Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 27, 2017

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 27, 2017 11THE WORLD AROUND US 
HOW HARD DID IT RAIN ON MARS? 
Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 27, 2017 11THE WORLD AROUND US 
HOW HARD DID IT RAIN ON MARS? 
Heavy rain on Mars reshaped the planet’s impact 
craters and carved out river-like channels in its 
surface billions of years ago, according to a new 
study published in Icarus. In the paper, researchers 
from the Smithsonian Institution and the Johns 
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory 
show that changes in the atmosphere on Mars 
made it rain harder and harder, which had a 
similar effect on the planet’s surface as we see on 
Earth. 

The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars has 
geological features like the Earth and Moon, such 
as craters and valleys, many of which were formed 
through rainfall. Although there is a growing body 
of evidence that there was once water on Mars, it 
does not rain there today.

But in their new study, geologists Dr. Robert 
Craddock and Dr. Ralph Lorenz show that there 
was rainfall in the past—and that it was heavy 
enough to change the planet’s surface. To work 
this out, they used methods tried and tested here 
on Earth, where the erosive effect of the rain on 
the Earth’s surface has important impacts on 
agriculture and the economy.

“Many people have analyzed the nature of 
rainfall on the Earth, but no one had thought 
to apply the physics to understanding the early 
Martian atmosphere,” said Dr. Craddock of the 
Smithsonian Institution. 

To understand how rainfall on Mars has 
changed over time, the researchers had toconsider how the Martian atmosphere has 
changed. When Mars first formed 4.5 billionyears ago, it had a much more substantialatmosphere with a higher pressure than it doesnow. This pressure influences the size of theraindrops and how hard they fall.

Early on in the planet’s existence, water droplets 
would have been very small, producing something 
like fog rather than rain; this would not have 
been capable of carving out the planet we know 
today. As the atmospheric pressure decreased 
over millions of years, raindrops got bigger and 
rainfall became heavy enough to cut into the soil 
and start to alter the craters. The water could then 
be channeled and able to cut through the planet’s 
surface, creating valleys. 


“By using basic physical principles to understand 
the relationship between the atmosphere, raindrop 
size and rainfall intensity, we have shown that 
Mars would have seen some pretty big raindrops 
that would have been able to make more drastic 
changes to the surface than the earlier fog-like 
droplets,” commented Dr. Lorenz of John Hopkins 
University, who has also studied liquid methane 
rainfall on Saturn’s moon Titan, the only other 
world in the solar system apart from Earth where 

rain falls onto the surface at the present day.

They showed that very early on, the atmospheric 
pressure on Mars would have been about 4 bars (the 
Earth’s surface today is 1 bar) and the raindrops 
at this pressure could not have been bigger than 
3 mm across, which would not have penetrated 
the soil. But as the atmospheric pressure fell to 

1.5 bars, the droplets could grow and fall harder, 
cutting into the soil. In Martian conditions at that 
time, had the pressure been the same as we have 
on Earth, raindrops would have been about 7.3 
mm—a millimeter bigger than on Earth.

“There will always be some unknowns, of 
course, such as how high a storm cloud may have 
risen into the Martian atmosphere, but we made 
efforts to apply the range of published variables for 
rainfall on Earth,” added Dr. Craddock. 

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@ 
MtnViewsNews.com. 

Serving: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, And Catering 
OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder 

WHERE DO YOU LOOK WHEN SHE’S 
LOST HER VOICE? 

It has been a quiet week at the parsonage. Farquieter than usual. I cannot remember a timewhen it was quieter. If silence is golden, the weekglowed with a yellow brilliance.

Have you ever noticed when you lose something,
it is always in the last place you look? I could save alot of time, not to mention energy, if I would lookfor that lost item in the last place first.

Back to the sounds of silence in the parsonage.
When the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonageawoke from her beauty sleep on Monday morning,
she discovered sometime during the night she losther voice. It was a strange sensation that bearsrepeating - often.

At first, I thought I lost my hearing. I am notaccustomed to starting the day with such silence.
I could see my Beloved’s lips moving, but nothingreached my ears.

I must confess that there have been times when I 
feigned not hearing her, but this time I really couldnot hear a word she said. Immediately I plungeda finger in each ear to check for any foreigncorrespondent.

My fingers reported nothing. I must admit thatclean ears are a novelty for me. God gave me suchlarge ears attracting all sorts of stuff.

My ears produce enough wax each week to takecare of 17 Rolls Royces. The strange thing was, Ihad just waxed my car the Saturday before.

With nothing in my ears -or between them, 
for that matter - I could not explain this suddensilence of my Little Lamb.

I am the kind of person who tries to find good ineverything. Some circumstances severely try myefforts in this endeavor, but, believe it or not, I was 
able to find some good about this little incident in 
our parsonage.

The good news was my wife had lost her voice;
the bad news, however, she insisted that I look for 
it. 

Have you ever tried looking for something youhoped you would not find?

Through the years, I have engaged in manythings my heart was not totally in full sympathywith. 

Such things as Christmas shopping with mywife at the mall; going to a wedding reception forsome family member; attending the Christmasplay by first graders at the elementary school.

All these activities are good in and of themselves;
if only they would merely keep themselves tothemselves, it would not irate myself so much. As adutiful husband and father, I bolster up both chinsand go forward.

Being the considerate soul that I am, Isubmissively went through the motions of lookingfor the lost voice. (I did have my fingers crossed.)
My problem was: where do you begin looking for alost voice? In my lifetime, I have looked for many 

lost items. My car keys, my wallet (especially whenthe check at the restaurant is due), and my mind,
which I have yet to find.

However, where does a voice go when it turns upmissing?
I began my search under the sofa and found aset of car keys I lost seven months ago and mycheckbook that I looked everywhere for and finallyhad to close the account and start over again, butno voice. 

I spent a few moments meditating in the garage,
but did not find or hear the voice of my Beloved.
I looked in the refrigerator - pausing for a smallsnack without fear of remonstration from 
you know who. Of course, I may have been 
remonstrated, but I did not hear a thing.

You must admit that searching is strenuouswork demanding refreshment to keep up mystrength.

Now, where do voices go when they are lost? Isthere such a thing as a Missing Voice Bureau? Inaddition, how long does a voice have to be missingbefore you can report it to the MVP?

When you do make out a report, how longdoes it sit on someone’s desk before there is a 
congressional inquiry into the matter?

The crisis came to a head - actually, it was myhead -on Thursday morning. At the breakfast 
table, I could tell my wife was a little irritated atsomething, or someone.

Glaring across her cereal bowl, I could read herlips, and believe me; she was not whispering sweetnothings in my ear.

I just did not know what to do. Honestly, I hadlooked everywhere for her voice and never did findit. By Thursday evening, the novelty of the silencebegan to get old.

It is rather difficult to effectively communicatewhen one has lost her voice. Unbelievably, I wasbeginning to miss hearing that voice, but I did notknow what to do about it. 

As mysteriously as it left, by Friday morningthe Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage found hervoice. Within three hours, she more than made upfor the several days of not speaking.

Actually, I was glad to hear her voice once again.
I thought of a scripture that made a little moresense to me. Jesus once said, “My sheep hear myvoice, and I know them, and they follow me: AndI give unto them eternal life; and they shall neverperish, neither shall any man pluck them out ofmy hand” (John 10:27-28).

Nothing is more wonderful than hearing thevoice of the one you love.

Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of GodFellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 34472. Helives with his wife in Silver Springs Shores. Call himat 352-687-4240 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net.
The church web site is www.whatafellowship.com. 

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