Titan methane

Methane forms looser bonds than water, so its Y shape is farther south. For methane, Titan hes east of the fork, on the island of the map that imphes methane oceans and weather cycles. Venus, Earth, and Mars are all well north of methane s freezing line, so there is no possibihty of methane oceans this close to the sun. 

Reduction of sulfur dioxide by methane is the basis of an Allied process for converting by-product sulfur dioxide to sulfur (232). The reaction is carried out in the gas phase over a catalyst. Reduction of sulfur dioxide to sulfur by carbon in the form of coal has been developed as the Resox process (233). The reduction, which is conducted at 550—800°C, appears to be promoted by the simultaneous reaction of the coal with steam. The reduction of sulfur dioxide by carbon monoxide tends to give carbonyl sulfide [463-58-1] rather than sulfur over cobalt molybdate, but special catalysts, eg, lanthanum titanate, have the abiUty to direct the reaction toward producing sulfur (234). 

Photolysis of Cp2TiAr2 in benzene solution yields titanocene and a variety of aryl products derived both intra- and intermolecularly (293—297). Dimethyl titan ocene photolyzed in hydrocarbons yields methane, but the hydrogen is derived from the other methyl group and from the cyclopentadienyl rings, as demonstrated by deuteration. Photolysis in the presence of diphenylacetylene yields the dimeric titanocycle (28) and a titanomethylation product [65090-11-1]. 

C12-0053. Titan, one of the moons of Jupiter, appears to have oceans composed of liquid methane. Describe how this liquid differs from liquid water, and predict whether methane-based life forms are likely. 

Ogata, A., Mizuno, K., Kushiyama, S. and Yamamoto, T. (1998) Methane Decomposition in a Barium Titanate Packed-Bed Nonthermal Plasma Reactor, Plasma Chem. Plasma Process 18, 363-73. 

Studies carried out on Earth, for example, by the NASA infrared telescope on Mauna Kea (Hawaii), showed albedo variations which indicated the presence of holes in the Titanian cloud formations (Griffith, 1993). It is, however, still unclear as to whether these inhomogeneities result from differences in the surface composition. Lorenz et al. (1997) reported large variations in Titan s atmosphere due to photochemical processes. The methane contained in the dense nitrogen atmosphere is decomposed by solar and thermal radiation, and its content may be replenished from methane lakes or from clathrates. 

Several laboratories, including that of F. Raulin in Paris (Coll et al., 1998) and of J. Ferris in the USA (Clarke and Ferris, 1997) have carried out experiments on simulated Titan atmospheres these indicate that methane and nitrogen can exist side by side (Table 3.1). 

While the presence of methane indicates a reducing atmosphere, that of nitrogen fits better into a (weakly) oxidising environment. It is believed that the present composition of Titan s atmosphere is the result of chemical or radiation-induced reactions. 

The photochemistry of Titan s atmosphere can be summarized as follows the unsaturated compounds are formed from HCN and C2H2, which is derived from CH4. Methane decomposition leads to further ethane formation. 

G. Mitri and co-workers calculated the minimum area of hydrocarbon lakes which would be necessary to preserve the relative methane humidity in the lower regions of the atmosphere. The result was surprising the calculations indicated that only between 0.002 and 0.2% of the total surface area of Titan would be required (Mitri et al., 2007). 

Chemistry within the body is approximately five times faster than in a test tube at room temperature. The reverse is true, of course, with chemical reactions in liquid methane at 100 K some 1.2 x 1035 times slower than at 298 K. Neutral chemical reactions remain slow in solution at 100 K if they have a significant activation barrier. As with the ISM, chemistry involving breaking of chemical bonds is frozen out at 100 K and has direct implications for chemistry on the surface of Titan, for example. 

The reflection spectrum of the atmosphere is a measure of the albedo of the planet (Figure 10.4) and, despite the strong methane absorption in the red, Titan s disc looks orange principally due to scatter from the surface of dense methane-hydrocarbon clouds. Scatter from aerosol particles within the thick clouds obscures the surface of the moon although the radar analysis reveals considerable Chapman layer structure within the atmosphere and some interesting surface features. 

The next most likely possibility is cometary delivery of the atmosphere but again there are some problems with the isotope ratios, this time with D/H. The cometary D/H ratios measured in methane from Halley are 31 3 x 10-5 and 29 10 x 10-5 in Hayuatake and 33 8 x 10-5 in Hale-Bopp, whereas methane measurements from Earth of the Titan atmosphere suggest a methane D/H ratio of 10 5 x 10-5, which is considerably smaller than the ratio in the comets. The methane at least in Titan s atmosphere is not exclusively from cometary sources. Degassing of the rocks from which Titan was formed could be a useful source of methane, especially as the subnebula temperature around Saturn (100 K) is somewhat cooler than that around Jupiter. This would allow volatiles to be more easily trapped on Titan and contribute to the formation of a denser atmosphere. This mechanism would, however, apply to all of Saturn s moons equally and this is not the case. 

The volatile-trapping mechanism has a further problem associated with the temperature. Very volatile molecules such as N2, CO and CH4 are not easily trapped in laboratory ice simulation experiments unless the ice temperature is 75 K, which is somewhat lower than the estimated Saturnian subnebula temperature. This has led to the suggestion that the primary source of nitrogen within the Titan surface ices was NH3, which became rapidly photolysed to produce H2 and N2 upon release from the ice. The surface gravity is insufficient to trap the H2 formed and this would be lost to space. However, the origin of methane on Titan is an interesting question. Methane is a minor component of comets, with a CH4/CO ratio of clCT1 compared with the present atmospheric ratio of > 102. The D/H ratio is also intermediate between that of comets and the solar nebula, so there must be an alternative source of methane that maintains the carbon isotope ratio and the D/H isotope ratio and explains the abundance on Titan. 

J.S. Handa, Y.P. (2001). Stable methane hydrate above 2 GPa and the source of Titan s atmospheric methane. Nature, 410 (6829), 661-663. 

The Earth s atmosphere is composed primarily of non-polar molecules like N2 and O2, especially at greater altitudes where the H2O concentrations are small. One would therefore expect collision-induced contributions to the absorption of the Earth s atmosphere from N2-N2, N2-O2 and O2-O2 pairs. The induced rototranslational absorption of nitrogen has not been detected in the Earth s atmosphere, presumably because of strong interference by water absorption bands, but absorption in the various induced vibrational bands is well established (Tipping 1985). Titan (the large moon of Saturn) has a nitrogen atmosphere, somewhat like the Earth methane is also present. Collision-induced absorption by N2-N2 and N2-CH4 is important in the far infrared. 

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