Properties of water
The properties of water depend on the pressure.
At 1 atmosphere pressure,
- water is a gas for T > 373 K;
- water is a liquid for 273 K < T < 373 K;
- water is a solid for T < 273 K.
At below 0.006 atmosphere pressure,
- water is a gas for T > 270 K (approximately);
- water is a solid for T < 270 K (approximately);
- if you heat some frozen water it just turns into a gas.
- This is familiar. It is how CO2 behaves.
For slightly higher pressures, there is just a small temperature
range possible for liquid water.
The at the atmospheric pressure that exists now on Mars,
it is essentially impossible
to have liquid water. Either it's ice or it's water vapor.
For instance if you transported a lot of water to Mars and
evaporated it, you could make a snow storm but not a rain storm.
ASTR 121 Home
Davison E. Soper, Institute of Theoretical Science,
University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403 USA
soper@bovine.uoregon.edu