Titan - Exposed to large amounts of Oxygen

[skycastlefish]

Titan has rivers of liquid methane creeping in an atmosphere of mostly nitrogen. The lack of oxygen prevents the planet from being ridiculously unstable. Here’s my question -- If an asteroid rich in oxygen (or H2O) crashes into Titan, could the oxygen present in the projectile be enough to ignite a significant portion of the surface methane, enough to fundamentally change the physical structure of Titan?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Sure. But even if Titan had no atmosphere, a big enough impact could "fundamentally change the physical structure of Titan".

 

[qraal]

Titan has rivers of liquid methane creeping in an atmosphere of mostly nitrogen. The lack of oxygen prevents the planet from being ridiculously unstable.

That and the cold. There is a lot of oxygen present in the form of frozen CO2 and H2O, but being frozen makes it rather less reactive.

Here’s my question -- If an asteroid rich in oxygen (or H2O) crashes into Titan, could the oxygen present in the projectile be enough to ignite a significant portion of the surface methane, enough to fundamentally change the physical structure of Titan?

Well H2O won't ignite methane. And free oxygen doesn't typically exist in nature in cryogenic conditions i.e. in any asteroid likely to hit Titan. Edward Drobyshevski has proposed, for the last 30 years, that induced currents from moving magnetic fields (i.e. the Solar Wind) could cause ice to become electrolysed into free oxygen and hydrogen, slowly building up to explosive levels because they're trapped in the ice. Not too many other researchers think that likely, but it'd make a helluva bang!

 

[skycastlefish]

Interesting... thanks a lot!

 

[sardar]

I would say that while it is possible for an asteroid rich in oxygen or water to ignite the methane on the surface of Titan, it is not very likely. The amount of oxygen or water present in the asteroid would need to be significant in order to have a significant impact on Titan's methane-rich atmosphere. Additionally, the conditions on Titan, such as the lack of oxygen and low temperature, would likely prevent any significant ignition from occurring. However, if such an event were to occur, it could potentially have a significant impact on the physical structure of Titan, as methane is a key component in shaping the surface of the moon. Further research and experimentation would be needed to fully understand the potential effects of an oxygen-rich asteroid collision on Titan.