> Hello, I'm new to the list (this is my first post).
>
> >Considering that Venus is slightly smaller than Earth, yet has a much much
> denser
> >atmosphere (most likely due to its lack of a moon the size of our own),
>
> Is it be concievable that we don't know everything there is to know
> about
> gravity? Maybe gravity isn't dependent on the density/size of planet, but
> some other variable we have yet to discover.
> P.S. Is there a quick description of what the moon has to do with the
> denseness of our atmosphere? Just curious.
You would think that since Venus is slightly smaller, slightly less dense, and a
lot hotter than Earth, that its atmosphere would have boiled off quite a while
ago, yet its atmosphere is much denser and hotter than our own. Even Saturn's
moon Titan has an atmophere denser than our own, though it is slightly cooler,
yet Titan is not much bigger than our own moon. There is a distinct correlation
between atmospheric density and tidal influence. Compared to its surface
gravity, Earth has the highest level of tidal influence, yet proportionately the
lowest atmospheric density of all bodies in the entire solar system. This cannot
be an accident.
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?