar insolation to Mercury is about 5 to 11 KW per square meter depending on the time of year. Since the days are 58 Earth day long, you will want to be at the poles so you can get constant sun and constant shade for cooling. Since Mercury has a tilt of only 1/3 of a degree it should be possible to place solar panels on a rotating mount to constantly face the sun all the time. Shaded radiators can create the cooling needed to for the solar panels. The poles never get above 180K. That’s cold.At the poles both sunlight and shade are available all the time in some areas. The rest of the planet is goes through a 58 day cycle of oven hot, then cryogenically cold which would make getting the necessary simultaneous hot and cold very difficult.
Why does solar wind affect the atmosphere of comets, thereby forming their tails, but does not affect the atmosphere of Earth, Venus, or Mars, etc.?
Not only solar winds but even solar radiation affects comets. As comets gets close enough to Sun, the solar radiation falling on the comet’s surface facing the Sun increases. This causes the ice of the comet to melt away and showcase a spectacular phenomena. And most comets don't have an atmosphere.Coming back to planets. Venus is a boiling ball. It's atmospheric temperature is way too high for solar radiations to have a catastrophic impact. Mercury doesn't have an atmosphere. Or to say even if it does have one, it too small for it to effectively have an atmosphere. The fact that it doesn't have an atmosphere makes it vulnerable to high temperature differences between day and night.Back on Earth, we've a strong electromagnetic shield to protect us from solar radiation. This absorbed energy is liberated as light show at night near the poles. The auroras. So solar radiation affects all heavenly bodies close to the Sun. In some the effects are visible and in some it cannot be noticed.
What will happen if we push Venus onto a orbit farther away from the Sun so it can cool down, like somewhere between Earth and Mars?
Well assuming we could do so without it crashing into either Earth or Mars several things would happen:In the short term the first thing that would happen is that the planet would cool down significantly as the planet would now be farther away from the Sun allowing it to radiate away all the excess heat energy.This would result in a drop of temperature, in the atmosphere and on the surface, and thus wind speeds since temperature is what drives weather. It would still be warmer than both Earth and Mars as its thick CO2 atmosphere would still absorb heat and also due to the fact that Venus is volcanically active thus constantly spewing out greenhouse gases and heat.The composition of the atmosphere would likey to remain the same being composed of primarily carbon dioxide and sulphuric acid. But due to the fact that this Venus would be cooler due to it being farther from the sun there is a chance that the sulphuric acid rain would actually reach the surfave instead of evaporating due to the intense heat.In the long term placing Venus between earth and morals would have negative consequences for all three planets. This is due to the planets interacting with each other due to thier gravity pulling on each other and as a result change each other's orbits. Due to all 3 planets now being closer together this would be amplified resulting in (most likely) a planetary collision, or one of the planets being ejected from the solar system altogether. There is a slim chance the planets might survive and end up staying in the solar system but chances are they would be in very different places with very different orbits than they have now.
The Earth is constantly exposed to energy from the sun. But the average temperature on earth is always the same. Does earth send out equal amounts of energy as it absorbs from space? And how so?
The “energy balance” on earth is maintained by one primary input (sunlight) and one primary output (IR from the night side). Of course, reflection, dynamic circulation, and energy storage (primarily ocean warming) all affect things, but these are all secondary.The temperature of the balance point is determined by all the factors that affect absorption of sunlight and radiation of IR. Anything that reduces reflection (like melting glaciers and pack ice) or reduces radiation (like greenhouse gases) will warm the planet. Conversely, anything that increases reflection (like cloud cover or high-altitude particulates) or increases radiation (like clear still air) will cool the planet.Models of global climate change are trying to calculate all the effects of changes to the atmosphere (composition, circulation, distribution, storm systems, cloud cover, particulates, etc.), ocean (currents, temperature gradients, dissolved chemicals, surface roughness, etc.), land (deforestation, glacial melt, fires, floods, erosion, weathering, permafrost changes, etc.), and human activity (fossil fuel burning, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, urbanization, etc.) to estimate the energy balance and temperature changes.You can see why this might be a hard problem, but the best models account for all the major systems and cross-system inputs, and are pretty good predictors of the current rate of change.