If mars' surface is rust, doesnt that mean it has oxygen?

Question

I was really bored and well i was thinking if mars' surface is rust, then there has to be oxygen on it...but there isnt...

Answer 1

Mars does have oxygen, but its thin atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide. Oxygen is a very small component. Mars even has water in the form of polar ice caps.

Answer 2

Mars has more than twice as much iron oxide in its outer layers as our own, and most planet scientists reckon the two bodies were formed from the same materials.

The intense heat inside the early Earth was enough to convert a lot of iron oxide into molten metallic iron, which seeped down into the planet to form a huge liquid core.Mars never achieved the temperatures needed for this process simply because it is smaller. This left more iron oxide in the upper layers of the planet, which led to its distinctive russet hue and relatively puny iron core.

The Earth is almost twice the diameter of Mars and is ten times more massive. This means that the bottom of the Earth's magma ocean would have been under much more pressure than that on Mars, simply because there was more material pressing down from above.on Earth, the pressure would have raised the magma's temperature to more than 3,000 °C, at which point iron oxide readily converts into metallic iron and dissolved oxygen. The liquid iron would then have sunk downwards through the magma, creating a relatively large core and leaving a paltry 8% iron oxide in the outer mantle,and most importantly forming an Oxygen rich atmosphere. The process was probably complete within the first 30 million years of the planet's life.

But on Mars, the magma ocean would not have reached more than about 2,200 °C. In such an ocean, iron oxide would have been perfectly stable.These conditions would leave behind a solid outer mantle that contains of significant amounts iron oxide. This also explains why the martian core makes up a much smaller fraction of planet mass than the Earth's core does.

Answer 3

well, no... if in fact it is "rust", then that doesn't necessarily mean it has oxygen... it could mean that it HAD oxygen at some time. The oxygen would be in the rust since rust is oxidized iron.
Also just because oxygen was present at sometime doesn't mean there was life present. There are plenty of corrosive and poisonous fluids and gases that even in small quantities would prevent life from forming. The more I find out about Mars, the more I'm convinced that men aren't from Mars and it's not a place I would like to live in.

Answer 4

What we call rust, as got here upon on earth, is Fe2O3. this is not what's got here upon on Mars, the place the crimson compound is Fe2O7. This replaced into not a typical compound till got here upon on Mars, and is now called an excellent oxide of iron. possibly at some distant previous time Mars had unfastened oxygen, yet the way it shaped an excellent oxide is unknown. Your superb source for information on Mars is "A tourist's handbook to Mars" by employing William ok. Hartmann, Ph.D., an astronomer of severe popularity.

Answer 5

The rust is the reason Mars doesn't have any free oxygen. The iron has soaked it all up.

Answer 6

Mars's atmosphere has only 0.13% oxygen. The planet has lots of oxygen, but it's tied up in carbon dioxide, iron oxide, water, etc.. Atmospheric oxygen is very reactive and will not remain as O2 for very long. Our own atmosphere has lots of oxygen only because the plant life keeps it replenished.

Answer 7

Keep this in mind. The most abundant element in Earth's crust is Oxygen. It is in rocks like granite. It is part of sand. Just because the element is present doesn't mean that it would be found in gaseous (breatheable) form.

Answer 8

Iron...

Mars once had an atmosphere (although we don't know what it was like) once upon a time. The red color comes from some sort of iron material.

Answer 9

no it means it used to have oxygen!!! if it did have air i wouldn't be stuck on this planet in 2012 when the biggest comet hits earth and we all are GONNA DIE .♥