Thread: Why don't we turn Mars' wind into water?

Wind is a gas, correct? Gas can be turned into liquid. (A) Why don't we turn wind into liquid in our own planet, just to prove that it's possible. And (B) Why don't we turn Mars' wind into liquid? Mars has a climate. There must be wind present somewhere in its atmosphere. If we turned the wind into liquid, we'd have a sustainable source of water on the planet and thus we can start inhabiting it. Is there something I don't understand, cause it really seems quite simple :P

Wind is motion of the molecules in the atmosphere, on our planet mainly nitrogen and oxygen, on Mars mostly CO2, condensing these will not give you water...

But if we were to combine the CO2 from Mars' wind to the H20 from Mars' ice, surely that would give carbonic acid which would result in water?

If you have the water from Mars' ice, you don't need carbonic acid.

I'm trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt but I'm edging towards thinking he's trolling...

@AlexG: the ice itself is not sustainable but:

1. Get the hydrogen from the ice
2. Mix it with the CO2 of Mars' wind = carbonic acid
3. Carbonic acid @ room temperature = water

4. The water would fall, like rain, allowing us to use some of it and to add the rest of it back to the wind, repeating the cycle, thus sustainable water.

Alternatively, we could come up with some clever irrigation scheme for the ice on Mars but, again, that probably wouldn't be sustainable.


Catch my drift?

(on hindsight, this wasn't really well thought out..)

So, by "water", you don't mean H2O. You just mean liquid, right?


Anyway, the big problem on Mars is that the atmosphere is very thin. Getting a gas to become a liquid requires both for it to be cool, and for it to be under an appropriate amount of pressure. Mars' thin atmosphere exerts only a very small amount of pressure on its surroundings. Partly because it is so thin, and partly because Mars has much less gravity on its surface than does Earth.

Yes, by water I mean liquid. Oh and I didn't realise that it needed pressure. Thanks for clearing that one up Kojax :P (I'll do a little bit of research before posting my ideas next time!)

Isn't Mars cold as hell? is liquid even possible there? Wouldn't it freeze before it would evaporate into space? either way, no liquid, right?

Originally Posted by grmpysmrf

Isn't Mars cold as hell? is liquid even possible there? Wouldn't it freeze before it would evaporate into space? either way, no liquid, right?

Only some parts, "The temperature on Mars may reach a high of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) at noon, at the equator in the summer, "

Originally Posted by kojax

So, by "water", you don't mean H2O. You just mean liquid, right?


Anyway, the big problem on Mars is that the atmosphere is very thin. Getting a gas to become a liquid requires both for it to be cool, and for it to be under an appropriate amount of pressure. Mars' thin atmosphere exerts only a very small amount of pressure on its surroundings. Partly because it is so thin, and partly because Mars has much less gravity on its surface than does Earth.

Does the lack of a strong magnetic field coupled with its weaker gravity mean that Mars is unlikely to be able to hold an atmosphere indefinitely?

Mars's atmosphere is about 100 times thinner than Earth's. Without a "thermal blanket," Mars can't retain any heat energy. On average, the temperature on Mars is about minus 80 degrees F (minus 60 degrees C). In winter, near the poles temperatures can get down to minus 195 degrees F (minus 125 degrees C). A summer day on Mars may get up to 70 degrees F (20 degrees C) near the equator, but at night the temperature can plummet to about minus 100 degrees F (minus 73 C).

Originally Posted by ScienceNoob

Originally Posted by grmpysmrf

Isn't Mars cold as hell? is liquid even possible there? Wouldn't it freeze before it would evaporate into space? either way, no liquid, right?

Only some parts, "The temperature on Mars may reach a high of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) at noon, at the equator in the summer, "

So, the "heat" on mars is a warm winter day in Southern Cal.? Ha Ha!
I won't be moving there!

I may be late to the party, but there is plenty of frozen water on Mars and we could simply have a nuclear reactor (preferably fusion, when they become practical) to get drinking water, to make oxygen, and to make hydrogen.

Originally Posted by Flick Montana

Originally Posted by kojax

So, by "water", you don't mean H2O. You just mean liquid, right?


Anyway, the big problem on Mars is that the atmosphere is very thin. Getting a gas to become a liquid requires both for it to be cool, and for it to be under an appropriate amount of pressure. Mars' thin atmosphere exerts only a very small amount of pressure on its surroundings. Partly because it is so thin, and partly because Mars has much less gravity on its surface than does Earth.

Does the lack of a strong magnetic field coupled with its weaker gravity mean that Mars is unlikely to be able to hold an atmosphere indefinitely?

Yes. It does.

I don't know how long it would hold it, though. It could maybe be up to a few thousand years.

Also there are some asteroids in the asteroid belt that have a lot of water stored on them as ice. If we diverted one so that it hit mars, we could give it water that way.

And as a bonus, the impact itself would generate a lot of heat. Depending on how fast it hits, but the interception speeds in free space can get really high. Getting them low takes effort. If instead you want the impact speed to be high, that will happen on its own by accident.

Originally Posted by TheFosterKid

@AlexG: the ice itself is not sustainable but:

1. Get the hydrogen from the ice
2. Mix it with the CO2 of Mars' wind = carbonic acid
3. Carbonic acid @ room temperature = water

4. The water would fall, like rain, allowing us to use some of it and to add the rest of it back to the wind, repeating the cycle, thus sustainable water.

If you had water from ice why wouldn't you just . . . keep the water?

you are just blowing in the wind, how does carbonic acid =water?