Lecture 30: Goldilocks and the Three Planets

Nov 5, 2009 · 46m 19s
Lecture 30: Goldilocks and the Three Planets
Description

Why is the Earth habitable today but Venus and Mars not? This lecture explores the question of planetary habitability from the perspective of the stability of liquid water on the...

show more
Why is the Earth habitable today but Venus and Mars not? This lecture explores the question of planetary habitability from the perspective of the stability of liquid water on the surface of planetary bodies. We will see how the amount of sunlight and the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere combine to create a classic Goldilocks problem: whether or not a planetary surface has stable liquid water is a question of not being too hot or too cold. This defines the Habitable Zone for the present-day Sun. However, the size of a planet also plays a role, and we will expand the concept of habitability to include the type of atmosphere a planetary body can or cannot retain. Finally, because the Sun changes brightness slowly over its lifetime, the location of the habitable zone is time-dependent. We will define the Continuous Habitable Zone, and discuss implications, and limitations, of the idea of habitable zones, looking forward expanding our search for life to worlds around other stars. Recorded live on 2009 Nov 5 in Room 1005 Smith Laboratory on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.
show less
Information
Author R Pogge
Website -
Tags

Looks like you don't have any active episode

Browse Spreaker Catalogue to discover great new content

Current

Podcast Cover

Looks like you don't have any episodes in your queue

Browse Spreaker Catalogue to discover great new content

Next Up

Episode Cover Episode Cover

It's so quiet here...

Time to discover new episodes!

Discover
Your Library
Search