Estimating pressure in planetary atmospheres using constant and linear temperature gradients
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19136/jobs.a12n34.6685Keywords:
pressure, planetary atmosphere, ideal gas equation, van der Waals equation, mathematical modellingAbstract
Some planets and moons are enveloped in an atmosphere which is a mixture of gases with different physical and chemical compositions. Pressure is an important property of atmospheres, and the ideal gas equation at constant temperature is used as a first approximation to study them. In the current research we present 4 models of atmospheric pressure. We considered the ideal gas and the van der Waals equations coupled with a constant and a linear temperature gradient: (T= T0− αy). Our models were implemented to study the variation in pressure with respect to altitude on the planets Earth, Venus, and Mars, and on the moon Titan. In the case of Earth, we found that the model that best fits data measured by meteorological stations is the one that implements the ideal gas equation coupled with a linear temperature gradient.
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