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Water Could Stay Liquid on Mars
space.com ^ | 11/15/05 | Bjorn Carey

Posted on 11/15/2005 6:48:21 PM PST by KevinDavis

From the shoreline of an ancient salty sea to the bottoms of deep, flood-carved channels, Mars is scarred with geological signs that indicate liquid water once flowed on the its surface.

These findings, combined with the discovery of tiny, spherical "blueberries" and the detection of water ice in the planet's polar ice caps, have lead scientists to scour the planet for liquid water in recent years.

The elusive quarry has remained hidden, possibly because it may not exist for more than a fleeting second. Due to Mars' low temperatures and extremely low atmospheric pressure – less than a hundredth that of the Earth– pure water evaporates from ice to gas so quickly that it skips the liquid phase.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: colony; lookmanomuslims; mars; space
Marsward Ho!
1 posted on 11/15/2005 6:48:23 PM PST by KevinDavis
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To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; sionnsar; anymouse; RadioAstronomer; NonZeroSum; jimkress; ...

2 posted on 11/15/2005 6:48:56 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: KevinDavis

Mars is in dire need of some good old fashioned global warming.


3 posted on 11/15/2005 6:51:42 PM PST by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: coconutt2000; All

I agree....


4 posted on 11/15/2005 6:53:09 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: KevinDavis
"pure water evaporates from ice to gas so quickly that it skips the liquid phase."

Why do science popularizers insist on dumbing things down to the point of using the wrong terminology? If the water changes from the solid to the gaseous state, without becoming a liquid; it hasn't evaporated -- it has sublimated. Why not just say so, and avoid confusing people?

It's not like it's that hard to learn a new word, and "sublimation" is a useful concept to know about. It explains freezer-burn. It explains why most of the snow in the far north doesn't melt in the spring -- it just disappears through sublimation.
5 posted on 11/15/2005 7:04:37 PM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA (")
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

Sublimation can go either way, evaporation does not.


6 posted on 11/15/2005 7:13:42 PM PST by cynicom
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To: cynicom

Wow. And here I thought sublimation was when I write poetry because I can't get laid.


7 posted on 11/15/2005 7:22:07 PM PST by wizardoz
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To: wizardoz

Naughty boy you. You have just failed this course.


8 posted on 11/15/2005 7:31:38 PM PST by cynicom
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To: coconutt2000
Mars is in dire need of some good old fashioned global warming.
 

Mars could use a few SUV's and Carl Roves weather machine

9 posted on 11/15/2005 7:56:26 PM PST by vigilante2 (member of the vast right wing conspiracy)
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To: KevinDavis
Dan Quayle 1, MSM 0.
10 posted on 11/15/2005 8:03:57 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: vigilante2
Mars could use a few SUV's and Carl Roves weather machine

Evil SUVs, guns, highways, oil rigs, refineries, and maybe a few nuclear power plants... ;-)

11 posted on 11/15/2005 8:15:31 PM PST by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: KevinDavis

28 degrees Celsius? That's pretty comfortable... 82.4 degrees Farenheit. And no humidity! ;)


12 posted on 11/15/2005 9:29:38 PM PST by thoughtomator (Bring Back HCUA!)
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