What is the composition of the Earth's exosphere?

[Fabrizio Vassallo]

Hello!

My name is Fabrizio, I'm a high school student doing some research on the atmosphere. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how much matter escapes into space via Jean's Escape. I've found several formulas, all of which require me to know what the amount of particles per m³ of a certain element is in a certain area of the atmosphere. Also, I've read that almost all particles that escape into space are in the exosphere. That is why I've been looking for the exosphere's composition, without any success.
I wonder if any of you would know of a book / study or something that contains this information. I want to know what the composition is at different heights, if possible, in order to sort of average the density, for example, of hydrogen, and then calculate how much of it escapes into space. So far, I've become aware that the composition of this part of the atmosphere is quite irregular, so it's likely that if there is any info about its composition its from experimental origin.
So, thank you for reading, please let me know if you find any materials that might help!

 

[jedishrfu]

I did some googling but could only find descriptive exosphere facts

https://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/exosphere-overview
Apparently though since it’s so tenuous, this information may not be available in any science literature. Articles do note the gases present and that they seldom collide and that some fall back to Earth while others escape the planet.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exosphere

 

[Fabrizio Vassallo]

I did some googling but could only find descriptive exosphere facts

https://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/exosphere-overview
Apparently though since it’s so tenuous, this information may not be available in any science literature. Articles do note the gases present and that they seldom collide and that some fall back to Earth while others escape the planet.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exosphere

Thank you very much for your time! I guess I'll keep looking for now :) There must be a way of doing it, I hope!

 

[jedishrfu]

Sometimes though when you search for an answer and can’t find it then it’s possible there isn’t one yet. You could ask your teacher about it if it’s important. He or she may have a reference for you otherwise go with what you have.

 

[sophiecentaur]

The proportions of the various gases will vary with height, according to the molecular masses. There will be more of the lighter molecules with increasing distance. So that makes it hard to specify the composition in detail.

 

[256bits]

Summary: I want to know the exosphere's composition in percentages in order to calculate how much matter leaks into space, but I have not found any charts or tables that detail this information. Please let me know if you know of some book/study that might help!

all of which require me to know what the amount of particles per m3 of a certain element is in a certain area of the atmosphere.

That should be particles per volume per altitude.

do note there is some error you will find in the internet literature.
Perhaps one person stated incorrectly and others did a mindless copy and paste into their own site,

The error states that the distance between particles is in the range of miles for the exosphere.
That is conflagulating the mean free path, ie the 'average distance a particle will travel before collision with another' with the density.

If I recall, and you can probably find it, interstellar space has about 10 particles per cubic meter, outer solar system 10000, near space to Earth in the millions, and regular atmosphere in the trillions.
So I guess you are looking somewhere in the millions for the exosphere.

EDIT
Not too far if one can believe this site.
https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/how-many-molecules-atoms-are-there-in-each-cubic-metre.html
PS. some other edits in the prose.