@@michaelvangundy226 booo lol they arent THAT gullible hahaha jk. Not to get too politicky here but id say im liberal yet dont agree with any news. Family seems pretty moderate but leans right on most issues but grew up all punk rock and hating Bush of the 9/11 era. Never watched news tho til i got stuck at home from Covid lockdown and it just seems wherever you get your news from you are being fed bullshit. I have my mind made up on how shit should be but still try to gather info in both sides because i am not a sheep. Kind of a reference to the dude on The Daily Show but also completely disgusted by how media on both sides portray things to their viewers just to make them happy and not showing the actual truth. Sorry @Alison Rose for clogging the non political comment u made but had to say it. Also have to say i have been microchipped and magnetized for the past 4 or 5 months and i love it. Havent gotten sick or died yet so thats a plus. Anyway back to space news
Dr. Becky, "Scientists should never write recipes" Carl Sagan, "If you wish to bake an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the Universe." Dr.Becky: confirmed.
Well under a small minority view in real math by scientists at least of a few years ago according to Astronomy magazine there is only one observer and the rest of us are part of that observers imagination so yep that observer had to create the universe to bake their pies.
When Aluminium was first discovered it was called Aluminum. The name changed to bring it in line with all the other elements that end with "nium". When Uranus was first discovered it was called the "Georgian Planet". So to keep to the convention in sticking to the Imperial system and Aluminum, the Americans should retain the first name given.
@@pietperske3583 Georgium Sidus. That isn't a valid excuse for why platinum isn't called platinium. They both were named after the salt they were extracted from.
My personal favorite is when someone from the UK talks about anything connected to the second letter in the Greek alphabet "Beetah" particles, or Beta particles.. It's positively adorable!
A different spelling. Something like Aluminimum. The British Empire was cool in the day but they should get with the program and speak an American dialect.
As soon as I saw the title of this vid on my feed I 'heard', in my head, in Dr Becky's voice, her saying mee-thane. And sure enough, when I watched the vid, that's how she said it!
I wince just a little every time I hear "mee-thane, and alumin-ee-um, and vitt-amins, and nought-point, and zed, and . . . oh well. I guess Brits feel the same about our pronunciations.
I was working 8 years ago on testing and calibrating a methane detector, a very unreliable thing. Sometimes elevations of elevated methane levels would be activated without any leaks in the protected system, and sometimes they would not react even though methane passes through microcracks in the pipes. Calibration was required every 5 to 8 days.
@@dinkoz1 Ah well. First thing people will want when arriving on Mars: get back to Earth. I'm happy to let someone else go. I've seen Mars through a telescope- that's close enough. 👌
This is the reason scatter charts with a time index are so important in analyzing measured data for many things. It tends to make certain things jump out at you.
Thank you Dr.Becky!!! The other day at my school our teacher asked us a question on phosphine on venus and thanks to your "Phosphine on venus" and "no phosphine on venus" I was the only one with an answer😂😂
The cow thing needs an asterisk that it's only because the other sources of methane emissions are not quantified as accurately as "how much methane a cow farts or burps multiplied by the number of cows".
Dr. Becky, Take a bow! Once again you have explained a scientific process in a clear and entertaining way. I so enjoy your delivery and all the while, I'm learning something. Bravo! Doctor, Bravo! Now, can I get you take on ZTF J1901+1458? I watched a video on it and my head almost exploded!
The most *chef's kiss* part of the salt bae meme you included was how you, ever the proper scientist, had to have an on-screen citation for it. It's such a nerdy detail, but I absolutely love it.
It doesn’t matter since Mars isn’t Earth but colder. It’s another planet with less gravity, less atmosphere, more radiation and very little if any liquid water. So to think anything including humans will ever live there except to die a little sooner for the sake of science is just a CGI dream we tell ourselves while we destroy our only home. Don’t look or think about it might make sense to you and ruin the little time we have left.
@@DrBecky Didn't the Soviets in their early days just use alcohol to decontaminate their vessels? Therefore there might be a chance for some (especially alcohol loving) extremophile stowaways.
@@remicaron3191 Humans living on Mars may be a fantasy, but there's every chance bacterial life does. There's actually rather a lot of water, possibly underground lakes, and large water-ice glaciers. Life lives in similar conditions on Antarctica. Plus life is abundant kilometers below the surface on Earth. There also appear to be large areas of semi-fluid clays under Mars surface, providing minerals ideal for life. It's a definite possibility.
