A student discussion

A student discussion

Listen to two students comparing Mars and Earth to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Teacher: So you've got a few minutes to discuss with your partner.

Student 1: So, as far as I know, the main similarity between Mars and Earth is that they can both support human life.

Student 2: Yeah, but do we know that's actually true? I mean, Mars is much colder than Earth, isn't it? It says here it's about minus 55 degrees most of the time, whereas on Earth only places like Antarctica get that cold.

Student 1: True. Well then, I suppose you could say both planets are a similar distance from the Sun?

Student 2: No way! Mars is much further away! It says here it's about 228 million kilometres, while Earth is about 150 million.

Student 1: Yes, but in space that's not that far. Jupiter is, like, almost 780 million kilometres. That's why we use astronomical units when we talk about distances in space. Earth is 1 astronomical unit from the Sun and Mars is 1.3. The difference doesn't sound so big when you look at it that way.

Student 2: I see what you mean. Jupiter is 5.2 astronomical units so I guess you're right. What other similarities are there between the two planets?

Student 1: Let's see … not the colour, obviously!

Student 2: Yeah! Earth is called the blue planet and Mars is called the red planet for pretty obvious reasons!

Student 1: Their sizes are pretty different. Mars is about half the size of Earth.

Student 2: What about this? It looks like the days on both planets are almost the same length. Earth's day is 24 hours but Mars's is about half an hour longer.

Student 1: You're right. OK, any other things they both share?

Student 2: I suppose you could say they have water in common.

Student 1: Could you? How?

Student 2: Well, Earth is 70 per cent water and Mars probably had huge oceans in the past. It's just that most of the water there now is probably frozen.

Student 1: Ah, I see. I don't think we can say the air is the same, though. Most of Earth's air is nitrogen and oxygen, but Mars …?

Student 2: Mars doesn't really have air, not compared with Earth. It's got about one per cent as much air as Earth.

Student 1: Right, and it's mostly carbon dioxide.

Student 2: Gravity is another difference. I didn't know this, but Mars has higher gravity than the Moon. But it's much less than on Earth, of course.

Student 1: Oh, yes. It says Mars has about 38 per cent of Earth's gravity.

Teacher: OK, let's see what you've found …

Discussion

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Submitted by Zamig on Sun, 23/07/2023 - 12:20

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No, it`s impossible. As you know we need oxygen to live and additional temperature is very cold on Mars. According to the National Weather Service, average temperatures on Mars are -81 degrees Fahrenheit. It can get to -220 degrees in winter, while in summer, it can be a pleasant +70.

Submitted by rhoda16 on Thu, 20/07/2023 - 01:01

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I don't think so, because mars and earth has a huge difference.

Submitted by AkrmMusa on Tue, 18/07/2023 - 09:53

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There is never a suitble planet instaed of earth, that what I think.

Submitted by david.ochoa13 on Wed, 05/07/2023 - 08:47

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I think people could live in Mars but that must be very expensive. Only imagine all the tecnology you will need to create a city in Mars,the materials, traslate people, create oxigene... that shouldn´t be cheap

Submitted by tasneemesmat037 on Wed, 05/07/2023 - 08:23

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No, I don't think that. Because the March have a many different of the Earth like cold weather, longer distance, no oxygen. I mean there is on life on it. So it's impossible to live in it.

Submitted by drey2005 on Tue, 27/06/2023 - 17:57

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I the people necessitate live on Mars one, if the humans don't stopped the devastation in Earth.

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Submitted by samirakeepitsimple on Sun, 25/06/2023 - 10:15

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i don't think that we could live in mars or in anthor planet rather then the earth cause of many reason the gravity , the percent of water , the type of the air etc.....so we hope that our planet be protcted

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Submitted by elifkglx on Tue, 20/06/2023 - 12:03

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I dont think we can live on Mars in these day according to the datas i learned from this listening exercise. But i believe, in the future we can live on Mars considering technologies improvement

Submitted by mroma on Sat, 17/06/2023 - 21:12

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I don't think we can currently live on Mars, but perhaps in the future there will be technologies that enable us to make Mars more habitable for humans