Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Look up "sputtering". That's how gas is lost from a planet with a lot of gravity like earth.

Sounds about right. The question is?

How many atmospheric molecules did the 104,669,000 tons of nuclear explosions in the upper atmosphere “sputtered” into space and does the existing leaks from nuclear power plants contribute anything to such sputtering?

Information from:
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/hane.html

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputtering

Sputtering is one of the forms of space weathering, a process that changes the physical and chemical properties of airless bodies, such as asteroids and our moon. It is also one of the possible ways that Mars has lost most of its atmosphere and that Mercury continually replenishes its tenuous surface-bounded exosphere.

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