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  Water Experiments    

This section is devoted to several experiments that I have undertaken to better understand the materials which came from within the rock. Since I have thought from the beginning that this rock was from Mars and since Mars is very dry now and space is also dry, I wanted to see what would happen if I put water on the different materials that make up this rock. A first experiment was to put a single drop of water on the outside of the rock itself and examine the process through my small microscope. I saw the sand dissolve, change shape and some of the volcanic material actually disassociate itself from the rest of the rock. I have no pictures of this experiment.

Next, I took some of the sand and applied 4 drops of water to it. I first divided the sand into two groups. One group got the water and the other didn't. Here are the photos of before and after. This is the same sand in both pictures. The sand that has not touched water still floats free in my petri dish, while the sand that has been exposed to water, now sticks to the bottom of the dish.

As you can see, the structure has changed considerably. My contention is that this rock could never have been wet, or it would not be in the condition it is in now. If it had ever been wet since the rock was formed, then all the sand would look like the second photo instead of the first.

Next, I decided to put water on a little "colony" of things that appear to be growing out of the sandy material. Early on, I had removed a tiny little rock that had a bunch of these things sticking to it. Before applying water, it looked like this:

As you can see, the things appear to be attached to this little rock. After applying 4 drops of water, the entire structure of this thing has changed. It has been very had for me to get pictures of "after" because a good portion of the rock has turned into a clear silicon appearing gel. The rock is now stuck to my petri dish and the gel is very had to photograph.

It has been very hard to photograph this thing after I applied the water. The rock has "spread out" on my petri dish. Where once it was like a little rock with things attached, now it is like someone "melted" the whole thing. Below you can see what I think is some of this same red "rock" material that turns into silicon gel after being exposed to water.

This is obviously the "dry" state of the material. It appears that Pathfinder may have found similar materials and I will be very anxious to learn what (besides silicon), they are made of.

These two pictures represent what happens to the sandy material when water is applied.

In both cases, the sand was divided randomly into two groups. One group had 4 drops of water applied, while the other has never touched water to the best of my knowledge. Each place where water has been applied, some of the material has stuck to the petri dish, but more importantly, the particle size changes. The particles are much smaller after the water has been added. Also, when I add the water, very tiny particles which look like silicon actually float on the surface of the water.