ASTR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 34: Hydrazine
Document Summary
Very thin atm - even if it were n and o, no human could breathe in thin atm. Temperature drops off quickly as you move away from surface in the sunlight. Dust storms can cover huge portions of the planet. Low air pressure - not a large effect on a human but push around lots of dust particles. Mars likely a much warmer planet when it had a thicker atm. Vanished 3-4 billion years ago when we saw the large mars craters appearing. Mars: water freezes and theres nothing to bring that temperature back up. Ice sublimates -> gas -> uv causes h20 -> h + o. h is lost, o reacts away. Volcanic activity (likely triggered by collision) and ice melted, causing floods. If greenhouse gas concentration gets too low, there is no way to reverse and planet temperature drops rapidly. From potentially a life-filled planet to a dead planet.