It would if the planet was massive enough to hold the atmosphere. But if the planet is small and can only hold a small atmosphere, than anything more that you add to the atmosphere will simply fly off into space. Of course some of the original atmosphere will be pushed out, and some of what you want will stay, but it has to be a slow process, otherwise the stuff you want will fly away.

yea i would think a slow controlled burn would work best, maybe a thermite napalm based burn to allow it to flow and form the starters for rivers and lakes. i was curious about this when i learned what happens from the thermite reaction and wondered why i had never heard it suggested for terraformation

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The military has used it many times in bombs and I found these, but I'm not entirely sure what they mean, (remember, I'm sixteen and still in Biology, Chemistry is next year for me):

When thermite is made using iron (III) oxide, for maximum efficiency it should contain, by mass, 25.3% aluminium and 74.7% iron oxide. (This mixture is sold under the brand name Thermit as a heat source for welding.) The complete formula for the reaction using iron (III) oxide is as follows:

Fe(2)O(3)+2Al--> Al(2)O(3)+2Fe
ΔH = -851.5 kJ/mol

When thermite is made using iron (II,III) oxide, for maximum efficiency it should contain, by mass, 23.7% aluminium and 76.3% iron oxide. The formula for the reaction using iron (II,III) oxide:

3Fe(3)O(4)+8Al--> 4Al(2)O(3)+9Fe
ΔH = -3347.6 kJ/mol

Interestingly, a modified version of this process (run under an inert atmosphere) can be used to produce a number of alloys—the mixture is usually ignited electrically. This approach has been used to prepare Ni-Al Alloys amongst others.

I used parentheses to differentiate between, say 2HOH and H(2)O.

I think that thermite definitely has potential in terraforming.

Source is the thermite article on wikipedia.

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