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Will water evapourate on the moon, page-169

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jopo

15,299 Posts.

24/10/19

20:28

Post #: 41057169
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Originally posted by 0paline ↑

Observe and deduce our moon in captured rotation with the Earth. One side perpetually facing us, with the sun's shadow sweeping the surface every month.

...but not its entire surface.

In depressions at the poles of the moon lie places in eternal shadow. In these places, water has accumulated as a dusty layer of frost. Here the temperature is so cold that water molecules from the vastness of space condense, more than balancing sublimation from the surfaces of the ice crystals.

If we were to drop a block of ice on a sunlit part of the moon, sublimation would overwhelm any condensation and the ice would turn to vapour. The vapour would diffuse into the vastness of space although the moon's gravity would slow its escape a little. Water molecules are so small they are able to move fast enough to reach the necessary escape velocity for the moon, 2,380m/s.

My thanks to younglogga who posted on these pages some time ago. He passed away a few years back. I came across this thread while looking back at some of younglogga's posts. He was my Dad.

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Great stuff Opaline. Love that. Fathers are marvelous. Even the ones losing patience with the young. LOL My Father.
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