UCSB Science Line
UCSB Science Line
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
Answer 1:


Atmosphere. Whether or not a planet has an atmosphere depends on many things: the mass of the planet, the distance of the planet from the Sun, the amount of volcanism that has occurred on the planet, etc.
Atmospheres can shield a planet from meteor and comet impacts, erode the surface, shield the surface from harmful light like ultraviolet light, trap heat, and moderate temperature, as well as provide gases that plants and animals can breathe.



Similar out gassing processes seem to have occurred on many other planetary bodies.

Answer 2:

There is plenty of oxygen in the universe actually. On this planet oxygen occurs as a diatomic (2) molecule (O2: Chemical structure) and IT originates as a byproduct of photosynthesis. Certain kinds of bacteria, protists (algae) and green plants use sunlight to make tissue and store chemical energy. They also use water to get the hydrogen they need and oxygen is a waste product so they dump it to the atmosphere...lucky for US!!!

On earth, the oxygen of the atmosphere is due to LIFE ON EARTH. However on the other planets of the solar system, if they have life at all, oxygen is not abundant enough to create an oxygen-rich atmosphere like ours...but it is still there!

Answer 3:

I think there is plenty of oxygen out there, away from Earth.
Oxygen just tends to react with other chemicals and get locked up
into substances that aren't very useful to oxygen breathers like us.
Plant life here on Earth does a very good job of keeping oxygen in
the atmosphere for us and turning oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and
hydrogen into substances we can eat.

Answer 4:

Actually, scientists have discovered that oxygen exists on other planets in our solar system. Several years ago, that Hubble telescope detected evidence of molecular oxygen in the atmosphere of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. The temperature on Europa is extremely cold, and there is actually some ice on the surface. Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, so there is oxygen any place that there is water, however, the oxygen may not necessarily be in its molecular form. However, on Europa, the ice on the surface is hit by sunlight, dust, and other particles to form water vapor, which, through a series of reactions, breaks down to form molecular hydrogen and oxygen. The atmosphere on Europa is very thin and a balance is formed between oxygen that escapes into space with new oxygen that forms from the ice.

Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
Copyright © 2015 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use