Evening star., 1941-01-11
Of Stors, Men +
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.


A desolate land of eternal snow in a
temperature of close to 12O degrees Fahr-
enheit, a land where the air is poi
son gas and where the sun never shines
through the dense clouds of ice crystals
in it's upper atmosphere, is the picture
drawn of the earths nearest neighbor
among the planets-the lovely Venus,
planet of lovers-by DR.. Rupert Wildt
of Princeton University.
DR.. Wildt has just reported his findings
and speculations to the Astrophysical
Journal. His conclusion is that the
atmosphere of the planet may be COM
posed in large part of formaldehyde gas
which, in various solutions, is used
widely as a preservative and disinfect-
ant and in the past few years has ac-
Quired new uses as the basis of scores
of plaStics. His thesis would seem to
dispose effectively of any possibility of
life on Venus in any form similar to
that on earth.
Even more than Mars, Venus has been
an enigma to astronomers. 1t is about
the size of the earth. More than % ,000-
900 miles nearer the sun, it has con-
siderably warmer climate, but is not too
hot to make life impossible. 1t is
little lighter and hence would have
somewhat thinner atmosphere, because
oF ;,oo 70 I,o1l Erl olo
cules from escaping into space.
Until about decade ago it seemed
highly probable to astronomers that the
planet might be the home of life not
vastly different from that on earth
Then came the astounding discovery by
astronomers of the Carnegie Institution
of Washington that there was no de-
tectable free oxygen in the planets at
mosphere, but very strong evidence of
carbon dioXide gas, the constituent of
the earth's atmosphere which is
"breathed" by plants. This would leave
a possibility of plant life were it not
for the fact that vegetation. exposed to
sunlight, splits up the gas and releases
oxygen. Since there was no oxygen on
Venus there hardly could be any plants
Astronomers never can see the sur
face of Venus. The planet is blanketed
constantly with heavy, white clouds, in
contrast to Mars, whose surface features
can be seen easily Clouds in the at
mosphere of the earth are concentra-
tions of water vapor or of ice crystals
formed from it. Spectroscopic studies
showed hardly trace of water vapor in
Venus atmosphere.
First, he points out, the earth has free
oxygen in its tmosphere-astronome
generally agree-because of the enormous
amount of water, in the form of steam,
present at the beginning before the
planet solidified. The intense heat split
this water vapor into oxygen and hydro
gen. When the earth was in a liquid
state great deal of this oxygen COM
bined with other elements in the crust
and became fossilized Some combined
with carbon to become carbon dioxide.
Perhaps all of it would have disappeared
had it not been for the evolution of
plant life, which proceeded to free it
constantly from the carbon dioxide bond.
Presumably there would have been a
similar evolution on Venus, DR.. Wildt
believes, had the original conditions
been the same. The alternative is that
there was very little water vapor in the
planets atmosphere in the beginning.
The little free oxygen that was freed
from the steam by superheating would
have been captured by the rocks of the
cooling surface or by carbon atoms to
form carbon dioxide. Once this is es-
tablished weird effects follow
Mixtures of water vapor and carbon
dioxide under ultraviolet light form FORM
aldehyde. This is a basic substance
in the mechanism of life. 1t is believed
to be one of the first steps in the process
OF photosynthesiS in plants, by which
water and carbon dioxide are synthesized
into sugars and starches which are the
fuel OF animal creation. On earth this
process is nicely balanced Little ultra
violet light comes to the earth's surface
sometimes too little for the health of
human beings. 1t is stopped about 20
miles up by a thin layer of pure oxygen
In the form of ozone. Otherwise every
body would be burned to death by the
ultraviolet rays themselves. Those who
escaped this fate would be poisoned by
the formaldehyde formed in the at
mosphere.
Venus, with very little oxygen, could
not have been protected by this ozone
blanket. Consequently, it's atmosphere
would have been filled with the poison
Gus formaldehyde
Now formaldehyde gas, DR.. Wildt
points out, remains in a stable, gaseous
form only at a temperature of about
ITO degrees Fahrenheit. At lower tenn
peratures its molecules rapidly combine
into white solids-just as does water at
a temperature Of 80 Fahrenheit. Thus.
despite its high temperature, Venus must
be covered with an eternal blanket of
this strange snow and its clouds must
be formaldehyde crystals The planet
must be subjected to terrific hailstorms
of these crystals.