"If we start with a spherical cow ...", we need no more cowbell: The anaerobic methane generating Wood-Ljungdahl metabolism may be the oldest here on Earth and doing the reverse to break down hydrocarbons is also seen. Crustal life could be the simplest explanation for what is seen.
It sounds like we're dealing with the classic "limitations of the sensors" here. I'm going to take a wild stab at Curosity's max altitude in measuring methane is 2m, where ExoMars's minimum altitude is 3 km. That creates a 2.998 km gap where we have a really hard time measuring methane. I would say then that there may be an atmospheric process keeping methane below 3 km in altitude. To test this, I say we send another probe to Mars to deploy weather balloons that can take reading up to 3 km. We could name it Pennywise.
Dr. Becky: "The biggest source of methane on Earth is flatulence: Cow burps and Cow farts." Me: Excuse me! I have feelings, you know. Maybe ask me to take a Beano pill. nicely?"
Given how sensitive the measurements are that we consider the possibility of methane emitted by rovers crushing rocks or methane leaks, I guess the time when Starship lands or when we have bigger methane producing version of Moxies, that'll throw most measuring instruments off balance.
The ppbv thing led me down a tangent to something amusing but somewhat sad from the Wikipedia article on the Parts-per notation: "The usage of the parts-per notation is generally quite fixed inside most specific branches of science, leading some researchers to draw the conclusion that their own usage (mass/mass, mol/mol, volume/volume, or others) is the only correct one. This, in turn, leads them to not specify their usage in their publications, and others may therefore misinterpret their results."
Dr. Becky... I've been watching your channel for a lil bit now, and for sure, top contender for funniest things you've said is "Cow Farts"! Keep up the science! Also, love the way you Brits say me-thane!
Mars Rover Soup Ingredients: Dirt Water Rocks Instructions: Add water to dirt Apply intense heat source Throw in a few rocks to taste. Suggestions: Serve hot Refrigerate or freeze for storeage. Left overs can be used for a methan filter through dirt.
Love you're work! I have developed a passion for the cosmos over the last few years and recently delved into TH-cam for information which has been brilliant. I'm looking for the right Telescope now though so any ideas? I must say budget though as I am only from the Midlands so cloud cover is abundant😂
Does the solar wind strip the small amounts of methane from the upper atmosphere as it's heated day/seasonally? Could the methane be coming from the "youngest" volcanoes, possibly ice in vents/ lava tubes heated by seasonally/ daytime?
It would be cool if the Ingenuity had the capacity to detect methane.. would detecting methane at different altitudes yield any interesting/useful information?
Yes that would help us to understand how the mixing occurs. Ingenuity is just a drone though, no detectors unfortunately. Maybe the next generation Martian helicopter?
One kind of thing I like about these experimental physics conundrums is that, by now, everyone would pretty much say that we will solve the Martian methane mystery in five or fifty years, but we in 2021 can only dream about how the matter gets put to rest in 2026, or 2071. Our best regards to the future, if you're reading this after the answer is discovered.
Hello from end of 2021,(hypothesis) if you have a cold spot on mars that is cold enough for liquid methane(a shady spot 10m by 10m could probably work, but more is better, +-10 deg from cond. point near the poles, there are one or two candidates (on the heat map) and if they coincide with daily peaks- problem solved) you can have those seasonal variations just like water vapour on earth. And would also explain the daily pattern(finding the location by time of mars day and axial tilt, for the maximums assuming cold spot being slightly after noon and at nearest to sun seasonal tilt, slowly releasing methane throughout the day and so no wind direction ). Maybe some rocks(salts dissolved in liq. methane changing boiling point) helping that process. There was no mention that Mars is freaking cold(from our point of view, which made me uneasy, since that is one of the first things they should have checked). (Do we live in that time?) By a random person on the internet.
Do remember reading a study which said most methane comes from a cows burps but hey, it's all emissions. I was pointed in the right direction by a PhD chemist who had suggested that farts were the cause only to get schooled by a farmer. I read chemistry and one thing I do not know is the height of the boundary layer on Mars. If there is one. Mixing of atmospheric chemistry is probably kind of key
Dr Becky I had to laugh when you said the methane detector was also used on the ISS - nothing like a "fart warning buzzer" going off to warn the astronauts of impending doom.
I'm surprised at the estimate of 300 years for the atmospheric lifetime of methane on Mars. On Earth it's barely 10 or 15 years and it increases with increasing concentration. Of course, there is the much lower water vapor concentration in the Martian atmosphere, which will slow things down. Maybe there is something about the atmospheric chemistry on Mars that is not fully understood.
