• Question: The other question went wrong, i ment to say... Why dont other planets have oxygen? xx

    Asked by tiegan to Evan on 20 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Evan Keane

      Evan Keane answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Actually other planets do have oxygen. Unfortunately, in the ones in our solar system, it is not exactly like on Earth, as it can be in different forms or combined with other elements. This is due to differences like temperature and pressure in the planets’ atmospheres. For example on Mars the oxygen combines with iron to give iron oxide, something which we usually call “rust” -> every wonder why Mars was that colour? 😉

      Also, if a planet is small it has less gravity and the gravity needs to be strong enough to keep the atmosphere “stuck” to the planet. 🙂

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