What confines atmosphere around earth?

Question

Exactly the title. There needs to be a pressure to prevent gases from perpetually expanding, right? Bear with me, I'm not a physicist or studying to be one.

One word explanation: Gravity. – Alfred Centauri Oct 12 '13 at 21:38 — Alfred Centauri, Oct 12 '13 at 21:38

score 8 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 12 '13 at 21:38

8

This is probably not a valid stack-exchange question since the answer is available online just by doing a Google search, but the answer is gravity. That's why gas giants are largely gaseous, and the tiny Moon has virtually no atmosphere, and the Earth is somewhere in between.

answered Oct 12 '13 at 21:38

DumpsterDoofus

10,479

Concise and precise, without too much depth. Good answer! – shortstheory Oct 13 '13 at 03:10
It is a valid question, it's not necessarily easy to google if one doesn't know what keywords to search for. – gerrit Oct 13 '13 at 19:10
what about solar wind and temperature in less gravity planets ? – Jan 18 '16 at 16:13

What confines atmosphere around earth?

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