Download Eliana Harrison, Grade 8 Ms. Lawson (teacher) Palos Verdes

Eliana Harrison, Grade 8
Ms. Lawson (teacher)
Palos Verdes Intermediate School
Those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it. This ancient proverb has been
applied to everything from memorizing dates to completing history homework. But what if I
told you the fate of the world depended on it? Enter Mars, a cold, rust colored planet with
seemingly no correlation to Earth. But, there's more to this story than meets the eye. Once, 3.8
billion years ago, Mars was a thriving planet complete with running water and large lakes.
("Water on Mars." Wikipedia.) So, what happened? It all started when Mars' magnetic field
deactivated. Once its magnetic field was out of the way, there was nothing to protect solar
winds from stripping away Mars' atmospheric gasses, leaving Mars unable to sustain the water
on its surface. (Misra, Ria. "We Finally Know What Happened to Water on Mars." Gizmodo.) If
Earth's geomagnetic field were to deactivate, this would spell the end of civilization on Earth,
forever. Scientists aren't exactly sure what caused Mars' magnetic field to deactivate, but they
think it has something to do with the composition of Mars' core. Earth has a flow of liquid iron
around a hotter, solid iron core which conducts electricity to keep our magnetic field in place. If
Mars' core is only molten, this could help explain why it lost its magnetic field. (LaFrance,
Adrienne. "What's Killing Mars?" The Atlantic.) If we established a base on Mars, we could
conduct experiments to find out what kind of core it has, which could help us figure out why its
magnetic field shut down and stop the same fate that awaited Mars from happening to Earth.
A magnetic field is the magnetic effect of electric currents and magnetic
materials.("Magnetic Field." Wikipedia.)Magnetic fields are actually very common among
planets; in fact, all the planets in our solar system [except for Venus] have or have had a
magnetic field at one point. ("Do All the Planets in Our Solar System Have a Magnetic
Field?" Reddit.) If we had a Mars base and explored its magnetic field, or rather, lack thereof,
we could potentially unlock secrets to all planets' magnetic fields! These handy fields serve
many purposes, but their main purpose is to protect the planet from charged space particles,
such as solar winds. When Mars lost its magnetic field, there was nothing standing between it
and harmful solar winds. Solar winds stripped away Mars' atmosphere by giving energy to gas
ions in Mars' upper atmosphere, allowing the gasses to escape Mars' gravitational pull. (Patel,
Neel V. "NASA Confirms Solar Winds Stripped Mars of Its Atmosphere."Inverse.) Without gasses
such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, the atmosphere could no longer support the flow of water
on Mars. The only way to stop something like this from happening to other planets—like Earth-is to maintain a magnetic field around said planet, which is easier said than done.
Scientists don't actually know what caused Mars' magnetic field to deactivate, but a
common theory is that it has to do with Mars' core. Earth's core has a flow of liquid iron around
an even hotter solid iron core which conducts electricity to keep our magnetic field in place. If
Mars' core turns out to be only molten, this could explain why its magnetic field stopped
working. Another theory is that many large meteors struck Mars until its magnetic field was
simply pounded out. (LaFrance, Adrienne. "What's Killing Mars?" The Atlantic.) Of course, the
big question is: could what happened to Mars happen to Earth? In short, yes! A bunch of large
meteors could crash into Earth at any time, pounding out our magnetic field. If, after
research on the Mars base, it turns out Mars does have an entirely molten core, it could mean
that Earth is safe in the core department.
If we established a base on Mars, and learned what Mars' core is composed of, we could
finally learn exactly how Mars went from a wet, lush planet to a cold, dry one. Most
importantly, it would allow us to keep Earth from becoming a desiccated planet like Mars.
Perhaps, we might one day even restore Mars' magnetic field and make it inhabitable. Who
knows? It could all start with a base on Mars and some curiosity.
Works Cited
"Do All the Planets in Our Solar System Have a Magnetic Field like Earth Does? •
/r/askscience." Reddit. N.p., 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
<https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1yehec/do_all_the_planets_in_our_solar_s
ystem_have_a/>.
LaFrance, Adrienne. "What's Killing Mars?" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 6 Oct.
2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. <http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/10/marsmagnetic-field-ocean/409021/>.
"Magnetic Field." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field>.
Misra, Ria. "We Finally Know What Happened to Water on Mars." Gizmodo. N.p., 11 May 2015.
Web. 22 Mar. 2016. <http://gizmodo.com/what-happened-to-the-water-on-mars-blame-thesolar-win-1740834581>.
Patel, Neel V. "NASA Confirms Solar Winds Stripped Mars of Its Atmosphere." Inverse.
N.p., 5 Nov. 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2016. <https://www.inverse.com/article/7857-nasa-confirmssolar-winds-stripped-mars-of-its-atmosphere>.
"Water on Mars." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars>.
"What Does a Magnetic Field Do?" Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo!, 2009. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
<https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20090429181624AAnyf3k>.