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An Experimental Investigation Of Liquid Hydrocarbons In A Simulated Titan Environment, Kendra Farnsworth
An Experimental Investigation Of Liquid Hydrocarbons In A Simulated Titan Environment, Kendra Farnsworth
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Saturn’s moon, Titan, has surface conditions (89–94 K, 1.5-bar atmosphere) that permit lakes of methane, ethane, and dissolved atmospheric nitrogen. The effects of atmospheric nitrogen on methane-ethane liquid properties is poorly understood, leading to uncertainty in Titan modeling. I address this question by experimentally investigating the physical properties of methane-ethane liquids under a 1.5-bar nitrogen atmosphere in a simulated Titan environmental chamber.
Chapter 1 addresses nitrogen dissolution kinetics in Titan’s liquid hydrocarbons. I found an exponential increase in nitrogen quantity and diffusion coefficients with increasing methane mol%. I find that Titan’s liquids are likely not saturated in nitrogen, with dissolution …