Word: vapor
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...quantity on Mars? Quite probably, say Plummer and Carson. The thin Martian atmosphere consists largely of carbon dioxide; it also contains a trace of carbon monoxide, which may be vented from Martian volcanoes. Under intense ultraviolet radiation from the sun, the two gases could combine into carbon-suboxide vapor. Indeed, the two scientists were able to simulate that very reaction in the laboratory. Their experiment also demonstrated that when the temperature is high enough, the vapor could solidify into a fine granular material, turn yellow and precipitate onto the Martian surface. Where would such a "snowfall" occur? Most likely...
...chart, page 59) is an extraordinarily thin global envelope that sustains the only known life in the universe. At least 400 million years ago, some primeval accident allowed plant life to enrich the atmosphere to a life-supporting mixture of 20% oxygen, plus nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide and water vapor. With uncanny precision, the mixture was then maintained by plants, animals and bacteria, which used and returned the gases at equal rates. The result is a closed system, a balanced cycle in which nothing is wasted and everything counts...
...though, is that such particles will not shower to the ground in rain or snow. The supersonic transport will fly at 60,000 ft., where there is no atmospheric turbulence or weather to bring pollutants down to earth. Even assuming that the plane has a fumeless engine, the water vapor in its exhaust may accumulate in the stratosphere, reflecting sunlight away from the earth...
Threatening Thimble. So far, the total quantity made in Russia, the U.S. and Britain would fill little more than a thimble. But researchers are busily making more, and the process is surprisingly simple. A vacuum is created in a bowl that contains tiny glass capillary tubes; water vapor is introduced into the vacuum, and in two or three days polywater collects in the capillaries. Scientists conjecture that polywater's strange properties might eventually make it useful as a superlubricant, a substitute for antifreeze, or fuel for an extraordinarily efficient steam engine...
...good whiff hinted another way in which the reading was going to depart from Robert Lowell's format. There were about three parts of grass vapor to one part of oxygen in the room, and after a few deep breaths we had caught up to everyone else...