Lakewood High School Mars Project Pd. 1

Introduction: Water on Mars New Old

Big picture question Is there evidence of water or salt on Mars with the potential for life?

Working Hypothesis Hypothesis: If there are patterns of water and areas of salt near the equator in the Northern lowlands then there is potential for life.

Research Question and Hypothesis: Research question: Can we find patterns of water and areas of salt near the equator in the northern lowlands? Hypothesis: If there are patterns of water and areas of salt near the equator in the northerns of lowlands then there is the potential for life.

Background Information of Water on Mars Proof on Mars has shown hydrated salt on slopes that bring condition, also evidence of past water. There is evidence of high levels of salt on Mars.. Curiosity found evidence of sulfate, nitrogen, phosphorus, hydrogen, carbon in Gale Crater, these are some of the key elements on Mars. 3.5 billion years ago there was a massive flooding on Mars. Thin atmosphere. Four known reservoirs of water. With this information, we can make a data collection plan.

Why are we focusing on the Northern Lowlands? ●The Northern Lowlands cover about a third of the surface of the planet. ●The Northern Lowlands is apart of the central part of a large drainage basin that is about two thirds of Mars’s surface for a lot of its history. ●It may have contained a large standing body of water in Mars history. ●Could have been a location of plate tectonic activity in Mars history.

Methods Sample Data Table Location (Latitude Longitude) Water FeaturesChloride weight percentage 6 / Simple Channel0.4 2 / Chaotic Terrain / Streamlined Islands / Chaotic Terrain / Simple Channel / Delta / Chaotic Terrains / 320Streamlined Islands0.4

Data Analysis - Graphs

Cl concentration Cl or potassium chloride is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chloride. This is in salt water oceans and it changes the oceans freezing point because more salt concentration the lower the freezing rate is in the ocean. NaCl or sodium chloride is a salt that is also in oceans to to change the oceans freezing point, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. Both of the salts are in ocean water which helps to find where an ocean can be found on mars, and if there was an ocean on mars, there would be a higher chance to have life. Mars might of had complex life if it had NaCl and Cl salt product in the oceans which would give a life habitat for complex life forms. With many signs of water formation on Mars's surface, there is a good possibility of oceans as well and with water, comes with life.

Methods Control The data collected from jmars is the chloride map for mars, which shows where the salt and water would be. Numeric numbers: Dark purple-Bright purple: 0.2 Light purple-Blue: 0.3 Light blue-Cyan: 0.4 Light green-Green: 0.5 Light yellow-Yellow: 0.6 Orange 0.7 Red: 0.8

Our criteria is to find labeled images to show the features of the water related photos of Mars.

Water Sites 345E, 6 322E, 14

Channeled Scablands Formed by large flood 18,000 to 20,000 years ago Water traveled at 45 miles per hour Similar water features Channeled ScablandsMars (327E, 14N)

Salt Water ordinarily freezes at 0 degrees celsius or 32 degrees fahrenheit, in a system at this temperature the quantity of freezing is the same quantity as melting. Salt takes advantage of the frozen water by placing itself within the frozen water to lower the freezing point. liquids can be supercooled beyond their freezing points so that they don't solidify until well below freezing point. Physical and/or chemical can affect the freezing point of a substance

Conclusions We decided to find out if there are patterns of water and areas of salt in the northern lowlands to see if there is potential life. Our experiment consisted of finding areas on mars with watermarks and finding out how much salt was left behind. In all of the sites we investigated salt was found, we believe that this shows that water sites with salt are not difficult to find on Mars. All the water features we looked at all had chloride concentration greater than 0.3%. An error that could have been made is that it’s chlorine instead of saying it is actual salt. The next step we can do is to research other areas and look for higher concentrations of salt..

References “What Would It Be LIke to Live on Mars?”Space.com. Joseph Castro,17 Feb Web. 18 Mar “Mars Facts: Life, Water and Robots on the Red Planet.” Space.com. Charles Q. Choi,4 Nov Web.18 Mar “Why Does Adding Salt to Water Lower the Freezing Point?”ehow.com. Kyle Turpin. Web. 29 Apr

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