Chemistry of Life 2 - MT1 - Part 2 Flashcards
When was the solar system formed?
4-6 billion years ago
- life appeared shortly after that
Approx. 3-4 billion years ago Mars had what? (2)
- Geological activity
- volcanoes - A liquid core produced by a magnetic field
What is the biggest mountain on Mars?
Olympus
What can renew in the atmosphere?
Volcanoes
What does the magnetic field provide protection from? (4)
- Solar wind
- Cosmic rays
- High temps
- Large bodies of water
What acts as a warming blanket?
CO2
- earth would be 30deg C cooler if we did not have an atmosphere
What have been found on earth from Mars?
Meteorites
- found over 100
What was the most significant find on Mars?
Allan Hills 84001 (ALH84001)
- determined it was several billion yeas old from radio carbon dating
Lithopanspermia
Is a version of the pansoermia hypothesis in which it is argued that impact expelled rocks from a planets surface serve as transfer vehicles for spreading biological material from one solar system to another
- idea that life travels on rocks
What was interesting about ALH84001? (3)
- Contained organic molecules
- polycyclic hydrocarbons - Magnetite that might have a biogenic origin
- appeared in the magnetite in crystal form (Fe3O4) - Shapes that looked like tiny bacteria
- nanobacteria
Magnetite
Magnetic material that consists of an oxide of iron and is an important form of iron
Why are people not convinced about nanobacteria?
Because they thought that they were too small for anything to live on
What has happened to Mars between then and now? (6)
- Its core solidified
- Geological activity stopped
- Magnetic field weakened
- The solar wind stripped away much of the atmosphere, which was not getting replenished by the volcanoes
- Most of the water was blasted into space by meteor imacts
- The remaining water froze in subsurface layers
- below the surface
What was getting lost when the atmosphere was getting lost?
A lot of water was being lost in the atmosphere and it lead to a decrease in the warming effect of the atmosphere
What are the atmospheric conditions on Mars? (4)
- 1% of earths atmosphere
- 96% CO2
- Traces of CO, O2 and CH4
- Atmosphere is thin
What is the temp like on Mars? (2)
- -90deg C
- Near the equator the temperature can increase to 0 and the ground temperature can increase to 20deg C
What is the geological activity like on Mars?
There is none
What is the radiation like on Mars?
Need some protection against the radiation
What is an example of radiation on Mars?
Cosmic rays
What was the Viking landers (1976) designed to do?
Test for the presence of living processes
- but came up empty
GCMS
The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
What was GCMS used for?
Used to separate potential organic molecules in
Labeled Release experiment (4)
- 7 nutrients carried by probes and labelled with 14CO2
- added soil and waited for radioactive CO2 to appear
- found radioactive CO2 released
- couldnt make a claim
What 2 ground observations detected CH4?
- Mars express orbiter
2. Curiosity rover