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[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

Gil Levin has a new document on the Spherix website: Modern myths of Mars (1.3 Mb PDF).

[Harkeppler]

Some interesting facts about H2O2 can be found here:

http://www.h2o2.com/intro/properties.html

It should be mentioned hat mixtures of water and H2O2 are difficult to handle above 50 % H2O2. They can be stored if they are absolutely free of organics and heavy metal ions. Otherwise they start to decompose quickly, starts boiling under the energy release from 25 % H2O2, and mixtures with more than 60 % H2O2 explode. So, such mixtures are not likely to be found inside cells made up of carbohydrates or proteines. Furthermore, acidic compunds like hydrogen sulfates or free sulfuric acid make H2O2 unstable. Alkaline and Earth alkaline peroxides (salts) are also unstable in a water bearing soil, because the H2O2 is set free quickly.

In World War 2, the german V1 was catapulted from the ramp with 75 % H2O2-water-solutions and a permanganate as catalyst.

It may be said that these fluids are enclosed in cell like structures and not exposed to the hevy metal bearing soil, but it is difficult to explain how that material of the cell walls should be composed not to be oxidized and - at the same time - formed without problems by biochemical reactions. Furthermore, in Earth´s biochemistry, most proteins contains heavy metal ions at their reactive sites because carbon-oxygen-nitrogen-compound alone are not able to give the wide spectrum of catalytic reactions necessary for building op chemical structures. H2O2 would allow only a verry small part of the possibilities.

I would focuse more on: nitrates, chlorates, perchlorates which are more stable than peroxides if a oxidizer is searched. Some years ago there was an idea that irion oxides are able to oxidize and to give similar results like those of the experiments of the Viking Landers.

Possible fluids on Mars could be made up from solutions of soluble hydrogen sulfates, sulfates or chlorides which stay fluid to - 50°C in some cases. Additional sulfuric acid (only a few percent) works also as an anti-freezing additive.

Harkeppler