Live From Mars was active July 1996-December 1997.


Challenge Questions

Classroom Responses

>>>>>>>>>>Week #4 Challenge Question RESULTS <<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>>THIS WEEK'S PARTICIPANTS! Blessed Sacrament School, Washington, D.C. Tony King, Grade 5 from Monticello, Wisconsin Owasso Mills Elementaary School -- Mrs. Bereron's Class Mr. Kotoski's Class, Toki Middle School, Madison, WI Mr. Grott's Class, Millbrook, NY Alison Anthony (age 13) Tim McCollum's Class, Charleston Jr. High, Charleston, Illinois Norma Barne's 8th Grade Class, Missouri Pat Cook's 4th Grade Class, Easley, SC Jay Vaillancourt's Grace 6 Science Class, Fall River, MA George Zack's 6-7-8 Science Classes, Black Hawk, Colorado Charlotte Steven's 8th Graders, Alpharetta, Georgia Mike Reynold's 7th Graders, Cranbrook Kingswood MS Edward Beidas Proviso East HS Seniors. Illinois Darlene Taylor's MESA Class -- Dixon Middle School, Provo, Utah Andy Hockstetler, Community College Student, Phoenix, Arizona Eric Lavak-Dahl and Adam Hirsch, Ages 10-11. Mark Hines' students, Hawaii Thabet Peter Al Fishawi, Egypt Jack Kriss' 6th Graders, Columbine Middle School, Montrose, Colorado Janet Cook's Students from Colorado's Finest Alternative HS, Denver, Colorado Steve Larson. Life Long Learner (Yea!) Age 33 Amateur Astronomer Anna Wetherington, Grade 5, Monticello Schools, Monticello, Wisconsin >>>>>>THE ****BEST ANSWERS***** BY GRADE LEVEL: (THESE STUDENTS WILL RECEIVE A RECOGNITION AWARD CERTIFICATE AND TOKEN PRIZE!) Many students gave correct answers -- all those with correct answers were put into a drawing and one name/group per grade level won! All participants are recognized for their effort and creative thinking! Elementary School: Justin B. in Pat Cook's 4th Grade Class Middle School: Mr. Grott's 6th Grade Class, Millbrook, NY High School: Josh Venters -- 12th Grade, George Zack >>>>>>STUDENT'S/OTHERS ANSWERS TO CQ#4 Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question #4 A person standing wouldn't be blown over by the winds because of a number of things. First, the Mars atmosphere is very thin. So the air with the sand would sift right past you. Also, Mars clouds are located higher than Earth's, so most of the high winds would be up there. Danny Ross Chris Hayes Maureen Andary Julie Finelli ------------------------- Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question You would not get blown over because the force of Mars gravity is very weak leaving the dust storm high into the atmosphere. The dust storm will not be powerful because it will not be able to collect more particles to build up its force when high in the Atmosphere. The winds would be stronger but it would not be effective to the ground by the weak pull of the gravity. ------------------------- Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question You would probably wouldn't be blown over if you stood on the surface of Mars at this time because the atmosphere is a lot thinner on Mars than on Earth. This means that the wind wouldn't have the force that it has on Earth. Also the surface pressure on Mars is a lot smaller than the surface pressure on Earth. Ginny Garayta Jason Leshner Logan Rainard Laura Hur ------------------------ Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question 4 We think the giant dust storms that take place on Mars would not blow us down if we were on the surface of Mars during one of them because we think the storms occur high in the martian atmosphere. Therefore, the winds would be blowing high across the martain sky and would not affect us very much. Since Mars has only 38% of the gravity on Earth, the atmosphere is farther from the surface of Mars than the atmosphere of Earth is from Earth's surface so, the winds of the storms could be visible to a satellite but could be high in the martain atmosphere. by Nicky Kessides Brian Wood Mike Martell and Elizabeth Wilson team #3 at blessed Sacrament School Washington D.C ----------------------- Challenge#4 To: jwee@mail.arc.nasa.gov There is less gravity than you weigh so it won't blow you away. Tony King Monticello, Wisconsin stmont01@llwisc.wecb.org ------------------------ OMills@Busprod.Com (Owasso Mills Elementary School) Subject: challenge question challenge question #4 You wouldn't get knocked down because Mars has less atmosphere and less gravity than Earth. Mrs. Bergeron's class --------------------------- jkotoski@madison.k12.wi.us (Unverified) From: Students of James Kotoski Subject: Challenge Question 4 >From Courtney Galle I think that the Grand Canyon is more pleasing to the eye, because the Grand Canyon has living plants and animals and from what we know so far there are no living creatures or plant life on Mars. Sincerely, Courtney Galle ----------------------------- Challenge Question #4 Return-Receipt-To: You would not be blown over because the atmosphere on Mars is thinner. Due to the thinner atmosphere there are fewer molecules per cubic measure. Since there are fewer molecules, you would offer less resistance. On Earth, because there are more molecules per cubic measure, you would offer more resistance! Mr.Grott's Class Alden Place Elementary School Millbrook, New York 12545 ----------------------------- Jeanne Anthony Subject: Challenge Question #4 The reason that you would never get blown over if you were to stand on Mars at the time of a "dust storm" is that the "blanket" of dust that covers Mars is not lying directly on Mars. The dust that can cover Mars is above the ground and the wind that blows the dust storm is above the dust. The "blanket" of dust is like clouds to us on the planet Earth. Answered from an 8th grader determined to be the first person and woman on Mars, Alison Anthony (age 13) ---------------------------- cxtdm@eiu.edu (Tim McCollum) Subject: CHALLENGE QUESTION #4 Here are some suggested answers for Challenge Question #4 from a few of my students: The atmosphere isn't as dense on Mars as on Earth - Rebekah Martone The gravity is too low - Mike Doty The dust is too light - Eric Hall, Christi Oliver The winds would be too high above the surface - Jeff Belles The winds would support you from all directions - Christina Bushling Like a hurricane, it would be calm at the center - Carlye Owens .............................................................................. Tim McCollum Charleston Jr. High School ---------------------------- "Norma L. Barnes" Subject: Re: CHALLENGE QUESTION Challenge Question No. 4 Answer from seventh grade students: On Mars the air is thinner and less dense than it is on Earth. So intense winds on Mars are not as destructive as they are here on Earth. Answer from eight grade students: Air is more dense on Earth than it is on Mars, so when the wind is blowing 100 miles per hour on Mars, it isn't as forceful as it is on Earth. Norma L. Barnes nbarnes@mail.orion.org ----------------------------- SixCooks@aol.com Subject: Challenge question answers Fourth graders' answers: Forest Acres Elem. Easley, SC 29642 Dustin Evatt: There is less gravity on Mars than Earth so since we're used to the wind here, it wouldn't seem as strong on Mars. Justin B: The wind wouldn't feel as strong because the atmosphere is thinner and you also have less weight on Mars. Pat Cook's Class. ---------------------------------- ess@ici.net Subject: Challenge Question Below please find answers to the challenge question dealing with "WIND STORMS" on Mars. All answers's from: Jay Vaillancourt's Grade 6 Science CLass Espirito Santo School 143 Everett Street Fall River, MA 02723 Jeremy Maturi -Because Mars has no gravity to pull us down on the planet. Eric Brogan -Beacuse the sand on Mars is like "quicksand" pulling the person in the sand therefore he/she can not be blown down. Jason Martin -The atmosphere on Mars is thinner, so the dust storm would not occur at the surface of the planet, rather higher in the atmosphere. Brian Hudon -The person would be wearing a space suit therefore he would weigh too much and would not be blown down. --------------------------------------- gilpin1@rmii.com Organization: Gilpin County School RE-1 Subject: Being able to stand on the surface of Mars during wind storms. The Air Pressure on Earth is somewhere around 14.7lbs per sq.inch. On Mars this number would be considerably less; therefore making it possible to stand