Liquid Water on Mars

Water has flowed on Mars in the last 7 years...
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/main/index.html


--
Gareth Slee
http://www.meroffice.com

The BBC reports that others claim this could have been due
to liquid CO2 flows instead of water.

Dave

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:43:51 GMT, in a place far, far away, David
Spain made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

The BBC reports that others claim this could have been due
to liquid CO2 flows instead of water.

"Liquid CO2"? On Mars? Do they know the atmospheric (non)pressure
there?

"Others claim" that we didn't go to the moon.

Rand Simberg wrote:
On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:43:51 GMT, in a place far, far away, David
Spain made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

The BBC reports that others claim this could have been due
to liquid CO2 flows instead of water.

"Liquid CO2"? On Mars? Do they know the atmospheric (non)pressure
there?


"Others claim" that we didn't go to the moon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6214834.stm

Para. 8 and 9.

I don't know the state table for CO2, but the article did mention
a surface temperature of -107 deg C.

Dave

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 23:05:38 GMT, in a place far, far away, David
Spain made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

Rand Simberg wrote:
On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:43:51 GMT, in a place far, far away, David
Spain made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

The BBC reports that others claim this could have been due
to liquid CO2 flows instead of water.

"Liquid CO2"? On Mars? Do they know the atmospheric (non)pressure
there?


"Others claim" that we didn't go to the moon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6214834.stm

Para. 8 and 9.

I don't know the state table for CO2, but the article did mention
a surface temperature of -107 deg C.

Temperature isn't the issue, if it's on the surface. Someone at the
BBC needs to look at a phase table for CO2. You need a lot more
pressure than is available to get above the triple point. At anything
less than earth atmospheric pressure (let alone Mars), and actually
quite a bit higher than that, you don't get liquid CO2 at that
temperature--you get solid CO2. It sublimes directly from solid to
gas, which is why they call it "dry ice."

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 23:21:01 GMT, in a place far, far away,
h (Rand Simberg) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

The BBC reports that others claim this could have been due
to liquid CO2 flows instead of water.

"Liquid CO2"? On Mars? Do they know the atmospheric (non)pressure
there?


"Others claim" that we didn't go to the moon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6214834.stm

Para. 8 and 9.

I don't know the state table for CO2, but the article did mention
a surface temperature of -107 deg C.

Temperature isn't the issue, if it's on the surface. Someone at the
BBC needs to look at a phase table for CO2. You need a lot more
pressure than is available to get above the triple point. At anything
less than earth atmospheric pressure (let alone Mars), and actually
quite a bit higher than that, you don't get liquid CO2 at that
temperature--you get solid CO2. It sublimes directly from solid to
gas, which is why they call it "dry ice."

D'oh!

I see on rereading that it's not on the surface...

Rand Simberg wrote:
D'oh!

I see on rereading that it's not on the surface...

Yep. Sorry I was not clear on that point...

Dave

In message , Rand Simberg
writes
On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 23:05:38 GMT, in a place far, far away, David
Spain made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

Rand Simberg wrote:
On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:43:51 GMT, in a place far, far away, David
Spain made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

The BBC reports that others claim this could have been due
to liquid CO2 flows instead of water.

"Liquid CO2"? On Mars? Do they know the atmospheric (non)pressure
there?


"Others claim" that we didn't go to the moon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6214834.stm

Para. 8 and 9.

I don't know the state table for CO2, but the article did mention
a surface temperature of -107 deg C.

Temperature isn't the issue, if it's on the surface. Someone at the
BBC needs to look at a phase table for CO2. You need a lot more
pressure than is available to get above the triple point. At anything
less than earth atmospheric pressure (let alone Mars), and actually
quite a bit higher than that, you don't get liquid CO2 at that
temperature--you get solid CO2. It sublimes directly from solid to
gas, which is why they call it "dry ice."

Isn't one argument that the CO2 is under pressure because it's under a
considerable depth of rock?
http://unisci.com/stories/20012/0402013.htm
Only something like spectral analysis of one of these outflows will
decide what's happening.

Gareth Slee wrote:

Water has flowed on Mars in the last 7 years...
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/main/index.html




Water has _possibly_ flowed on Mars in the past seven years.
Which is a pretty neat trick, as the temperature at the surface is
generally (if not always) below freezing, and the photo that they are
showing shows whatever was flowing came out near the surface and ran
down the inside of the crater.
I'd believe in sub-surface heating and liquid water if I could see some
evidence of a active volcano up there.
On the other hand, there is a substance that has three forms inside the
Martian pressure and temperature curve.
Carbon dioxide - we know it exists in a gaseous state on Mars (it's most
of the atmosphere) in a solid form (the polar caps), and as we recently
found out, erupts in geysers at the polar regions as they warm in spring.
So if something's rolling down crater walls, its very probably liquid
CO2, not water.
But the PAO is at work again.

Pat

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:04:32 -0600, in a place far, far away, Pat
Flannery made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

Carbon dioxide - we know it exists in a gaseous state on Mars (it's most
of the atmosphere) in a solid form (the polar caps), and as we recently
found out, erupts in geysers at the polar regions as they warm in spring.
So if something's rolling down crater walls, its very probably liquid
CO2, not water.

No. Liquid CO2 does not exist on the surface of Mars.