Evaluation of the Atmospheric Chemical Entropy Production of Mars

Entropy

Alfonso Delgado-Bonal¹  F. Javier Martín-Torres¹ 

[1] Division of Space Technology, Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 98128 Kiruna, Sweden

关键词: entropy production;    disequilibrium;    life;    non-equilibrium thermodynamics;    Mars;   

DOI  :  10.3390/e17075047

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Thermodynamic disequilibrium is a necessary situation in a system in which complex emergent structures are created and maintained. It is known that most of the chemical disequilibrium, a particular type of thermodynamic disequilibrium, in Earth’s atmosphere is a consequence of life. We have developed a thermochemical model for the Martian atmosphere to analyze the disequilibrium by chemical reactions calculating the entropy production. It follows from the comparison with the Earth atmosphere that the magnitude of the entropy produced by the recombination reaction forming O₃ (O + O₂ + CO₂ ⇌ O₃ + CO₂) in the atmosphere of the Earth is larger than the entropy produced by the dominant set of chemical reactions considered for Mars, as a consequence of the low density and the poor variety of species of the Martian atmosphere. If disequilibrium is needed to create and maintain self-organizing structures in a system, we conclude that the current Martian atmosphere is unable to support large physico-chemical structures, such as those created on Earth.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland