Surface Chemistry of Titan |
Surface Chemistry of Titan |
Mar 6 2007, 07:14 PM
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
The bulk of the liquid in the lakes on Titan is going to be a methane/ethane combination, but a lot of polymeric organic material is going to have been washed in from the terrain, as well as blown in from the dunes. (The lakes would be a dune trap). That means ice-silt and tholin-coated ice silt.
The higher-order organic polymers may act as a surfactant to coat the ice particles. I would hazard that the hydrophilic functionalities of the polymer subunits would side with the ice particle surface and the hydrophobic parts of the polymer would face the methane solvent. This would allow some really gnarly emulsions to set up. A cross-section of a lake on Titan would look like a classic "nightmare extraction" sitting in a sep funnel in an organic chemistry laboratory. There would be a foamy goo or scum component floating on the surface, the methane/ethane layer as solvent possibly with low density organic shmeggums floating about, then a denser loose gelatinous organic polymer/solvent component full of organic yukkies (please excuse the med chem. technical jargon), then a more dense portion of organic polymer/organic solvent/water emulsion, and finally a water-ice silt bottom. Water (ice) and organics are immiscible. But hexanes and acetonitrile (CH3CN) are also immiscible. By analogy, methane should also be immiscible with CH3CN (which would be a solid at Titan’s temperature, but a lower density component than ice). This should make for yet another fun emulsion possibility. [I’ve seen waaaaay too many ugly emulsions in sep funnels with “simple” organic components.] With the complex organic chemistry at Titan, there is a very real possiblitiy of multiple layers of emulsions combined with an organic scum layer at the surface. I’m not sure how any of this would affect specular reflections or even radar penetration. The surface would not look like the pretty foam of a bubble batch but more like the curd on overcooked pea soup.. Would certain layers reflect radar better than others? Can you get specular reflection when there are bubbles or “floaters” on the surface? What if the “floaters” are soft low density organics? How do organic emulsion blobs reflect radar? The patterns we are seeing in the lower parts of the lakes may be channels in the goopy lower emulsion layers (think of the orange crud at the bottom of scummy ponds). I could imagine a scenario when higher density organic goo flows into the lakes and carves a path through the less dense emulsion. The real “bottoms” of the lakes may lie under meters of organic emulsion. Lakes on Titan may resemble more of an open pit hazmat toxic waste dump (although I still like to think of it as “a pristine prebiotic environment”). -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Apr 2 2007, 05:26 PM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Okay, brief moment of inspiration for Stu's use:
The Whole Ball of Wax Crunching beneath my boots, I stand On uncertain territory Organically slippery under my feet But I must stand, and see and be here now be here always... Wide lake of viscious, oily composition Stretches to meet the sepia sullen sky No docks, no ports, just cliffs but I long to dip a line and see what might bite my hook The cold soaks my fingers, numbs my toes as I see farther horizons beyond the gloom reluctant to return to safety and warmth just yet This ochre world of wax and bitter chemicals holds me, but I am an alien to this vista so like home but so different I must throw a rock made not of stone but of ice sidearm, to skip across the water that is not turning up my external microphone to hear the warped splashes echo of childhood over my own breathing I am a child here too, with much to learn But yet My place, my dreams are here and my world is this as the centuries progress, all will be familiar as summer sunshine and winter darkness at a place far behind me at this shore, as my great-great grandchildren frolic in the orange haze of their home -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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