Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I havent ever been interested in science so i never payed attention much in class. However recently ive had some curiosities about it. I wasnt able to find any information on the question i have so i came here, im not sure if it is a dumb question or not but an answer would be appreciated.

In the Mesoshere where O² and H² gasses escape at higher velocities (Still havent grasped how or why that happens) why wouldnt it be possible to extract said gasses from the Mesosphere? Obviously it would be to simple to put the end of a vaccum hose up there and just suck it down into some sort of seperator. But how would retrieving those gasses be possible? For instance if i wanted to use a bottle of it to put in my hydrogen engine? And if its not possible, why?

Hi ChaseNel,
No question is a dumb question but are you asking these for a K-12 science-fair project? If so, could you share more details about the project?
The Science buddies forum is intended to help K-12 students design and execute science fair projects.
Best,
MS

Hi ChaseNel,

Welcome to Science Buddies. So glad to hear that you have recently have curiosities about Science; you are welcome to post any question on the forum.

As you may know, mesophere is the third layer on Earth, which is from about 31 miles to 53 miles (or from 50 to 85km) above the Earth. Have you ever seen a meteor shower? This phenomenon occurs as meteors are burning up in the mesosphere.

In the mesosphere, the air is so thin that atoms and molecules of gases hardly ever run into each other. As you get higher up in the mesosphere, the temperature gets colder. The top of the mesosphere is the coldest part of Earth's atmosphere. The temperature there is around -90° C (-130° F)

Therefore, it will not very easy to extract gasses from the mesophere. However, there is still a lot we don't know about the mesosphere. We have not had many ways to get scientific instruments to the mesosphere to take measurements there. Weather balloons and jet planes cannot fly high enough to reach the mesosphere. The orbits of satellites are above the mesosphere. We do get some measurements using sounding rockets.

One way to learn more about Science is to ask questions about what you do not know. Thank you for asking such a great question.

I hope this helps.

Best,
Elise