Astrophysics (Index)About

evaporation

(particles escaping, e.g., liquid molecules escaping as gas)

The term evaporation refers to a liquid turning to a gas but also is used in an analogous sense in astrophysics: evaporation from an atmosphere or cloud refers to a constituent particle escaping gravity and flying free, either for being in the far end of the particles' velocity distribution (for which a timescale may be devised, e.g., the effectively-short timescale for hydrogen to escape Earth's atmosphere) or through addition of energy, e.g., photoevaporation. For a planet's atmosphere, such evaporation would constitute atmospheric escape.


The term evaporation is also used analogously in the study of gravitationally-bound groups of stars (galaxies, globular clusters, open clusters) to indicate the escape of stars that have by some means acquired sufficient velocity.


(physics)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_escape
https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/newworlds/poof.html
http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/s3.htm
https://astrobites.org/2018/06/20/dating-globular-clusters/

Referenced by pages:
fractionation factor (α)
Fulton gap
globular cluster (GC)
greenhouse effect
liquid planet
photoevaporation
super-Earth

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