Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Science

John1956PA

(4,338 posts)

4. On earth, hydrolysis creates oxygen and hydrogen by applying an electrical charge through water.

Reply to electric_blue68 (Original post)

Thu May 15, 2025, 07:22 PM

May 15

Perhaps pools of water on Mars were exposed to electrical charges which caused a hydrolysis effect.

As far as molecules of water dissipating into space is concerned, I do not know of the process by which that would occur.

Mars does have a thin atmosphere. The helicopter Ingenuity which NASA sent to explore the planet utilized the planet's atmosphere as a medium to keep it aloft.

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mars_helicopter_on_sol_46.png

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

2 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Irish_Dem electric_blue68

12 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Hmm...Anyone with enough chemistry kmowledge to guess why some scientists think Mars water broke down into.... [View all] electric_blue68 May 15 OP

It doesn't really need that type of very strong reaction (splitting H2O) to cause water to disappear erronis May 15 #1

Mars is smaller, has substantially less gravity, hence the escape velocity for molecules is much smaller Bernardo de La Paz May 15 #2

The Only Thing I Can Think Of... ProfessorGAC May 15 #3

On earth, hydrolysis creates oxygen and hydrogen by applying an electrical charge through water. John1956PA May 15 #4

In our JHS Science Class we had a Hydrolysist machine! electric_blue68 May 15 #8

Did the teacher allow you to transfer some of the gases to test tubes? John1956PA May 15 #10

Interesting! No, we didn't do that. It was very cool to have that demonstration. electric_blue68 May 15 #11

Hubble Helps Solve The Mystery of Mars' Escaping Water (NASA video) sl8 May 15 #5

Thing is, scenarios based on a thin atmosphere don't explain how it got thin in the first place; except Bernardo de La Paz May 15 #6

I would expect... Chemical Bill May 15 #7

Thanks, everyone! 👍 🔭 ⚗️ electric_blue68 May 15 #9

Short-wavelength UV, particularly before there was enough O2 to form an ozone shield, is all that's needed. eppur_se_muova May 16 #12