Interaction of solid bodies with atmospheres of protoplanets

Abstract

During the early stages of planet formation accretion of small bodies add mass to the planet and deposit their energy kinetic energy. Caused by frictional heating and/or large stagnation pressures within the dense and extended atmospheres most of the in-falling bodies get destroyed by melting or break-up before they impact on the planet’s surface. The energy is added to the atmospheric layers rather than heating the planet directly. These processes can significantly alter the physical properties of protoplanets before they are exposed with their primordial atmospheres to the early stellar source when the protoplanetary disk becomes evaporated.