noun
Meaning 1
A type of atmospheric escape in which a light gas atom or molecule (typically a helium atom or hydrogen molecule) gains sufficient momentum through collision with other molecules to escape the atmosphere (and gravitational pull) of a planet.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: astronomy, astrophysics, natural-sciences, planetology
Examples
- 2014, Eugene F. Milone, William J. F. Wilson, Solar System Astrophysics, Springer, 2nd Edition, page 413, As will be seem in Sects. 11.7.2.3 and 11.7.3.2, Jeans escape of H atoms from Venus is negligible compared to other, nonthermal mechanisms, whereas Jeans escape dominates the loss of H from Mars. On both planets, Jeans escape of O, O2 and CO2 is negligible.
- 2021, Mark H. Thiemens, Mang Lin, 2: Discoveries of Mass Independent Isotope Effects in the Solar System, Ilya N. Bindeman, Andreas Pack (editors), Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Volume 86: Triple Oxygen Isotope Geochemistry, Mineralogical Society of America, page 70, The hydrogen is lost from the system by diffusion and Jeans escapes.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided