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0 pointssaalweachter10mo ago0 comments

Earth's oxygen rich atmosphere is really important here-- any free hydrogen can readily combine with the free hydrogen, decreasing the chance of any being loss.

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andrewflnr10mo ago

According to that wiki article, the hydrogen was mostly lost in the form of water vapor. The hydrogen and oxygen in the magnetotail are in almost a perfect 2:1 ratio. At least,

> Currently the main ion types being lost are O+, H+ and He+. The ratio of hydrogen to oxygen losses is around 2 (i.e. almost stoichiometric for water) indicating the ongoing loss of water.

Also Earth didn't have an oxygenated atmosphere until relatively late, a couple billion years in, so I didn't know if that could be the thing that saved it.

saalweachterOP10mo ago

I don't have primary sources, unfortunately -- I'm recalling something I read in _Oxygen_, which I found reassuring. It said that, one of the benefits of our oxygen-rich atmosphere was that we would lose an insignificant amount of hydrogen/water over the next billion years. It's one of those things that doesn't actually matter to me in my daily life, but I still find comforting, so it's stuck with me.

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andrewflnr10mo ago

According to that wiki article, the hydrogen was mostly lost in the form of water vapor. The hydrogen and oxygen in the magnetotail are in almost a perfect 2:1 ratio. At least,

> Currently the main ion types being lost are O+, H+ and He+. The ratio of hydrogen to oxygen losses is around 2 (i.e. almost stoichiometric for water) indicating the ongoing loss of water.

Also Earth didn't have an oxygenated atmosphere until relatively late, a couple billion years in, so I didn't know if that could be the thing that saved it.

saalweachterOP10mo ago

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