Evening star., 1939-07-16
BY r. S. RICHARDSON,

BY r. S. RICHARDSON.
PASADENA, Calf, July IS (N.A.
N.A0.-Life upon the earth might
end in many ways.
Usually we picture it as some giant |
cataclysm that strikes us in flash:
Collision with another world-suf-
location from the fumes of comet
"a solar explosion that engulfs the
earth in huge flames.
But actual observations show that |
these events occur very rarely. The
probability of a collision with some |
other body is exceedingly small. In
1910, the earth passed through the |
tail of Halley's comet and no one
complained of i'll effects. Occasional
ly it is believed star may really |
explode. Out of the millions astron-
omers can photograph, perhaps Is
q year flash up and then fade rap
idly away again, as if they had un-
dergone some enormous upheaval.
1t is much more likely that death,
when it comes, will creep over the
earth so slowly and stealthily we
will scarcely be aware of its pres
ence. And it will probably be from
some apparently innocent process
that has been going on around us
for millions Of years, steadily grow
ing in power, until suddenly we find
1t holds our planet in an iron grip.
What are some of these processes
that might conceivably destroy us?
Looking 100000 miles across
space at Mars tonight we can see
how death came to one planet, and
how it may COME to us in the far
distant future.
Oxidation.
The most striking feature about
Mars is its color-a flaming red.
Even small telescope will reveal
its source. Over so per cent of the
surface is a barren ochre- -colored
desert. We have similar deserts on
the earth in the golden sands of
the Sahara and the painted desert
Of Arizona. But whereas here des-
erts are the exception on Mars they
are nearly universal. We might
wander for months over Mars and
see nothing but this fiat, monoton-
Gus, red desert country.
Now how could the soil of Mars
have acquired this reddish tinge?
One Of the commonest processes we
know of is that of rusting-oxida-
ton as the chemists call it. We must
continually be on guard against it.
Iron left exposed for a few days
becomes covered with thin brown
ish film of rust. If unprotected
long enough it will finally crumble
away entirely. What was before a
bright, shining piece Of metal has
turned into a heap of worthless
brown flakes. The iron is still there
it cannot be destroyed-but 1t has
combined with the oxygen in the
air to form an entirely new kind of
substance known as rust.
Now the really dangerous thing
about rusting is not that the iron
has been lost, as might be supposed,
but the fact that tiny quantity of
the life-giving gas oxygen has been
removed f ON the atmosphere.
Oxygen Continually Going.
Not until We think of rusting from
this standpoint do we begin to
realize its danger. For the oxygen
Of the air is continually combining
with the rocks and soil, rapidly if
moisture Is present, very slowly in
dry air. Gradually they crumble
away under this corroding process.
But once the oxygen is locked in
the soil it is gone forever as the gas
we breathe, for it can only be re-
leased by artificial chemical reac-
tons that seldom occur in nature.
The geophysicist, Goldschmidt,
estimates that already there is as
much oxygen in the rocks of the
earth as there is in the atmosphere,
and the amount may even be twice
as great. Thus the very ground we
walk upon is slowly but surely
robbing the air of it's most precious
element and boarding it away where
1t is forever safe from release.
The soil Of Mars is reddish
brown-the color of rust. The
smooth deserts show every indica-
ton of having been extensively
oxidized over an immense period of
time. Astronomers have repeatedly
searched in vain for a trace of
oxygen In the air of Mars. But after
applying the most delicate tests
known, the most they can say is
that there cannot be more than one
thousandth as much oxygen in the
atmosphere of Mars as there is in
our own.
Man Would Die on Mars.
An earth-man on Mars would i'm
mediately suffocate from lack of
oxygen, although there would be
"air" all around him-but not the
kind his lungs need in order to main
tain life. He would pant desperately
for more air-f1ll his lungs with it
but in a few seconds he would be
as dead as fish out of water.
Mars is probably much older than
the earth, so that sufficient time
has passed for this slow drainage of
oxygen from the atmosphere to go
to completion. Ages must elapse be-
fore the earth's atmosphere will be
ACuuSCu W Vic SUdtC.
Whether We could adapt ourselves
to radically diminished supply of
oxygen is a question. If not, life
might still be carried on under high
~ artificial conditions. Oxygen can
be obtained in several ways, for ex-
ample, by decomposing water with
q current of electricity, but to do so
economically it should be performed
in an inclosed place. Thus the peo-
pie of the future may be compelled
to live in air-conditioned cities, with
power plants to generate oxygen and
remove the carbon dioXide gas we
breathe from our lungs. One would
not dare venture outside the city
walls unless equipped with gas mask
and oxygen tank.
Peering far ahead, we can see the