Rick is an Aerospace Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsions Laboratory (JPL), and is designing the next mission to Pluto called “New Horizons 2: The Sequel". This time Rick plans to study Pluto's largest moon Charon. Charon has a mass of 1.586 ×10²1 kg and a mean radius of 606 km, and might have a nitrogenous atmosphere (N2) just like Pluto. If, for a massive object to have an atmosphere its escape speed must be 12 times greater than the root-mean- square (rms) velocity of the gas (otherwise the gas will slowly leak away over time), what is the maximum temperature that Charon can have and still have a nitrogenous atmosphere? [Charon has a temperature of -281 °C = 55 K, day or night.]

Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Foundations and Connections
1st Edition
ISBN:9781133939146
Author:Katz, Debora M.
Publisher:Katz, Debora M.
Chapter7: Gravity
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 14PQ: Since 1995, hundreds of extrasolar planets have been discovered. There is the exciting possibility...
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Rick is an Aerospace Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsions Laboratory (JPL), and is designing
the next mission to Pluto called “New Horizons 2: The Sequel". This time Rick plans to
study Pluto's largest moon Charon. Charon has a mass of 1.586 ×1021 kg and a mean radius
of 606 km, and might have a nitrogenous atmosphere (N2) just like Pluto. If, for a massive
object to have an atmosphere its escape speed must be 12 times greater than the root-mean-
square (rms) velocity of the gas (otherwise the gas will slowly leak away over time), what is
the maximum temperature that Charon can have and still have a nitrogenous atmosphere?
[Charon has a temperature of -281 °C = 55 K, day or night.]
Transcribed Image Text:Rick is an Aerospace Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsions Laboratory (JPL), and is designing the next mission to Pluto called “New Horizons 2: The Sequel". This time Rick plans to study Pluto's largest moon Charon. Charon has a mass of 1.586 ×1021 kg and a mean radius of 606 km, and might have a nitrogenous atmosphere (N2) just like Pluto. If, for a massive object to have an atmosphere its escape speed must be 12 times greater than the root-mean- square (rms) velocity of the gas (otherwise the gas will slowly leak away over time), what is the maximum temperature that Charon can have and still have a nitrogenous atmosphere? [Charon has a temperature of -281 °C = 55 K, day or night.]
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