Mars vs. Earth
For a long time, humans have been curious about Mars. Is there water on Mars? Are there Martians living there? These unknowns have led humans to launch various probes and spacecraft to Mars, hoping to explore the mysteries of Mars!
super huge volcano
Mount Olympus is the highest volcano in the solar system. It is larger than the largest volcano on Earth, MaunaKea. If you count from the bottom of the volcano, Mount Olympus is about the height of MaunaKea. Twice and a half! The diameter of Mars is only about half of that of Earth, so why can volcanoes on Mars grow taller than those on Earth?
The Mauna Kea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is a hotspot volcano. The magma of this type of volcano comes from the mantle, and the hot magma penetrates from the mantle up and out of the crust to form a volcano. Because of plate movement, the Earth’s crust moves, causing hot spots to change where they pierce the crust. Over time, a long string of volcanoes will form, the most famous example being the Hawaiian Islands of Volcanoes.
The Big Island of the Hawaiian Islands has several active volcanoes, and the Big Island is currently located on a hotspot. Other volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands are older than the Big Island, and the farther away from the Big Island, the older.
Due to plate movement on the earth, hot-spot volcanoes will not grow too large. When they grow to a certain extent, the hot-spot will be moved away due to plate movement. If there is no hot-spot to provide magma, the volcano will stop growing and grow.
Unlike Earth, Mars has no plate movement. The magma in the mantle will emerge from the same hot spot on the crust, and the magma has been accumulating and growing at the same hot spot, so the volcanoes on Mars will be larger than those on Earth.
Magnetic Fields Matter
According to scientists’ research, Mars had a thick atmosphere in the early days, the temperature was moderate, and even rivers flowed on the surface, which is very similar to the current Earth. So why is Mars now a dry, water-free planet full of red dust?
Mars used to have a magnetic field in the early days, but the magnetic field disappeared later, which made the Martian atmosphere lose its protection and was gradually stripped and blown away by the solar wind. The atmospheric pressure of Mars decreases, and the liquid water on the ground turns into water vapor in the atmosphere. The water vapor in the atmosphere is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen by the sun’s ultraviolet rays, and is lost to outer space. Finally, the water gradually disappears from the surface of Mars. At present, the atmospheric pressure on the surface of Mars is only about one percent of that of Earth, and it is still being lost!
Scientists are not very clear about the reason for the disappearance of Mars’ magnetic field. There is a theory that it may be related to the relatively small size of Mars. Its core is smaller, so it dissipates heat faster, causing the liquid iron in the outer core to solidify. The solidification of the liquid iron in the outer core causes the magnetic field of Mars to disappear.
From the research and understanding of Mars, we understand that the earth is so special!
Are there really Martians?
Human beings are full of imagination about whether there is life on Mars, the most famous of which may be Percival. Percival Lowell “sees” the Martian canals.
Lowell is an American billionaire who is fascinated by Mars. In the 1890s, he viewed Mars with an observatory he built and depicted Mars as he saw it through a telescope. Lowell thought he saw many canals on Mars, built to transport ice from the north and south poles to the dry equator, evidence of intelligent life on Mars.
In 1965, the US Mariner 4 spacecraft flew by Mars and found that the surface of Mars was deserted, and there were no canals and Martian life as claimed by Lowell. However, the idea of life on Mars is too attractive, and humans continue to explore Mars in various ways to find life.
Why are we so obsessed with Mars? On the one hand, it is a scientific reason, hoping to find a life form outside the earth, whether or not this life form is the same as the earth, it is a very important discovery; The only place where there is life, the only existence alone.
According to the experience on earth, as long as there is water, life can be found almost everywhere, and water has become an important indicator of life. Mars was relatively warm in the early days, and there was water flow on the surface, so Mars may have had life in the past. Scientists believe that the most likely life on Mars is microorganisms, because water has not existed on the surface of Mars for a long time and cannot evolve too complex life forms.
At present, there is no stably flowing water on the surface of Mars, but water may still exist under the surface, so life may still exist underground on Mars. Humans continue to explore Mars, and humans will also land on Mars in the near future. The question of whether there is life on Mars may have an answer.
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