MSL - SAM and CHEMIN, Discussion of the science/results from these instruments |
MSL - SAM and CHEMIN, Discussion of the science/results from these instruments |
Nov 21 2012, 11:46 AM
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
ADMIN NOTE: Hi All, a new topic for the discussion of the science from the SAM and Chemin instruments.
There has been a very important amendment to Rule 1.3 which is explained here. Please remember Rule 1.3 at all times when discussing matters in this section. |
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Dec 4 2012, 02:24 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 27 Joined: 6-August 12 From: Leeds, Yorkshire, UK Member No.: 6469 |
Not only was 'organic' not precisely defined in yesterday's conference, the word cannot be defined with any scientific precision. Organic originally meant relating to an organism, a living entity. These days, people most often see the word organic on meat & veg in the supermarket. Has anyone ever seen an inorganic cow or cabbage?
Astronomers say there are organic compounds to be found all over the universe, even in the rocks that fall from space onto Earth, Mars and everywhere else, but they don't intend to imply that these originated in an organism. Yesterday's NASA press release defined organic compounds as "carbon-containing chemicals that can be ingredients for life". There is no scientific consensus behind this definition. For some, if a compound includes carbon, it's organic. Others require a C-H bond, but then that excludes common bodily compounds such as urea. As if that weren't confusing enough, astronomers don't call CO2 an organic compound, even though it's unquestionably a carbon-containing chemical that's an essential ingredient for life. To be fair, I thought yesterday's conference did an excellent job explaining that the various compounds detected could have numerous explanations and that only painstaking, patient, scientific method will determine the answer. The co-ordinated, multi-instrument analyses they revealed are a spectacular achievement, but you could sense there was some discomfort and embarrassment on the platform, especially when the press kept returning to that darn word organic. This linguistic inexactitude is the root cause of the wild speculation about "Life on Mars" that springs up just as soon as the word organic is mentioned. The word is functionally useless in any scientific context. Worse yet, it's not even necessary. Among the many things that the MSL team have discovered so far are carbon compounds. They cannot yet say whether these carbon compounds are biotic or abiotic in origin. |
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