on the surface and not be blown over by 100-mph winds. The wind on Mars wouldn't have as many molecules as on Earth and wouldn't be able to cause as much damage as the molecules do on Earth. This is why you can stand on Mars during a 100-mph wind storm. I was told that I need to include the following information: Josh Venters Gilpin County School Black Hawk, Colorado 12th Grade Chemistry Instructor: George Zack and also: zack@indra.com (George Zack) Subject: CHALLENGE QUESTION #4 The atmosphere of Mars which is carbon dioxide (95%), nitrogen (3 percent) and other gases (2 percent) provides only 1 percent of the ground pressure of Earth's air. The atmosphere is very thin. The atmosphere of Mars has atoms that are spread farther apart than the atoms in the atmosphere of Earth. The air pressure on Mars is thus 1 percent that of the Earth. The atoms of air that hit do not have as much weight and therefore do not have as much force when they hit you. In fact the wind force that you feel on Mars is only 1 percent that you would feel on Earth. Gilpin County Middle School, Grades 6, 7, 8 George Zack Gilpin County School District RE-1 MS/HS Science Educator --------------------------------------- Charlotte Stevens Subject: Challenge Question To: jwee@mail.arc.nasa.gov Jan, Here are my original student responses to the question about the dust storms on Mars: from Billy: Since there are not many geographical features it would be hard. The very few that there are would not slow the wind down much. So it must be the amount of gravity on the planet that keeps you from being blown away. Maybe there is so little gravity that the wind doesn't necessarily stay on the surface. Therefore, the winds would be in the skies and you couldn't get blown away. Vera, AC, Cheryl & Courtney all agree that the dust storms are above the surface: "You wouldn't be blown away because the strong powerful winds are very high in the atmosphere like the jet streams on Earth. Dust is kicked up by milder ground level winds that carry dust in the sky and produce strong dust storms." Wes C. & Stacey have a pretty clever answer: "Mars's atmosphere is thinner than Earth's. Since Earth's atmosphere is thick, when the wind blows you can definitely feel it....The air on Mars is thin and has not enough mass to pick up large objects. The thin air moving around would only have enough force and thickness to pick up dust and small pebbles - large objects would be unaffected by the wind." But the vast majority of my students believed the key was gravity: "You probably would not be blown over because there is very little gravity and you would not fall over since you could jump and it would pull you down very little...high winds on Earth would knock you down, because gravity holds your feet so strongly that the winds would knock over the rest of your body. Mars has less gravity than Earth. On Mars, gravity doesn't hold your feet down as strong." Charlotte Stevens 8th grade teacher Taylor Road Middle School Alpharetta, Georgia USA ------------------------------------------------ Mike_Reynolds_at_CEC001-FA@cc.cranbrook.edu IF YOU WERE STANDING ON MARS, IN THE MIDDLE OF A HURRICANE, YOU WOULD NOT GET KNOCKED OVER FOR A FEW REASONS. ONE BECAUSE THE SURFACE PRESSURE ON MARS AVERAGES 1/100TH OF THAT ON EARTH. ALSO THAT THE ATMOSPHERE IS MADE UP OF MAINLY CARBON DIOXIDE WHICH TAKES UP 95.3% OF ATMOSPHERE AND NITROGEN AND OXYGEN WHICH TAKE UP 99% OF THE ATMOSPHERE OF EARTH. THE KEY IS THAT OXYGEN (1.429) AND NITROGEN (1.250) WHEN PUT TOGETHER (2.679) ARE DENSER THAN CARBON DIOXIDE (1.977). THIS IS WHY THE WINDS ON MARS WILL NOT KNOCK YOU OFF YOUR FEET DURING A HURRICANE. Response sent in by Jerry Trammell and George Bibbs Cranbrook Kingswood M.S. 7th grade ------------------------------------------- Edward Beidas Subject: CHALLENGE QUESTION #4 When Mars is rotating at a set speed, and winds are blowing at the martian surface while you are standing on Mars, the speed of the wind might seem to be going one thousand miles per hour. It would seem so if you were measuring the wind speed from Earth or another point of reference other than Mars. If Mars was rotating at 985 m.p.h., and the winds