Re: Mars peroxide

>Tell me if I'm wrong here, but if the Martian soil is
>anything like Mojave dirt, then wouldn't it stand to
>reason that the Martian soil would be catalytic to
>H202 and reduce the peroxide in the soil to about nil?
>Wouldn't all that rust act as a catalyst?

    Temperature could be the key. The Martian soil is frigid enough that
catalysis would proceed slowly. Although, over geologic time, even an
infinitesimal rate would reduce the concentration to nil. That's why,
as has been proposed, Mars's unfiltered UV light must be regenerating
it. I have no idea how the details of that reaction work... forming an
energetic substance like H2O2 (if that's what it is) in the presence
of a catalyst that breaks it down must be a dicey proposition.

    Of course, if it falls as snow, then it forms in the atmosphere, away
from potential breaker-downers, and gets chilled before it meets them.