What characteristic of Mars' surface pressure restricts effective combustion propagation?
Answer
The pressure is less than $1$\% of Earth's sea-level pressure.
Mars' surface pressure is extremely low, measuring less than $1$\% of the pressure found at sea level on Earth. Lower atmospheric pressure inherently makes it substantially more difficult for a combustion reaction to propagate effectively. This difficulty arises because, at any given moment, fewer oxidizing molecules are available within the immediate reaction zone to interact with the fuel as it burns. This scarcity of molecules means the chemical chain reaction struggles to maintain momentum and spread.
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