A comet inspires chemists to make oxygen to breathe on Mars
You may see many science fiction stories introducing the idea of creating oxygen generators, because to get out of this planet into space and settle other planets, we need O2 to breathe, and space is free of it.
"In order to be able to explore space, we need to supply our own oxygen supply. This is not ideal because a lot of energy is needed to lift objects into space on a rocket. Once the supply runs out, there is no oxygen for life," according to Phys.
But there is one place where the molecular oxygen outside the Earth is the gas that flows from the comets. The source of this oxygen remains a mystery until Constantinus P. suggested. Jayapas, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California Tech, and his colleague Yoni Yao, have a new chemical process that can explain their production.
Jayapis showed a new reaction to generate oxygen, saying it could help humans explore the universe and perhaps even fight climate change at home. More importantly, he says, interaction is a new kind of chemistry discovered by studying comets.
Most chemical reactions require energy, which is usually provided as heat, and research shows that some unusual reactions can occur by providing kinetic energy,
When water molecules are released on surfaces that contain oxygen, such as sand or rust, the water can break up that oxygen to produce molecular oxygen.
This interaction occurs on comets when water molecules evaporate from the surface and are then accelerated by solar wind until they collide with the comet at high speed.
The researcher was able to explain the presence of small quantities of oxygen observed high in the atmosphere of Mars, where there was speculation that oxygen is generated by ultraviolet radiation from the sun-carbon dioxide, but Jayapis believes that oxygen is also produced by high-speed dust particles Which collide with carbon dioxide particles.
Chemists are currently working on a different type of reactor to do the same. It may someday be a source of air for Mars astronauts to breathe or be used to combat climate change by pulling carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, out of the earth's atmosphere and converting it To oxygen.
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