Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by pilsetnieks 2027 days ago
That's why Mars is all rotten through and through.
2 comments

Well, perhaps it is? We don't know if there is life in Mars. Or if there was life at any point of its history.
It indeed is - it's rusted.
Rot is decomposition of organic matter; rust is a chemical reaction, oxidation, in fact.
That may have been a pun on rust the fungus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(fungus)
From practical point of view, rusting is just inorganic version of rotting via oxidizing agents. Both happen naturally over time, given appropriate environment, and both result in interesting/useful stuff turning into less interesting/useful stuff.