4 ms·
Methane is a very simple molecule. From what I understand it's quite likely to form if there's C, H and some heat/pressure. Since H and energy have been abundan
by blauditore 10y ago
Methane is a very simple molecule. From what I understand it's quite likely to form if there's C, H and some heat/pressure. Since H and energy have been abundant during formation of planet's, the interesting part is that there's C on mars.
But calling it an "intriguing" discovery and talking about water and "the base for life" based on that seems like a stretch to me...
- ams6110 10y agoCarbon is very common as well, is it not? It's not like there's anything producing new carbon on earth, either. All we have is what was here when the planet formed.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> It's not like there's anything producing new carbon on earth, either. Actually, there is: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/carbon-141.htm http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology...
- takingflac 10y agoBut by now the rate of creation should equal the rate of decay so even though "new" carbon is being made the amount of carbon doesn't really change.
- Sharlin 10y agoThe article explains right in the second paragraph why detecting methane is so intriguing. If you dropped a molecule of methane into the atmosphere of Mars, it would survive about 300 years—that’s how long, on average, it would take for solar ultraviolet radiation and other Martian gases to destroy the molecule. By rights, the Martian atmosphere should have been scrubbed of its methane eons ago.
- blauditore 10y agoYeah, I had read that. It could just leak out of subterrane entrapments, as they mention later in the article: > They must have been of Martian origin—perhaps a burp from a relatively small and localized subsurface source to the north of the landing site. The Martian winds would blow that methane away over several months, explaining why the signal went away when it did.
- NotSammyHagar 10y agoBut then keep that line of thought going. Mars has the pieces it needs to form dna like molecules, at least in some protected environments, like in the salty almost frozen water slightly under the surface, so there's a very likely possibility of life being related to or similar in process to our life on earth.
- blauditore 10y agoI see what you mean; we know the ingredients (necessary elements and energy) for earth-like life are there. However, we don't know the probability of all the steps leading to life actually taking place in the given time frame. The only reference value we have is earth, so it's just one data point and hardly possible to generalize. And mathematical estimations are difficult due to way too many factors to be considered (I've never seen one actually). At the least we can say that formation of complex structures like DNA is far more complicated and thus less likely to form than methane, by orders of magnitude. So one could argue that it is generally far more likely for methane to be encountered than any (earth-like) life form.
- Analemma_ 10y agoThey address that in the article. If the methane was being formed by spontaneous physical processes in the atmosphere, its concentration should remain constant.
- blauditore 10y agoYeah, but it might just be emitted from subterrane entrapments (see my reply to Sharlin).