on the surface were blowing at 15 m.p.h., then, from outer space the wind speed would seem to be going at 1000 m.p.h. -From Proviso East H.S. seniors -------------------------------------------- Darlene Taylor Subject: Challenge Question #4 This is from my MESA class at Dixon Middle School in Provo, Utah: Because Mars's atmosphere is somewhere between 1/100 to 1/150 of Earth's atmosphere there is very little air pressure. There are not many molecules in the atmosphere and therefore when the wind blows there is very little to blow against you. When the wind blows on Mars there are not many molecules hitting you and you are not blown over. -------------------------------------------- Andy Hochstetler Subject: CHALLENGE QUESTION Answer: The Martian atmosphere is much thinner than Earth's atmosphere (about .6% I believe). Because wind is simply a movement of the atmosphere in relation to the ground, the force of the Martian wind would have only .6% of the force of Earth wind with equal velocity. Note: ANDY attends Community College and is PARTICIPATING FOR FUN! YEA!! ---------------------------------------------- berk6@pop.sirius.com From: berk6@pop.sirius.com (Lee Tempkin) Subject: Windstorm on Mars Our answer is: The windstorm is above the surface of Mars, so high that you are not affected by the winds. It is literally "over your head." Eric Livak-Dahl & Adam Hirsch. ---------------------------------- mhines@aloha.com To: Guy Watanabe Subject: Re: challenge question #4 Answer to challenge question #4 Mars has a very thin atmosphere. There are only trace amounts of the elements that make up our atmosphere. There is simply not enough matter to affect an object with a person's mass, even when the winds are blowing at hundreds of miles and hour. The incredibly low density of atmosphere can also account for the extreme wind speeds as it takes very little in the way of applied forces to move that small amount of particles. ------------------------------------ Thabet Peter Al Fishawi Subject: CHALLENGE QUESTION Dear Jan About Question # 4 , Since the pressure of MARS atmosphere is only 0.6% of that of the Earth so if you stood in a storm at Mars of winds of speed let's say 200 mph, the actual pressure on your body will be 3.3 mph so you won't be blown away while on Earth at that speed you would unfortunately travel to Mars by wind force !! Thabet (Cairo, Egypt) ---------------------------------------- From: jkriss@frontier.net (Jack Kriss) Subject: Challenge question #4 jkriss@frontier.net (Jack Kriss) Subject: Re: Challenge question #4 We are a 6th grade class from Columbine Middle School located in Montrose, Colorado. Daniel Bradford and Garry Riley: The gravity and force on Mars Rachel Boddy and Danielle DeVinney: The gravity will cause the wind to blow over your head. Melissa Hukriede and Celeste Ratliff: The wind blows from the ground up Andrew McClean and Cody Dutiel: The percentage of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere blocks wind. Chris Hall : Less Oxygen means dust blows but you can't feel the wind. Ken Howe and Chris Hartley- Winds on MARS are above your head and would only move lighter objects. Tyrel Lasley and Scott Svenson - Your weight and the gravitational pull of Mars would keep the wind from knocking you down. Brenna Surdahl and Margie Warren - Due to the size of Mars the wind will blow over your head and not knock you down. Cassie Brown and Danielle Middleton - The lack of gravity on Mars would cause the wind to just push you across the surface without knocking you down. Jamie Schwab and Erin Rehm - Winds pick up outside the surface and collect dust. The wind is not close to the surface of Mars because there is no ozone layer. Katie Twehouse and Anna White - The wind would try to pick up objects that are lighter than a person. Julie Perfors and Lyndsey Kenton - The winds blow in many directions, one would push you the other would pull you keeping you stationary. Tyler White and Lance Pfister - The wind does not blow near to the ground. ------------------------------- Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question #4 Devin Delany(14) Teddy Rykowski(13) Tara Quinn(13) Andrew