Intriguing speculation. To me, anyway, not being an atmospheric physicist.
You’re saying oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, et al. — whatever was present in the Martian atmosphere — could no longer be held by the planet and leave Mars. The Sun’s gravitational force would naturally attract them towards the Sun, and, en route, the Earth would scoop them up yearly in its orbit.
I wonder if scientists have discussed this. They must have, right? I mean, the ones not fretting about global warming. I’ve heard about them hypothesizing about water being brought to Earth on asteroids, but not this. Maybe you’re line to have a theory with your name attached to it!
LOL. The Freerepublic theory of planetary evolution!
I have been reading too much Sci Fi with the missus lately. We had not read much until a year or two ago and have really been making up for it. ERBurroughs John Carter was fun. Just finished Cixin Liu. Currently reading Clarke, 2001, 2010, etc.
Also recently discovered Ancient ALiens. I just love how they come up with some real deal thing (say stone blocks in Peru) and decide the intelligence came from “out there”. Let’s see, when faced with a seeming impossibility, that some one intelligent was able to produce stones that have been quarried, transported, and incorporated into structures none of which we could do today we need to think about finding a planet on which such intelligence might have existed. Hmmm. They conjecture there must be such a planet “out there”. Seems to me they need look no further than right between their feet.
Mars still has an atmosphere, though it is much thinner than Earth’s and mostly consists of carbon dioxide.
http://www.space.com/16903-mars-atmosphere-climate-weather.html
Indeed, astronomers hypothesize that Mars had a magnetic field, but once the surface began to cool from decreased volcanic activity, the magnetic field disappeared and solar winds destroyed the atmosphere.
http://www.space.com/16912-how-was-mars-made.html