I think the presence of OXYGEN in our atmosphere is responsible. ^ ^ Oxygen is a hell of an atomgrabber. Solar radiation (UV light, mostly) can split up methane and then the OXYGEN is ready to devour the fragments.
You said “electrostatics from the dust storms breaking down methane” if that is a thing does it mean that lightning would break down methane in the earth atmosphere?
It's basically what we spend all day doing, because if we knew everything then there'd be no point in doing science research! We'd all be out of job haha
@@DrBecky It's just refreshing, I see too many people dance around it like it's not ok too admit that there are things we haven't sussed out yet. BTW I love your enthusiasm, thanks for doing your show.
It seems that the adsorption rate increases with the decrease in temperature and vice-versa of the Mars (geology) rocks. That could be one explaination. The other could be that the kinetic energy of molecules increases with increase in temperature within the porous rocks or fissures. So that could explain the seasonal/day-night variation of methane gas.
I may not be the most qualified scientist, or even a scientist at all, to be fair, but it seems pretty obvious to me that there must be cows on Mars. And they are clearly intelligent cows, so they make sure that they are always standing, undetected, behind the rover. That old nursery rhyme may not just be a harmless child pacifier at all, but an encoded message from the cows to humanity that they got to Mars first by jumping over the moon!
LOL "... not the most qualifed..." Says it ALL. On this, one should REJOICE! ONE might otherwise find oneself JABBERING-ON about MEE-THANE. I mean EVERYBODY KNOWS that Cows are extremely self-conscious creatures. THEY ARE UNCOMFORTABLE on-camera. As such, they merely follow-along, behind the "Discovery" Rover... fluffing their hair (Martian Cows are evolved: BI-PEDAL) chewing their algae CUD and farting away, to beat all get-outta-here, contented as... well, AS COWS. Sincerely, Elsie Queen of the Martian Plains p.s.: Wait until they check inside those large mee-thane-belching craters ringing the Martian EE-quator. LOL "Evidence" of 20 million years of habitation by our kind. MOOOO-to-you, "Doctor" Becky.
They weren't as many. In the U.S. alone, there are about 100 million cows right now. The number of bisons is estimated to be about 25 millions for the whole of North America (including Mexico and Canada). The world population of cows is estimated to be about 1 billion (or, as Dr. Becky is British, 1 milliard). That's 40 times the methane output of all bisons.
@@pietperske3583 Billions instead of milliard gives you an +1 error in your powers of ten ;) If you use -illards, then each new -illion gives you 10 to the power of 6 (1 million). So you can easily tell what a quintillion is: a million to the power of quinta, Latin for 5. A duodecillion is a million to the power of duodecim or 12. A centillion is a million to the power of centum (100) etc.pp.. If you omit the -illiard, each new -illion gives you 10 to the power of 3, or one thousand. But you start with 10 to the power of 6, so billion is not million to the power of bi (twio), but thousand to the power of three (or 2 + 1). A quintillion is not thousand to the power of quinta, but to the power of sexta (5 + 1), while the sextillion is thousand to the power of septa (6 + 1) etc.pp.. See how this makes things unnecessarily complicated? You have first to remember, that -illion stands for thousand, not for million, and you have to remember that the Latin numbers in front of -illion are off by one.
@@pietperske3583 Ok. Short version: If you use thousand million milliard billion billiard trillion trilliard etc.pp... you get a sequence of Latin numbers (bi-, tri-, quadri-, quinti-...) followed by -llion, and they describe the respective number "1 million to the power of the Latin number". If you leave out the -lliard numbers, you get: thousand million billion trillion quadrillion quintillion sextillion etc.pp... You get the same sequence of Latin numbers followed by -llion, but this time, you describe the number "1 thousand to the power of (Latin number + 1)" So your -llion ending does not mean million, but thousand, and your exponent is not the Latin number in the name, but the Latin number plus one.
I wonder whether sunlight destroys methane much faster on the surface or Martian minerals (especially perchlorate minerals, and including suspended dust particles) than it would in dust-free Martian air?
I believe it's possible that curiosity and co have sent images of Martian life back to us and we just haven't realised it yet. To be clear I'm not talking about rocks that look like things our mind see as familiar, but life in a form we haven't experienced as of yet.
You’re an amazingly talented individual, but don’t forget to spend enough time on yourself - you don’t have to give completely all of you to other people.
