[Donaldson Tan]

how about a krypton-36 environment? 36 is not too far away from 28 (Mr of N2 = 28g/mol)

[Borek]

Yes indeedy.    So many people think it's for 'drug'.  Damned past history.

Funny thing. My first impression many months ago was that "durg" has something in common with "demiurge".

[billnotgatez]

Is argon too heavy

Element: Argon
Properties of Argon
Atomic Number of Argon: 18
Atomic Radius of Argon: 174 pm
Atomic Weight of Argon:a 39.948(1)

it would make a nice blue sky
that would be different

[Selena]

Wow, that's a lot to catch up on! So, starting from my last post:

• Why not nitrogen? I was hoping for something different and readily availible in the jovian system (like helium or hydrogen). If I can't find something else, I will use nitrogen though.
• "how about a krypton-36 environment? 36 is not too far away from 28 (Mr of N2 = 28g/mol)" None of this makes much sense to me (I know squat about chemistry :-[) I did look into krypton and couldn't find much info on it so I moved on to other elements (also partially due to the Superman connection :)) Would you mind rephrasing for me?
• "Is argon too heavy" I don't know. I'm guessing that in order to have an evenly mixed atmosphere I'll need to pick something very close to oxygen (C, N, F, Ne)... Which looks like in the end I'm stuck with N, or have I figured this wrong?

[billnotgatez]

I am rooting for argon being released by mining on the moon and iron oxide being converted to oxygen. Thus the atmosphere would be created in the amounts necessary for life. The moon would be different from earth because the argon would have its own coloring effect. What I do not know is if argon alone would be too heavy for respiration. Of course helium could be there in a smaller amount.
We have to remember though that nitrogen is an important constituent of life so we may need substantial amounts of that also. I suppose if there were deposits of ammonia on the moon that can be converted to water and nitrogen, assuming oxygen is present. Somehow some carbon dioxide would have to be added so that plant life could thrive for photosynthesis to occur. That would take care of the carbon dioxide and oxygen cycle for animal life to respire. Knowledge of environmental chemistry would be important if I were to write a sci-fi story. I guess that is why writers like Asimov had a large knowledge base of science.

oops
I meant ammonia instead of methane – ammonia combined with oxygen would give nitrogen and water.
Methane with oxygen would give carbon dioxide and water.
I edited the mistake

[billnotgatez]

Upon further reflection combining ammonia with oxygen may not initially create nitrogen. Instead it may create nitrogen oxide which would have to be further reacted to get nitrogen.

I guess I would not be a good terra-former