Starship Asterisk*

ianboswell52@hotmail.com wrote:Well, now we know. This is the moon which is made of cheese! Superb photo.

Eric wrote:
Io in Japanese means sulfur!

Eric wrote:Io in Japanese means sulfur!

Ann wrote:But did you know that on Io the eruptions are blue?

[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960815.html]APOD: Galileo Views Io Eruption (1996 Aug 15)[/url]

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(And this image was APOD on August 15, 1996!)

Léon, I guess the gravity of Io makes the gases and particles in the plumes fall back to the surface of Io again. But apparently, when they land, they change color from blue to something else!

Ann

León wrote:sulfur flame is blue

bystander wrote:

León wrote:
sulfur flame is blue

Pretty large flames, 60 miles above the surface.

http://www.uncp.edu/home/mcclurem/ptable/sulfur/s.htm wrote:
Elemental sulfur occurs in the form of eight-membered rings rather than as diatomic molecules. The two most important allotropes of sulfur are rhombic sulfur and monoclinic sulfur; these two forms differ in the way in which the rings are stacked. The rhombic form is the more stable of the two. Monoclinic sulfur appears as long needles and is formed when sulfur when sulfur solidifies at the melting point. In monoclinic sulfur the eight-membered rings are not as efficiently packed and the density is slightly lower than for monoclinic sulfur.

When sulfur is melted, several changes in appearance and viscosity occur. Sulfur melts to form a mobile liquid. Continued heating results in the formation of a viscous red liquid. The viscosity is attributed to a breakdown of the eight-membered rings, followed by linking into long chains. Above temperature of 190 C, the liquid becomes mobile again as the chains break apart. If this liquid is suddenly cooled, and amorphous substance known as plastic sulfur

Sulfur vapor contains both eight-membered rings and
diatomic sulfur; the blue color of the vapor is due to diatomic sulfur.
Like diatomic oxygen, diatomic sulfur is paramagnetic and has two unpaired electrons.

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/io.htm wrote:

Io Venting Gas Venting Gasses

<<This photograph of Io shows what appears to be a volcanic caldera that is venting gasses (the bright blue patch at left center). In the photo is a network of volcanic calderas with dark floors linked by bright red materials. The northernmost caldera has a bright blue patch on the floor. Scientists believe the bright blue patch may be clouds of gas issuing from volcanic vents. The gas clouds may condense to form extremely fine particles that appear blue. Since Voyager 1's infrared spectrometer has discovered sulfur dioxide on Io, it is possible that sulfur dioxide is the main component of the clouds. Sulfur dioxide clouds would rapidly freeze and snow back to the surface. It is also possible that dark areas in the floors of the calderas are pools of molten sulfur, a very dark form of sulfur. The image was taken March 5, 1979, as Voyager 1 approached Io, and was taken from 129,600 kilometers (80,500 miles). (Courtesy NASA/JPL)>>

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/1981/JA086iA10p08621.shtml wrote:
Spatial Color Variations in the Volcanic Plume at Loki, on Io
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 86, NO. A10, PP. 8621-8626, 1981
Stewart A. Collins, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

<<Multicolor Voyager 1 photographs of the Loki volcanic plume, on Io, have been analyzed to determine the nature and quantity of the scattering material within the plume. This work indicates that there are two particle populations. The first population consists of particles with radius of 0.001-0.01 µm, while the second population, which is concentrated near the source, comprises particles with radius greater than 1 µm;. The population of smaller particles includes most of the particulate mass in the plume. This work increases the previously estimated particulate mass (Johnson et al., 1979) and suggests that the SO₂ gas spectroscopically identified by Pearl et al. (1979) may represent transient flow from the volcano instead of an atmosphere in stable equilibrium with the local surface.>>

Ann wrote:But did you know that on Io the eruptions are blue? :D

neufer wrote:Diatomic S₂ gives the blue color to burning sulfur & the mineral lapis lazuli.

http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/CCA/CCA3/MAIN/SO2PROP/PAGE1.HTM wrote:

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

"When a red rose is inserted into a beaker of sulfur dioxide,
eventually the rose becomes pink in color. The bleaching results
from sulfur dioxide reducing a pigment in the rose petals."