Episode notes
In this illuminating episode, we delve into the fascinating world of Venusian chemistry, where Earth's hellish twin reveals an extreme greenhouse environment unlike any in our solar system. Through engaging interviews with planetary scientists and atmospheric chemists, we explore how Venus' runaway greenhouse effect transformed what may have been an Earth-like planet into a scorching hothouse world with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead. Our journey takes us through Venus' dense, carbon dioxide-dominated atmosphere to its sulfuric acid cloud layers, where we'll examine how volcanic activity continuously releases gases that maintain the planet's oppressive atmospheric chemistry. We'll investigate the crucial role of spectroscopic analysis in studying Venus remotely, explaining how orbiting spacecraft and atmospheric probes reveal the co ...