Posted on 01/21/2005 7:17:19 AM PST by Dallas59
Yes, that is an actual picture. It's just not a photograph.
The natural gas liquifys when cooled. Not sure at what temperature though.
I want the contract for No Smoking signs.
If it's an actual picture it has nothing to do with Titan.
Is this possible?!
Here, in the inner system
the Earth's atmosphere
is constantly hit
by meteors that burn up
at various heights.
Saturn is a deep
gravity well not too far
from the asteroids
which also get churned
by Jupiter's gravity . . .
My initial thought
is there must be lots
of junk always impacting
Titan's atmosphere.
(And, of course, it must
have been happening non-stop
for a long, long time . . .)
How could flammable
materials still be there
in large quantities?!
I think it is actually the increased pressure in the tanks which liquifies it. The coolness of the tanks and from when you release it is due to the energy absorbed due to the "evaporation" of the liquid to gas form.
Did you miss the "no oxygen" part?
Zeus: "Shut up woman!"
No oxygen. It can't burn.
"So.... If we reshape the orbit of an ice comet... providing the "O", and torch off a 1 megaton nuke, how long would Titan burn? "
Until there was no more methane or oxygen, of course :p
Although, wouldn't the impact by an ice comet provide the friction and heat required to ignite it?
I think the "O" you are referring to is in the H20. Unfortunately H2O is a combustion product of hydrocarbons like natural gas. It is the ashy remains of methane, if you will. Wouldn't burn any further. There would be no molecular oxygen on Earth if not for photosynthesis, which constantly separates chemically bound oxygen. In geological terms all the oxygen on Earth would be consumed very quickly if it were not constantly renewed. The article is provocative in that reinforces the abiotic origins of hydrocarbons. There may be vast reserves of natural gas deep within the Earth, waiting to be discovered.
Even an Ice comet has it's oxygen locked up in water.
Even with an impact I don't think you're going to separate that molecule.
I think part of the point was that Oxygen would be introduced into it (as asteroids would contain water and Oxygen.)
hmmm... no liquid oxygen or free radicals? I assumed ice asteroids contained a little of most life-essential molecules. Mayhaps I'm wrong though. It's happend before.
[sighs] Yes, in classic
Friday fashion, my brain stuck
at the post's top, and
I went off half-baked
without reading the whole thing.
Sorry! [sighs again]
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