The planet Mars, located in the solar system, has often been associated with blood and negativity in the mythologies and beliefs of communities that have lived in history due to its red color. So much so that another name of Ares, the god of war, who has an important place in Greek mythology, is Mars. In addition, the names of Phobos and Deimos, the satellites of Mars, are also derived from the names of the children of the god of war Ares (Mars). With its rusty color, Mars looks different from the stars, planets and other celestial bodies in space. This makes it more remarkable. It has also been a celestial body that has been included in the belief system of communities and cultures and attributed sacredness.
Why is the Planet Mars Red?
In fact, the reason for the reddish color of Mars and the reddish color of rust and blood in our bodies are largely the same. The reason is that all these 3 substances contain iron element is the presence of iron. When iron interacts with the element oxygen, which helps us to breathe, over time iron oxide compound and as a result of the formation of this compound, iron-containing areas turn a reddish color. This chemical reaction is called oxidation.
Iron oxide absorbs more of the blue and green wavelengths of visible light and eventually emits wavelengths into the environment, which are usually reddish in color, and eventually the human eye is able to perceive the red tones, so the planet appears to us as red.
Why Does Mars Have So Much Iron Oxide?
Another issue to ponder at this point is why there is so much iron in the Martian surface.
Before Mars formed, it was just a cluster of gas and dust, just like the Earth and other planets. Later, due to the bending of space-time caused by the mass of this cluster, the Martian cloud collapsed into a common point, forming its core and other planetary parts, as on Earth.
Unlike on Earth, however, much more iron remains on the Earth's surface. Unlike Mars, the iron element on Earth has collapsed towards the Earth's core instead of the surface. According to scientists, because Mars is less massive and the gravitational pull it exerts on its surroundings is naturally lower in direct proportion to the collapse of this mass, the majority of the iron element did not travel all the way to its core, as it did on Earth, leading to an excess of a certain amount on the Earth's surface and in other planetary regions such as the mantle.
Where Does Oxygen Come From to Oxidize Iron on Mars?
But our questions do not end there. Another important question is how the iron element in the Martian surface is subjected to so much oxidation. Unfortunately, today there is no definitive answer as to how and why this happened, but several hypotheses have been put forward and are under discussion. To discuss them in bullet points:
- The oxidation reaction caused by the interaction of the iron element with the pre-existing water compound on Mars and the resulting iron oxide compound,
- During the hurricane-like dust storms that occur, the quartz crystals in the regoliths on the Martian rocks break down, releasing the excess oxygen content, and as a result, an oxidation reaction occurs on the surface as a result of the reaction of iron and oxygen elements,
- The sun's rays break down certain compounds in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, to produce various oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide and ozone, which oxidize the element iron.
Conclusion
When scientific experiments cover long time scales, and especially when these experiments and researches are carried out on an extraterrestrial planet, it is unfortunately very difficult to reach a "definitive" conclusion. For this reason, learning how the iron element on the surface of Mars is exposed to oxidation interactions may unfortunately require long periods of time for us on Earth, in parallel with the long time frame involved in the subject.
Brief information about Mars:
- Mars is the 4th farthest planet from the Sun with a distance of 224,943,602 km.
- With a diameter of 6792 kilometers, it is the second smallest planet in the Solar System.
- It is also quite round compared to many other planets. The planet has a polar diameter of 6752 km and an equatorial diameter of 6792 km. There is a difference of only 40 km between the diameter of the pole and the equator.
- Gravity on Mars has a strength of only 37 percent of Earth's gravity.
- The surface temperature is between 20 and -130 ºC depending on the Sun.
- Mars completes one orbit of the Sun in exactly 687 Earth days.
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