The major gaseous constituent of the atmosphere is methane. At the uppermost reaches of the atmosphere, near the thermosphere, methane gas breaks apart due to the influence of energetic photons or charged particles from the magnetosphere and the remnants combine with other gases to form more sophisticated atmospheric constituents such as ethane gas, acetylene, and diacetylene. These gases are heavier, and so move down in the atmosphere.
In regions of the atmosphere such as the stratosphere, where the temperature is cooler, these gases condense to form haze. At even lower altitudes clouds of methane, ethane, acetylene, and diacetylene form. At the bottom of the atmosphere, where the temperature warms significantly and transitions to the Uranian interior, the condensed crystals evaporate and devolve into the constituent methane and other parts. Methane returns to the top of the atmosphere by diffusion. This perpetual breakdown and assembly of methane and ethane is part of the evolution of Uranus and affects its weather.
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Why is Diffusion important? |
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Return to Uranus | |
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Return to atmosphere | |
Uranus' atmosphere is made of methane, a medium sized molecule. At the uppermost reaches of the atmosphere, methane gas breaks apart due to energetic photons or charged particles from the magnetosphere. The remnants of methane combine with other gases to form complicated large molecules such as ethane gas, acetylene, and diacetylene. These gases are heavier, and so drop down in the atmosphere.
In regions of the atmosphere where the temperature is cooler, these gases condense to form droplets of haze and smog. At even lower altitudes clouds of methane, ethane, acetylene, and diacetylene form. At the bottom of the atmosphere, where the temperature warms up and changes to the Uranian interior, the molecules evaporate and break apart again into the methane and other parts which made it in the first place. These smaller molecules return to the top of the atmosphere by diffusion. This perpetual breakdown and assembly of methane and ethane is part of the evolution of Uranus and affects its weather.
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Why is Diffusion important? |
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Return to Uranus | |
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Return to atmosphere | |
Uranus' atmosphere is made of methane, a medium sized molecule. At the uppermost reaches of the atmosphere, methane gas breaks in half due to energetic photons or charged particles from the magnetosphere. The pieces of methane combine with other gases to form complicated large molecules such as ethane. These molecules are heavier, and so drop down in the atmosphere.
In regions of the atmosphere where the temperature is cooler, these molecules form droplets of smog. At even lower heights the molecules form clouds. At the bottom of the atmosphere, where the temperature warms up again, and changes to the Uranian interior, where it is very warm, the molecules evaporate and break apart again into the methane and other parts which made it in the first place. These smaller molecules return to the top of the atmosphere. This perpetual motion of molecules is part of the evolution of Uranus and affects its weather.
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Why is Diffusion important? |
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Return to Uranus | |
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Return to atmosphere | |