The temperature structure of primordial atmospheres
Date
1979
Authors
Coates, Michael John
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Abstract
There is a strong possibility that the material out of which the Earth formed was host to prebiotic molecules of varying complexity. The chances that these molecules had in surviving in the early atmosphere are examined by computing a series of models with various effective temperatures and compositions, and seeing whether the atmospheric temperature structure was in the required range to support life as we know it. It was found that the required conditions were satisfied for some of the models, but the majority of them had too high a temperature.