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Dr. John Brandenburg: Confessions of a NASA Space Scientist

Earth Ancients

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The Effects of Xenon on the Solar System

Xenon is a trace gas in the atmosphere of Mars, just like it is on Earth. It's been there for years and doesn't react with anything. You can actually use xenon as an anesthetic, you know, but you have to have almost 100% xenon - they use it in flash bulbs. The same process occurred on Mars, apparently occurred on Earth and in the sun and Jupiter. And if you look at the Earth's atmosphere, every place in the solar system that they measure xenon 129 and xenon 132, the abundances are almost exactly one, one to one,. except on Mars where it's two and a half times more.

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