Why did no one suggest that the Methane detector of curiosity is not functioning properly (while reporting back to be fully functional)? Sounds like an easier explanation than the rover crushing rocks or the other instruments leaking.
I have lived long enough to see a TH-cam video that combines astrophysics and cow farts. I can now die happy.
You’re welcome 😂
@@DrBecky if you can manage one that combines doughnuts and vacuum decay then I'm joining your Patreon.
right, we need to start a Dr. Becky scientific video challenge!
@@leeeastwood6368 Can we we require she record it from the pub after three drinks?
@@TexanUSMC8089, c'mon, we can be more imaginative than that. at least 5 drinks! :-)
When you said "The first thing they started with was..." God help me, I was so hoping you would say "...looking for cows on Mars."
lmao if there was cows on Mars.
I would feel like my whole life was a lie cuz I always heard cows jump over the moon xD
Don't joke! CNN will get it and run. Next they will have experts writing books about the cows.
@@michaelvangundy226 booo lol they arent THAT gullible hahaha jk. Not to get too politicky here but id say im liberal yet dont agree with any news. Family seems pretty moderate but leans right on most issues but grew up all punk rock and hating Bush of the 9/11 era. Never watched news tho til i got stuck at home from Covid lockdown and it just seems wherever you get your news from you are being fed bullshit. I have my mind made up on how shit should be but still try to gather info in both sides because i am not a sheep. Kind of a reference to the dude on The Daily Show but also completely disgusted by how media on both sides portray things to their viewers just to make them happy and not showing the actual truth. Sorry @Alison Rose for clogging the non political comment u made but had to say it. Also have to say i have been microchipped and magnetized for the past 4 or 5 months and i love it. Havent gotten sick or died yet so thats a plus. Anyway back to space news
You stole my joke....🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Spherical cows, of course.
"Parts Pavilion" - where old parts go after they are worn out.
"Geological processes. I.e. rocks"
How an astrophysicist summarizes the science of geology. :)
They don’t do too well with metallurgy either. 😂
"Geology is not a real science". Dr Sheldon Cooper
My field is taking a beating tonight
@@lancecampbell4323
Why, are you a rock guy? :)
Isn't serpentinization a geological process?
I look forward to every one of your videos! Thank you for being an awesome person 🤓👍
Same here. I corrected it before the Grammar trolls attack
Space is fake af
Research flat earth 😁
@@flatearthjackal9201 NURSE!! HE'S ESCAPED AGAIN!!!!
@@flatearthjackal9201 you're a bit strange really, aren't you? 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪
Agree 100% 👍😃
Dr. Becky, "Scientists should never write recipes"
Carl Sagan, "If you wish to bake an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the Universe."
Dr.Becky: confirmed.
Well under a small minority view in real math by scientists at least of a few years ago according to Astronomy magazine there is only one observer and the rest of us are part of that observers imagination so yep that observer had to create the universe to bake their pies.
It took a few joints to come up with all this. Gods bless our pothead über-teacher, Carl Sagan. I genuinely miss him.
Frank from Epicurious: hold my stardust!
I just hope she doesn't end up like this woman. th-cam.com/video/sfRqT4hnx0Y/w-d-xo.html....It's looking more likely, Sadly.
@@spacexsays3227 Oh, b*tch, please... 🙄 Seriously? A flat earther? Go back under your rock. We'll let you know when it's safe to come out.
I could sit and listen to you talking Space forever, I never tire :3
Today I learned that in addition to aluminum, y'all have a different pronunciation of methane. Thanks for the knowledge!
When Aluminium was first discovered it was called Aluminum. The name changed to bring it in line with all the other elements that end with "nium". When Uranus was first discovered it was called the "Georgian Planet". So to keep to the convention in sticking to the Imperial system and Aluminum, the Americans should retain the first name given.
@@pietperske3583 Georgium Sidus. That isn't a valid excuse for why platinum isn't called platinium. They both were named after the salt they were extracted from.
My personal favorite is when someone from the UK talks about anything connected to the second letter in the Greek alphabet "Beetah" particles, or Beta particles.. It's positively adorable!
A different spelling. Something like Aluminimum. The British Empire was cool in the day but they should get with the program and speak an American dialect.
As soon as I saw the title of this vid on my feed I 'heard', in my head, in Dr Becky's voice, her saying mee-thane. And sure enough, when I watched the vid, that's how she said it!
I wince just a little every time I hear "mee-thane, and alumin-ee-um, and vitt-amins, and nought-point, and zed, and . . . oh well. I guess Brits feel the same about our pronunciations.
