Question:
Can water simply disappear, or does it only change form?
?
2009-02-03 18:05:35 UTC
If it only changes form, what happened to the water on Mars?
Eleven answers:
Brant
2009-02-03 18:46:07 UTC
I know where you're coming from and kudos to you for using your brain. People who try to give the impression that Mars might have once hosted life because they found some water ice there, are *extremely* optimistic, to say the least. They keep people's interest high and this equates in funding, so I'm not altogether against a little wishful thinking, but I'll bet there isn't enough water on Mars to fill lake Michigan. Never mind ancient oceans.



Mars has a very thin atmosphere. During its formation, I believe most of the water would have evaporated away into space. There might be significant amounts trapped in the crust but the planet is no longer "geologically" active like the earth is. Outgassing of water in volcanic eruptions may also have escaped into space through the thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which is heavier.



BTW, I should mention that this answer is just my opinion and may not represent prevailing views.
Electronherdsman
2009-02-03 18:42:15 UTC
Yes and no. Water is a combination of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen. It is stable in one of three forms. Depending upon the pressure and temperature of the environment in which you find it. Water will either be a solid (ice), a liquid (which is how we usually encounter it on Earth), or a gas (vapor or steam).



In Mars, the atmospheric pressure is too low for water to exist as a liquid on the surface. It will be in the form of ice. If you heat it up, it will not melt, it will sublimate. That is it turns into a gas without turning into a liquid first. So there is water vapor in the Martian atmosphere, just not very much.



Water can completely disappear if you break it up into it's different components. High energy solar particles striking water molecules can break the oxygen and hydrogen bonds. Once the molucule is broken up, it ceases to exist as water and becomes a collection of elements.



Mars does not have a magnetic field like the Earth. Incoming solar radiation can strike water molecules in the upper Martian atmosphere and destroy it.



So yes, water usually just changes form. However, given the right conditions you can make it disappear as well.
Rob
2009-02-03 18:35:00 UTC
Well, I guess you could say water can "simply disappear" through a few methods.



One is electrolysis, which breaks the chemical bonds holding the hydrogen and oxygen atoms together and separates them into their gaseous states.



Electricity

2H20(l) -----------------> H2(g) + O2(g)



The second is of course evaporation, which can be induced by boiling or the introduction of solar energy.



Now what happened to the water on Mars? Well, considering Mars has no atmosphere, it therefore takes the full barrage of solar energy that say, Earth would not take due its atmosphere absorbing a great deal of it.



Under the considerations that solar energy induces evaporation, and that mars has no atmosphere, it could be assumed that the water on the surface (I say surface because evidence in support of ice beneath surface of mars exists) evaporated as a result of solar energy.
Anonymous
2009-02-03 18:17:42 UTC
Water only changes form; the atmosphere of Mars can not form water
vorenhutz
2009-02-03 18:28:41 UTC
much of the water on mars is present in the north polar ice cap (the south polar cap is mainly carbon dioxide, "dry ice"). an unknown amount may also be underground, and there is a tiny concentration of water vapor in the atmosphere which may dissociate due to solar radiation. once dissociated, hydrogen atoms in particular may escape to space. I seem to recall that this is how venus is thought to have lost most of its water, not sure about mars.



well, maybe I'm a little out of date in the above:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars#Hydrology
Jimmy L
2009-02-03 19:48:45 UTC
Mars had water but we think its iron core cooled down which erased its magnetic field allwoing the suns radiation to destroy the atmosphere evaporating water which means the water just went into space
Zarathustra....alas
2009-02-03 18:10:06 UTC
Assuming there was water on Mars, it could have turned into hydrogen and oxygen. Or it could remain in solid (ice) form hidden from us.
2016-10-05 10:45:05 UTC
definite, you're precise. the warmth can't merely disappear nonetheless it incredibly is transferred and altered into different varieties of capability it is going to in no way merely disappear. it incredibly is asserted via the regulation of conservation of capability/the 1st regulation of thermodynamics.
Aman J
2009-02-03 18:11:10 UTC
it cannot dissapear, but from your eyes maybe.



water has three states, liquid, solid (ice), and gas. When you can easily see solid or liqiud you may not be able to see the gas. So even if it looks like its not there, be assured water is always around.
chinaman
2009-02-04 20:48:13 UTC
it changes form. becomes hydrogen and oxygen or become other forms of gases that are not known to man.
wallflower_perks
2009-02-03 18:13:34 UTC
matter cannot be created or destroyed, meary transformed


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