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To: Moonman62
You can believe what you want, but I’m glad the earth has a strong and persistent magnetic field.

Yeah! Otherwise our atmosphere would be swept away into interstellar space like Mars and Venus!

32 posted on 06/19/2013 11:27:28 AM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of opression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: null and void
The weak magnetosphere around Venus means the solar wind is interacting directly with the outer atmosphere of the planet. Here, ions of hydrogen and oxygen are being created by the dissociation of neutral molecules from ultraviolet radiation. The solar wind then supplies energy that gives some of these ions sufficient velocity to escape the planet's gravity field. This erosion process results in a steady loss of low-mass hydrogen, helium, and oxygen ions, while higher-mass molecules, such as carbon dioxide, are more likely to be retained. Atmospheric erosion by the solar wind probably led to the loss of most of the planet's water during the first billion years after it formed.
42 posted on 06/19/2013 12:10:30 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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