As a Canadian, I approve of this solution.
Makes sense that it would be the weather, too.
I was working 8 years ago on testing and calibrating a methane detector, a very unreliable thing. Sometimes elevations of elevated methane levels would be activated without any leaks in the protected system, and sometimes they would not react even though methane passes through microcracks in the pipes. Calibration was required every 5 to 8 days.
You convinced me. Let's get you to Mars stat!
@@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475 👍 can't, to old
@@dinkoz1 Ah well.
First thing people will want when arriving on Mars: get back to Earth. I'm happy to let someone else go. I've seen Mars through a telescope- that's close enough. 👌
This is the reason scatter charts with a time index are so important in analyzing measured data for many things. It tends to make certain things jump out at you.
Thank you for doing these videos in a way a non PHD like me can understand.
You're very welcome!
The fact that they double checked for rover farts shows just how careful these teams are
Of course you double check for Rover farts, the first one to get blamed is the dog.
Thank you Dr.Becky!!! The other day at my school our teacher asked us a question on phosphine on venus and thanks to your "Phosphine on venus" and "no phosphine on venus" I was the only one with an answer😂😂
Wonderful!
A cozy chilli day, hot chocolate and an unsolved mistery. I feel so good. Thanks, Dr. Becky!!!
The cow thing needs an asterisk that it's only because the other sources of methane emissions are not quantified as accurately as "how much methane a cow farts or burps multiplied by the number of cows".
See also: Siberian explosions of methane hydrates.
After 4 minutes of discussing methane, TH-cam shows an advertisement for canned kidney beans...
This might be the first time yt algo got something right.
A new standard unit for action movies: parts per villian
Lol :D
Dr. Becky, Take a bow! Once again you have explained a scientific process in a clear and entertaining way. I so enjoy your delivery and all the while, I'm learning something. Bravo! Doctor, Bravo! Now, can I get you take on ZTF J1901+1458? I watched a video on it and my head almost exploded!
Videos from four of my favorite TH-cam channels were posted today. I watched yours first. Don't tell the others...
🤫🤫🤫🤫
The most *chef's kiss* part of the salt bae meme you included was how you, ever the proper scientist, had to have an on-screen citation for it. It's such a nerdy detail, but I absolutely love it.
Of course! 😂
I swear that yellow lamp makes your silver play button look like a golden one
waiting for a real golden play button
WOW I GOT A LIKE FROM YOU!!!! Thenks
"The Parts Pavilion": sounds like an automotive supply store.
On an unrelated topic - Dr Becky - I prefer the lighting in your commercial verses the filter you use on content. Just my opinion.
Thank you for finally wiggling just enough so that I could see the graphic on your shirt .... because IT WAS DRIVING ME CRAZY.
I ❤ you so much. Thanks for spreading the real science🌠
Great videos well made, hope they have you earmarked to work alongside / take over from Prof Brian Cox on various TV programmes one day!
4:39 - unless, of course, we somehow brought the source of it?!? Could any tardigrades or something have hitched a ride? :)
Tardigrades don’t produce methane. And all crafts are kept in clean rooms before launch to avoid that happening 🤞
It doesn’t matter since Mars isn’t Earth but colder. It’s another planet with less gravity, less atmosphere, more radiation and very little if any liquid water. So to think anything including humans will ever live there except to die a little sooner for the sake of science is just a CGI dream we tell ourselves while we destroy our only home. Don’t look or think about it might make sense to you and ruin the little time we have left.
biological contamination is a possibility, but if that was the case we should not see any methane in areas that are newly visited.
@@DrBecky Didn't the Soviets in their early days just use alcohol to decontaminate their vessels? Therefore there might be a chance for some (especially alcohol loving) extremophile stowaways.
@@remicaron3191 Humans living on Mars may be a fantasy, but there's every chance bacterial life does.
There's actually rather a lot of water, possibly underground lakes, and large water-ice glaciers. Life lives in similar conditions on Antarctica. Plus life is abundant kilometers below the surface on Earth.
There also appear to be large areas of semi-fluid clays under Mars surface, providing minerals ideal for life. It's a definite possibility.
With that many parts per villion, Dr. Becky will soon be a villionaire! 😉
I come for the science and the bloopers!!
Ah, Parts per villion per bolume! My favorite concentration unit!
parts per billion in volume, as opposed to parts per billion in mass, actually.
I hope the sample return brings back an atmospheric sample so we can get some isotope analysis.
