How Titan’s ice erodes easily
December 16th, 2009 - 3:12 pm ICT by ANI ( Leave a comment )Washington, December 16 (ANI): A new research has determined that Saturn’s moon Titan’s ice is stronger than most bedrock found on earth, yet it is more brittle, causing it to erode more easily.
San Francisco State University Assistant Professor Leonard Sklar carried out the research.
At the American Geophysical Union fall meeting, Sklar and his team presented new measurements from tests on ice as cold as minus 170 degrees Celcius which demonstrate that ice gets stronger as temperature decreases.
Understanding ice and its resistance to erosion is critical to answering how Titan’s earth-like landscape formed.
Titan has lakes, rivers and dunes, but its bedrock is made of ice as cold as minus 180 degrees Celsius, eroded by rivers of liquid methane.
“Laboratory measurements of ice tensile strength dependence on density and concentration of silicate and polymer impurities at low temperatures,” said Sklar.
“Experimental investigation of the temperature dependence of polycrystalline ice strength and resistance to low-velocity impacts with application to Titan,” he added. (ANI)
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Tags: american geophysical union, assistant professor, bedrock, degrees celcius, erosion, impurities, laboratory measurements, liquid methane, moon titan, polycrystalline ice, polymer, professor leonard, rivers, san francisco state university, saturn, silicate, sklar, temperature dependence, tensile strength, velocity
