NASA scientist explains why Mars has Earth-like weather conditions, but no rainbows

Have you ever wondered what life might be like on Mars? While there are many factors that make the red planet similar to Earth, it also offers a hostile environment that would make you appreciate our planet even more, if not already. In a new video shared by NASA, scientist Mark Lemmon has attempted to explain how Mars resembles Earth on several fronts and answers why the red planet is a rainbowless world.

How do you make a rainbow?

As explained by scientist Lemmon, the formation of rainbows requires more than just water, which is only the main substance. Rainbows are formed when a beam of sunlight enters a spherical droplet, reflects off the back and heads towards the human eye. Lemmon said that it is only water droplets that can make a rainbow as they take the shape of spheres owing to the surface tension that pulls water molecules together. Rainbows are impossible to be formed from snow due to their complex structure and Martian clouds are no exception.

Why is Mars rainbowless?

As mentioned above, you need a water droplet for the formation of a rainbow. Lemmon says that the Martian clouds are far below freezing and that there is not enough water at all. Surprisingly, the scientist revealed that even though there are tiny droplets, they are 20 times smaller than human hair and 10 times smaller than the droplets found in Earth's clouds. "They would have to be more than 10 times bigger to make a rainbow with a thousand times more water", Lemmon said in the clip.

As for the Earth-like phenomenon found on Mars, there are clouds on the red planet when the season is right along with clouds of dry ice carbon dioxide. Besides, there are storms and winds that constantly blow the clouds and dust around. "Weather is still a big part of what the rovers are looking at on Mars. But I'm sorry to disappoint you. Mars has some Earth-like weather but no rainbows", Lemmon said.

Image: Twitter/@NASA