The first sample was just atmosphere. Although that wasn't what they were going for, it was pointed out that it was of great value too.
"If we start with a spherical cow ...", we need no more cowbell: The anaerobic methane generating Wood-Ljungdahl metabolism may be the oldest here on Earth and doing the reverse to break down hydrocarbons is also seen. Crustal life could be the simplest explanation for what is seen.
I'm old, and I recognize quality; thanks.
🎶 The chances of anything farting on Mars, are a million to one, they said... 🎵
It sounds like we're dealing with the classic "limitations of the sensors" here. I'm going to take a wild stab at Curosity's max altitude in measuring methane is 2m, where ExoMars's minimum altitude is 3 km. That creates a 2.998 km gap where we have a really hard time measuring methane.
I would say then that there may be an atmospheric process keeping methane below 3 km in altitude.
To test this, I say we send another probe to Mars to deploy weather balloons that can take reading up to 3 km. We could name it Pennywise.
Thanks Dr. Becky! (Words are hard ;) )
Another great presentation. Should it not be 'parts per billion by volume' rather than '...per volume'?
You are adorable and your way of explaining is so cristal clear. Thanks also for the bloopers 🤣
Dr. Becky: "The biggest source of methane on Earth is flatulence: Cow burps and Cow farts."
Me: Excuse me! I have feelings, you know. Maybe ask me to take a Beano pill. nicely?"
Could you please direct me to the "parts pavilion?"
Given how sensitive the measurements are that we consider the possibility of methane emitted by rovers crushing rocks or methane leaks, I guess the time when Starship lands or when we have bigger methane producing version of Moxies, that'll throw most measuring instruments off balance.
I clicked on this video just to hear you pronounce the word MEE-thane!! ❤️
Haha - why how does everyone else pronounce methane?!
@@DrBecky , they say meth-ane for some weird West Atlantic reason.
The grass is always greener over the septic tank.
Brilliant yourself. Powerful presenter you are!
Next discovery: it turns out that the rocks are flatulent, and fart at night.
The ppbv thing led me down a tangent to something amusing but somewhat sad from the Wikipedia article on the Parts-per notation: "The usage of the parts-per notation is generally quite fixed inside most specific branches of science, leading some researchers to draw the conclusion that their own usage (mass/mass, mol/mol, volume/volume, or others) is the only correct one. This, in turn, leads them to not specify their usage in their publications, and others may therefore misinterpret their results."
Love it when you say, “nought.”
The first time I ever heard someone say "naught" was James Grime on TH-cam, I was very confused by that word 😅
You have a wonderful T-shirt collection!
3:25 ... Detecting methane in the ISS be like... "Warning! Methane spike detected" Astronaut to colleague: "did it come from... Uranus???"
Another splendid video. Thank you for the continued enlightenment.
At least the methane didn't come from Uranus.
Though Uranus has a lot of methane.
But it also has ammonia. U sure u aren't a monotreme?
Interesting video Dr. Becky! You say Me-thane, I say Meth-ane (so does Webster's Dictionary!). But I still love your pronunciation! 😉😉👍👍
fantastic - a real winner
Dr. Becky... I've been watching your channel for a lil bit now, and for sure, top contender for funniest things you've said is "Cow Farts"! Keep up the science! Also, love the way you Brits say me-thane!
1:42 the on-screen text is right underneath the captions (great CCs, by the way!) so that I can’t read it without having to turn off CC.
Didn’t think about that, I’ll shift it next time 👍
I was just going to sleep but just saw your video notification ma'am 😄😄 now sleep is postponed 😁 first your video 😃
Very informative 😀
MMMM Marvelous, Magnificent Manifestation of Meaningful Methane explanation..
Absolutely love your videos!!!! Thank you!!!!
Mars Rover Soup
Ingredients:
Dirt
Water
Rocks
Instructions:
Add water to dirt
Apply intense heat source
Throw in a few rocks to taste.
Suggestions:
Serve hot
Refrigerate or freeze for storeage.
Left overs can be used for a methan filter through dirt.
Dr. Becky is equal parts brilliant and adorable.
Yippie a video!, wish you did more videos
Love you're work! I have developed a passion for the cosmos over the last few years and recently delved into TH-cam for information which has been brilliant. I'm looking for the right Telescope now though so any ideas? I must say budget though as I am only from the Midlands so cloud cover is abundant😂
You make me feel intelligent ^^ you're good at that.
ATTN DR BECKY: Was there once an ocean based on Mars and possibly a past change in the orbit of Mars? That would explain a lot. Thank you
Surely, "ppbv" is "parts per billion *by* volume" (not "*per* volume" - How would that make sense?).
