Mark Wattney Particle Interactions Lab Report

Particle interaction was, by far, the most important chemistry concept for Mark Wattney to understand. Understanding this concept was crucial to Mark Wattney’s survival as he did not have any water and desperately needed to find or create it. Of course, Mark Wattney would not have been able to find any water on Mars, and even if he could, it would not be sanitary. This meant he had to make it by bonding hydrogen and oxygen molecules. This process allowed Mark Wattney to create 600 liters of water that he would have otherwise died without.
A hydrogen bond is the electromagnetic attraction exerted between polar molecules where hydrogen is bound to a larger atom. An example of this would be a hydrogen atom bonding to an oxygen or nitrogen atom. A water molecule is formed by 2 negatively charged hydrogen atoms attaching to a positively charged oxygen atom. This is why hydrogen bonding is such an important concept in The Martian. Mark Wattney had to use hydrogen bonding to create water. Wattney knew he had basically unlimited access to oxygen because of the co2 reclaimer and the …show more content…
One of these concepts is understanding physical and chemical properties. Physical properties are aspects that can be measured or observed and will not change over time. Chemical properties are only observed when the chemical identity of a substance changes. Examples of physical properties are weight, color, opacity, texture, scent, freezing point, boiling point, melting point, and density. Examples of chemical properties are flammability, reactivity, and ph. If Mark had not known about certain chemical properties, he would have not have known how to do many of the things he did to survive. An example of this was the knowledge required to know what reaction would be required and how much of each molecule would be needed to create water