Questions and Assignments

Use the tools and the concepts learned so far to discuss and determine answers to the following questions:

1. What is a phase diagram? Explain the degrees of freedom.
2. Define the triple point and critical point in a phase diagram.
3. What are supercritical fluids? How are they useful?
4. Discuss the water vapor feedback mechanism in the Earth's atmosphere by using the phase diagram of water.
5. Using phase diagrams, explain why the climate of Earth is habitable while the climate of Mars and Venus is not.
6. Why did Venus experience a runaway greenhouse effect, resulting in a very high surface temperature (462 deg C)? Discuss why Earth has not yet experienced this effect.