Does the solar wind strip the small amounts of methane from the upper atmosphere as it's heated day/seasonally?
Could the methane be coming from the "youngest" volcanoes, possibly ice in vents/ lava tubes heated by seasonally/ daytime?
It would be cool if the Ingenuity had the capacity to detect methane.. would detecting methane at different altitudes yield any interesting/useful information?
Yes that would help us to understand how the mixing occurs. Ingenuity is just a drone though, no detectors unfortunately. Maybe the next generation Martian helicopter?
One kind of thing I like about these experimental physics conundrums is that, by now, everyone would pretty much say that we will solve the Martian methane mystery in five or fifty years, but we in 2021 can only dream about how the matter gets put to rest in 2026, or 2071. Our best regards to the future, if you're reading this after the answer is discovered.
Hello from end of 2021,(hypothesis) if you have a cold spot on mars that is cold enough for liquid methane(a shady spot 10m by 10m could probably work, but more is better, +-10 deg from cond. point near the poles, there are one or two candidates (on the heat map) and if they coincide with daily peaks- problem solved) you can have those seasonal variations just like water vapour on earth. And would also explain the daily pattern(finding the location by time of mars day and axial tilt, for the maximums assuming cold spot being slightly after noon and at nearest to sun seasonal tilt, slowly releasing methane throughout the day and so no wind direction ). Maybe some rocks(salts dissolved in liq. methane changing boiling point) helping that process. There was no mention that Mars is freaking cold(from our point of view, which made me uneasy, since that is one of the first things they should have checked).
(Do we live in that time?)
By a random person on the internet.
We haven't had a spontaneous science song parody in a while. I miss them!
We have a group here called 'Farmers Against Ridiculous Taxes'.
Is it perseverance doing the same test for methane?
Do remember reading a study which said most methane comes from a cows burps but hey, it's all emissions. I was pointed in the right direction by a PhD chemist who had suggested that farts were the cause only to get schooled by a farmer.
I read chemistry and one thing I do not know is the height of the boundary layer on Mars. If there is one. Mixing of atmospheric chemistry is probably kind of key
I think we can start to use *per villion* as neat shorthand for "per billion per volume" ;)
LOL! Maybe there are some Invisible Martian Flying Cows moving about during the day, making the Methane daytime dilution greater! :)
Dr Becky I had to laugh when you said the methane detector was also used on the ISS - nothing like a "fart warning buzzer" going off to warn the astronauts of impending doom.
Love a good planetary mystery!
You can't beat a good Pavilion. :)
- A pavilion?
- No, more like a gas-zebo.
(Sorry!)
Im just here to listen to Becky say MEEEthane and Naught......
Methane, theethane, himthane herthane itthane, usthane, youthane, themthane.
zed
In that charming, fey Canadian accent of hers; I know!
more explanation of detectors, sensors, different detecting ways please🤔
But that’s the boring engineering part 😜 haha, noted for next time
@@DrBecky 🙄😎👍
I thought "parts per billion by volume" would make more sense.
I'm surprised at the estimate of 300 years for the atmospheric lifetime of methane on Mars. On Earth it's barely 10 or 15 years and it increases with increasing concentration. Of course, there is the much lower water vapor concentration in the Martian atmosphere, which will slow things down. Maybe there is something about the atmospheric chemistry on Mars that is not fully understood.
I think the presence of OXYGEN in our atmosphere is responsible. ^ ^
Oxygen is a hell of an atomgrabber.
Solar radiation (UV light, mostly) can split up methane and then the OXYGEN is ready to devour the fragments.
You said “electrostatics from the dust storms breaking down methane” if that is a thing does it mean that lightning would break down methane in the earth atmosphere?
Sure, but sunlight breaks down methane at a much greater rate.
We should build a lander to look for sources of methane. We can call the lander Hoof Hearted.
I love when a scientist can say "We just don't know"
It's basically what we spend all day doing, because if we knew everything then there'd be no point in doing science research! We'd all be out of job haha
@@DrBecky It's just refreshing, I see too many people dance around it like it's not ok too admit that there are things we haven't sussed out yet. BTW I love your enthusiasm, thanks for doing your show.
I'm 1:30 in and I can already say super interesting!! 👽
It seems that the adsorption rate increases with the decrease in temperature and vice-versa of the Mars (geology) rocks. That could be one explaination. The other could be that the kinetic energy of molecules increases with increase in temperature within the porous rocks or fissures. So that could explain the seasonal/day-night variation of methane gas.
