Science

What would happen if we poured 1 billion liters of water on Mars?

So – let’s get this into cubic meters. A liter is 1/1000th of a cubic meter – so we’re talking about a million cubic meters – which would be a cube about 100 meters on a side.

Roughly the amount you could carry on one of these:

Or about half of this:

It wouldn’t really be enough for a decent sized lake.

If you poured it into a suitable depression – it would gradually freeze over – then slowly start to evaporate (very slowly).

If you poured it onto flat ground – it would flow outwards – soak into it and join the vast amounts of water locked under ground.

I don’t think this would be as impressive as you might hope.

A billion liters is 1 million cubic meters – a ball of ice 125 meters in diameter.

Divide 1 million cubic meters by the surface area of Mars and you get a layer of ice that’s 69.26 angstroms! A molecule thick!

Now, some think there’s already about 30 meters of ice across the entire planet! So, adding 1 million more cubic meters isn’t really a game changer

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