April 15, 2021

Mars Collection of Educational Resources: 5. Brines on Mars

In this lesson, we will be be delving into how saturated brine solutions affect the habitability of Mars.

Overview

Activity Outline: Understand super-saturated salt solutions and how they can affect the habitability of another planetary body.

Age Range:

10-14

Equipment Needed:

  • Computer
  • Projector

Lesson Time:

45 Minutes (including 1 video)

Topics Covered:

  • Geology
  • Chemistry
  • Biology (life in extremes)
  • Astronomy (Mars surface conditions)

Learning Outcomes

After completing this activity, pupils will:

  • Understand how crystallisation works.
  • Be able to explain how we get saturated and super-saturated solutions.
  • Be able to reason how saturated salt solutions affect habitability.

Download presentation

PowerPoint (3 MB)

PDF (2 MB)

Download teachers’ resource

Word (355 KB)

PDF (246 KB)

Video experiments

Teacher Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Italian versions of the resources with video lessons produced by EDU INAF are now available at: Terra chiama Marte.