Thanks so much. ❤️
I may not be the most qualified scientist, or even a scientist at all, to be fair, but it seems pretty obvious to me that there must be cows on Mars. And they are clearly intelligent cows, so they make sure that they are always standing, undetected, behind the rover. That old nursery rhyme may not just be a harmless child pacifier at all, but an encoded message from the cows to humanity that they got to Mars first by jumping over the moon!
LOL "... not the most qualifed..." Says it ALL. On this, one should REJOICE! ONE might otherwise find oneself JABBERING-ON about MEE-THANE. I mean EVERYBODY KNOWS that Cows are extremely self-conscious creatures. THEY ARE UNCOMFORTABLE on-camera. As such, they merely follow-along, behind the "Discovery" Rover... fluffing their hair (Martian Cows are evolved: BI-PEDAL) chewing their algae CUD and farting away, to beat all get-outta-here, contented as... well, AS COWS.
Sincerely,
Elsie
Queen of the Martian Plains
p.s.: Wait until they check inside those large mee-thane-belching craters ringing the Martian EE-quator. LOL "Evidence" of 20 million years of habitation by our kind. MOOOO-to-you, "Doctor" Becky.
I agree, and I contend that Mars is pronounced Moos...
I had no idea the concentration of methane was so low. Does seasonality affect the geological production of methane on Earth?
So the millions of bisons, of the prairies of America, back in the wild West days, that went from horizon to horizon, did they not pass wind?
They weren't as many. In the U.S. alone, there are about 100 million cows right now. The number of bisons is estimated to be about 25 millions for the whole of North America (including Mexico and Canada). The world population of cows is estimated to be about 1 billion (or, as Dr. Becky is British, 1 milliard). That's 40 times the methane output of all bisons.
@@SiqueScarface In the UK we retained the decimal point, the decimal comma is just absurd. We also use billions, not milliards as the French do.
@@pietperske3583 Billions instead of milliard gives you an +1 error in your powers of ten ;)
If you use -illards, then each new -illion gives you 10 to the power of 6 (1 million).
So you can easily tell what a quintillion is: a million to the power of quinta, Latin for 5.
A duodecillion is a million to the power of duodecim or 12. A centillion is a million to the power of centum (100) etc.pp..
If you omit the -illiard, each new -illion gives you 10 to the power of 3, or one thousand. But you start with 10 to the power of 6, so billion is not million to the power of bi (twio), but thousand to the power of three (or 2 + 1). A quintillion is not thousand to the power of quinta, but to the power of sexta (5 + 1), while the sextillion is thousand to the power of septa (6 + 1) etc.pp..
See how this makes things unnecessarily complicated? You have first to remember, that -illion stands for thousand, not for million, and you have to remember that the Latin numbers in front of -illion are off by one.
@@SiqueScarface I read through this twice and still do not understand it. That's why am not an astrophysicist.
@@pietperske3583 Ok. Short version:
If you use
thousand
million
milliard
billion
billiard
trillion
trilliard etc.pp...
you get a sequence of Latin numbers (bi-, tri-, quadri-, quinti-...) followed by -llion, and they describe the respective number "1 million to the power of the Latin number".
If you leave out the -lliard numbers, you get:
thousand
million
billion
trillion
quadrillion
quintillion
sextillion etc.pp...
You get the same sequence of Latin numbers followed by -llion, but this time, you describe the number "1 thousand to the power of (Latin number + 1)"
So your -llion ending does not mean million, but thousand, and your exponent is not the Latin number in the name, but the Latin number plus one.
Thanks dr
I wonder whether sunlight destroys methane much faster on the surface or Martian minerals (especially perchlorate minerals, and including suspended dust particles) than it would in dust-free Martian air?
If CH4 is reacting with atmospheric O2, would that create a detectable change in atmospheric H2O levels?
I believe it's possible that curiosity and co have sent images of Martian life back to us and we just haven't realised it yet.
To be clear I'm not talking about rocks that look like things our mind see as familiar, but life in a form we haven't experienced as of yet.
You’re an amazingly talented individual, but don’t forget to spend enough time on yourself - you don’t have to give completely all of you to other people.
Why did no one suggest that the Methane detector of curiosity is not functioning properly (while reporting back to be fully functional)? Sounds like an easier explanation than the rover crushing rocks or the other instruments leaking.
Do you ever plan to do a Q&A video? i have a good question for you