Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.3407h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #34.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.457
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We study the interior composition of Titan using thermal chemical equilibrium calculations that are valid to high pressures and temperatures. The equations of state are based on exponential-6 fluid theory and have been validated against experimental data up to a few Mbars in pressure and approximately 20000K in temperature. In addition to CHNO molecules, we account for multi-phases of carbon, water and a variety of metals such as Al and Fe, and their oxides. With these fluid equations of state, chemical equilibrium is calculated for a set of product species. As the temperature and pressure evolves for increasing depth in the interior, the chemical equilibrium shifts. We assume that Titan is initially composed of comet material, which we assume to be solar, except for hydrogen, which we take to be depleted by a factor 1/1000. We find that a significant amount of nitrogen is in the form of N2, rather than NH3. Moreover, above 12 kbars pressure, as is the interior pressure of Titan, a significant amount of the carbon is in the form of graphite, rather than CO2 and CH4. We discuss the implications of these results for understanding the atmospheric and surface composition of Titan.
This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.
Fried Laurence E.
Howard Michael
Khare Bishun N.
McKay Chris P.
No associations
LandOfFree
Titan's Interior Chemical Composition: Possible Important Phase Transitions does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Titan's Interior Chemical Composition: Possible Important Phase Transitions, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Titan's Interior Chemical Composition: Possible Important Phase Transitions will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1438402