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Mass spectrometry data from the Rosetta spacecraft show that 3.8% of the gas emitted by Comet 67P is molecular oxygen, O2. The result is surprising, because oxygen readily combines with other elements. A likely explanation for the presence of free oxygen is that the material comprising the comet never went through an episode of high temperatures.
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Remember Darwin; building a better mousetrap merely results in smarter mice.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Covalent on Sunday November 01 2015, @03:29AM
I kid, I kid...
This goes to show how reaction rates get REALLY slow at low temperature. The frozen ices inside of this comet probably spend most of their time in the single Kelvin digit temperature range. At that temperature, you could store oxygen and sodium in physical contact with one another for eons without them reacting. If you tried that at room temperature you'd lose a hand. The rule of thumb is that reaction rate doubles about every 10 degrees Celsius. So cut the reaction rate in half about 30 times and you get...well, you get zero to a first order approximation.
This is exciting news, though: Comets might be a good source of free oxidizer AND free fuel for future space missions.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 1) by dak664 on Sunday November 01 2015, @05:38PM
The 10 Kelvin doubling is usual for typical chemical reactions (activation energies around 50kJ/mol) at room temperature ~300K, because of the change in the rate factor exp(-Ea/RT). At low temperatures, and particularly in rarefied atmospheres, entropy probably drives the distribution of final products. Just because a compound is stable(reactive) at room temperature does not mean it is the stable(reactive) at low temperatures.