Exosphere

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/exosphere

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How high is Exosphere?Approximately 500-1,000 km to several thousand kilometers above the surface
2. What is the primary composition?Predominantly hydrogen and helium, with heavier elements present near the base
3. What is the related celestial bodies?Mercury, Moon, Europa, and Ganymede possess exospheres, some as surface boundary exospheres
4. Where does the exosphere begin on Earth?It starts about 500 to 1,000 kilometers (310 to 620 miles) above the Earth's surface.
5. Why are there so few particles in the exosphere?Because it is so far up, the air is extremely thin and particles rarely collide with each other.

Mean Free Path: The average distance a particle travels between successive collisions with other particles.
Scale Height: A measure of the vertical distance over which atmospheric pressure or density decreases by a factor of e (approximately 2.718).
Thermal Escape: The process by which atmospheric particles gain enough kinetic energy to overcome a planet's gravitational pull and escape into space.
Solar Wind: A stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun.