Talk:Thermosphere

Untitled
The thermosphere is 50 miles long o rly??? <spy guns like yeah!!!!!! == Feeling warm? its going to be great come down now to tunza fun!!! NOW! my frige is broken help meh

The phrase "Even though the temperature is so high, one would not feel warm in the thermosphere, because it is so near vacuum that there is not enough contact with the few atoms of gas to transfer much heat." should be improved or removed alltogether. The style is very unprecise ("so high", "so near vacuum", etc) and talking about a human "feeling warm" in such an environement would imply you answer 'how' would a person get in contact with such media. Temperature has a clear physical definition, "feeling temperature" not. See also my comment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Earth's_atmosphere#Temperature_and_layers:_temperature_feeling.3F in the discussion page of the Earth's atmosphere article.

Aog2000a (talk) 23:23, 9 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Why don't you explain how the temperature is determined instead of removing information that appears to be correct? The article says that a regular thermometers will show a temperature below freezing, perhaps you can explain this better. Q Science (talk) 08:06, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Biggest?
This article states the thermosphere is the largest part of earth atmosphere without a source... I'm pretty sure the exosphere is the largest. I'd like a confirmation on that. -- GreenLineMan   (talk)  01:16, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

I agree; it makes no sense that it's the "Biggest", as its thickness from lowest altitude to highest is only a fraction of the thickness of the exophere, its circumference at its outer limit is smaller than the circumference of the exophere, its mass is less than that of the troposphere, in fact I can't think of any way of measuring it that would lead one to conclude that it's the "biggest" zone. Perhaps my thinking is flawed though, and if that's the case, the statement that this is the biggest atmospheric zone really needs further explanation, or at least a link to a source confirming the assertion. 76.167.130.42 (talk) 10:18, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Highest Temperature Contradiction
In the first section of this article there is a contradiction regarding the high temperatures of this stratum. There are no specific sources listed, and I don't know which claim is correct. "Temperatures are highly dependent on solar activity, and can rise to 1,500 °C (2,730 °F)... The highly diluted gas in this layer can reach 2,500 °C (4,530 °F) during the day."

Incidentally, the article also states that thermometers don't work in this area, "due to the energy lost by thermal radiation overtaking the energy acquired from the atmospheric gas by direct contact." Maybe that accounts for the problem. Haha. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spoke9 (talk • contribs) 05:03, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

You need to distinguish between the night temperature of this altitude layer and that of the daytime. In the day or night the air is vanishingly thin and some types of thermometer won't be applicable. An infrared thermometer is appropriate for this measurement and in the daytime you would expect a temperature of thousands of degrees Celcius. This is evident in testimony from Alexei Leonov, the first space walker, and HST missions and ISS anecdotes. See the thermal shielding issues. The science is made controversial because of Apollo and climate change. Don't ask! Jamie.d (talk) 15:23, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

Stefan Boltzmann calculations refute 2000°C being due to radiation
The Solar Constant (about 1,362W/m^2) has a blackbody temperature of about 393.7K (or 120°C) which is about the maximum temperature on the Moon. I suggest that the high kinetic energy in some atoms and molecules results from random collision with other such particles that results in a wide distribution of particle kinetic energy, the mean of which would still be equivalent to less than a temperature of 120°C. You won't feel hot if you step outside your spacecraft in the shadow of the Earth up in the thermosphere. I also question the whole concept that radiation is significantly involved, because oxygen and nitrogen do not absorb or radiate very much at all. Perhaps there has just been thermal diffusion (heat transfer by particle collision) from the hottest regions in the stratosphere which could also temporarily reach 120°C where the Sun is directly overhead. Once the heat transfer occurs towards the thermosphere the energy could be trapped due to the inability of the particles to radiate it to Space.

Thermosphere and ionosphere
What is the difference between these two. I think they are the same and ionosphere is the more common term. If so these two articles should be merged. Thoughts? Aarghdvaark (talk) 04:47, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Answer: The thermosphere consists essentially of neutral gas particles. These are partly ionized by solar XUV-radiation. This ionized part is the ionosphere which is thus a subsection of the thermosphere.Bnland 12:08, 25 August 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bnland (talk • contribs)

Border of thermosphere
The text, which says that the border of thermosphere is 85 km, does not agree with the picture, which gives 95/120 km. Could this be unified, please? --Jan Kameníček (talk) 20:12, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

That's not the interesting border issue. Where does it stop getting hotter is the real glaring error. We are to believe that the heat of the thermosphere might not be solargenic. We are to believe that is stops getting hot at around a thousand miles up. How is that rational? Isn't it self evident that the sun is the cause of the heat up there, and once your heading sunwards, things just keep getting hotter? What mechanism is proposed to explain current mainstream thought in the cap of the thermosphere. Apart, that is, from some erroneous notion that heat can't happen in space by force of a paucity of air. Jamie.d (talk) 15:31, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

How hot is the thermosphere?
My answer is that it is pretty damned hot. Alexei Leonovo was the first man to spacewalk. In a recent televised, broadcast interview he said, "I was so hot I thought I was going to die." That is a first hand account of someone who stepped out into the thermosphere. Now we have plenty of experience if this region because of ISS and the HST. We know for a fact that it's very hot. Notwithstanding that experience the article on wiki in this topic states that it doesn't feel warm because the air is to thin to conduct heat. Hang your head in shame wiki for allowing that entry to stand so long. The heat in the thermosphere isn't contingent on air supply. The heat is radiated from the sun. Perhaps surprisingly, there are some very hot political interests that are invested in maintaining erroneous thought around this subject and obsfucating established science. Wiki has covered very well much of this tussle, but perhaps failed to clarify the patently obvious. That's not ok. Please feel free to talk and contact me in any way convenient for you.

Jamie.d (talk) 13:36, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

Really?
I could be very wrong here but I really doubt that atomic oxygen or helium or hydrogen "dominate" ANYWHERE inside our atmosphere. But that is exactly what this article claims. First obvious question: where's the nitrogen? where's the molecular oxygen? and etc.75.90.39.77 (talk) 19:37, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

Nitrogen and molecular oxygen dominate the lower layers of the atmosphere. That claim is valid for above about 200 km, as is correctly stated and cited in the article. Fdduran (talk) 00:40, 8 September 2018 (UTC)

Radio waves reflected by ionospher, not refracted
Radiation causes the atmosphere particles in this layer to become electrically charged (see ionosphere), enabling radio waves to be refracted and thus be received beyond the horizon. Should this not say reflected, not refracted.

Pricesmithi (talk) 13:24, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Apparently inconsistent ISS altitudes
The ISS page states its altitude varies from 370km-460km as opposed to this page which states it varies from 408-410km. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.56.180.130 (talk • contribs)

Thermosphere
So we were learning it in class so I wondered what it meant so I just guessed and got in right somehow 2600:100E:B066:8B19:F973:E32A:E4C5:C925 (talk) 21:00, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

Aa
Ka 2402:4000:B183:1484:ACA5:6B4:BDBE:2908 (talk) 15:03, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Archaic Graphic
The Space Shuttle retired in July 2011; the illustration is archaic. Inasmuch as the Tiangong and the International Space Station provide for permanent habitation of the thermosphere (at least currently), they should be illustrative. kencf0618 (talk) 10:30, 26 August 2022 (UTC)


 * So I need to know what it is made up of in percentages. Ex. 78% oxygen 2600:1014:B06E:9208:C535:DB37:343F:F4C2 (talk) 01:26, 28 March 2023 (UTC)