Latimer(13) Blessed Sacrament School Although winds on Mars sometimes reach over 200 mph, they would not blow you over because the wind is thinner due to the thin atmosphere and the thin wind would not have as much of an effect on you as the wind on the Earth. ----------------------------------- Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question #4 Challenge Question #4 You would not be blown over because of the atmospheric pressure. The atmosphere on Mars is very, very thin so the 100 m.p.h. wind would be cut drastically down to a medium breeze. Robert Cooper(14), Joe Reilly(13), Jonathan Moss(13), Lydia Calio(13) Blessed Sacrament School --------------------------------------- Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question #4 You would not be blown over because of the density of the atmosphere. A force of 100 mph, on Earth would not be as strong as on Mars. It would be only about 20-25 mph on Mars. Since the air is thinner, the wind can travel farther, but when it hits something, the force at which the object is hit, is less. Christina Pearson (13) Blessed Sacrament School Julie Burke (13) Blessed Sacrament School Chris Donohue (14) Blessed Sacrament School Jamie Strahota (13) Blessed Sacrament School --------------------------------------- Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question #4 Jodi Paci (13) Portia Mills (13) Robert Yator (14) If you stood on the surface of Mars during a dust storm you would not be blown away because of the atmospheric pressure. The pressure is much less on Mars so the winds would not seem as strong, therefore not having enough force to knock you over. ---------------------------------------- Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question#4 You would not be blown over on Mars because the atmosphere on Mars is much thinner than on Earth. Therefore, if there were 100 m.p.h. winds on Earth it would be twenty m.p.h. winds on Mars. Kelly Nealon Kate Hardy Ben Tansey Siri Masterson ------------------------------------ Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question #4 The reason why the dust storms would not have blown you over because even though the dust storms go hundreds of miles, they are not strong enough to blow you over. Your weight anchors you to the ground so the wind can't blow you over. Blessed Sacrament School 8th Grade Jackie Muller (13), Maria Kostyk(14), Jonathan Budoo(13), Alex Borosage(14) ---------------------------------- Blessed Sacrament School Subject: Challenge Question # 4 John Schlegel (13) Julia Ehrgood (13) Mac Armelin (14) Blessed Sacrament School If we were to stand on the surface of Mars during a 100 MPH dust storm we would not fall over because of atmospheric pressure. A 100-MPH on Earth would be much less on Mars. Lesser atmospheric pressure is the main factor in the answer. -------------------------------- wecooks@ix.netcom.com (Janet K. and James R. Cook) Subject: Challenge Question Week 4 Answer Nate Davies 18 yr old 12th grade Colorado's Finest Alternative High School Mars's atmosphere is 1/100th as dense as Earth's. So, if we took a cubic foot of Mars's air and the same amount of Earth's, Earth's would be much heavier. Because of this difference, a 100-mph wind on Mars would give less push on objects. Dust would be picked up, but heavier objects, such as people, would be left alone. --------------------------------------- CHALLENGE QUESTION From: Stephen.Larsen@dbsoftware.com (Stephen Larsen) The reason one can withstand the winds on Mars is due to the very low atmospheric pressure. I believe the pressure on Mars is 1% (guessing from memory) of that on Earth. Therefore, 100-mph winds would feel more like a breeze than like a hurricane. Steve -------------------------------------- stmont01@llwisc.wecb.org (classroom account) Subject: Challenge #4 CHALLENGE QUESTION # 4 Because Mars is smaller and has less gravity there would be less of a chance that you could get knocked over. But if you were on Earth there would be more of a chance that you would get knocked over. Anna Wetherington Grade 5 Monticello Schools Monticello, WI 53570 stmont01@llwisc.wecb.org ---------------------------------------------