Nature World Today

Nature's Best Site

Collision Experiment Shows How Water May Have Come to Earth

by 24 Comments

Researchers from Brown and John Hopkins University have shed light on how water may have first arrived on Earth, according to new research in the journal Science Advances. Water is one of the most common substances on our planet. Even so, nobody is sure how it initially got here. The question has perplexed scientists for years because, though there is a chance it came from ice-laden comets, it could have also come via a large collision.

“Water is critical to life as we know it, and it’s also essential to the evolution of planets,” explained lead author Terik Daly, a planetary geologist at Brown University, according to Popular Science. “Water changes the way rocks behave, so the timing of when water arrives on Earth really affects its geological evolution. We’ve known for awhile that asteroids and comets carry water, and that’s probably how water came to Earth. But the details of that process have kind of been a black box.”

To shed light on such mysteries, the team in the study used a super-sized gun at NASA’s Ames Research Center to recreate a meteor strike. That then allowed them a chance to see if such impacts had the ability to create water.

123

The team took the gun and used it to launch small rock pellets at a thin bed of pumice powder — a substance that is similar to the surface of an asteroid. That then simulated a water-rich asteroid slamming into the surface of another asteroid.

In the experiment, the rock hit the surface hard enough to melt both rock and pumice into a glass-like substance that held water. In addition, some of that water stuck around after the impact and did not dissolve. Some remained in the projectile blown apart by the impact, but a lot also mixed with the molten glass.

Those findings suggest that two colliding asteroids could potentially move water between them. While the research did not simulate how asteroid impacts affected large bodies like the Earth or the moon, scientists plan to follow up on the findings by closely analyzing asteroids in the solar system that have water signatures on their surface. That will help them better understand the results and potentially give them insight into how both our solar system and Earth first formed.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. 174882 386881Greetings! This really is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I genuinely enjoy reading via your weblog posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics? Thank you so significantly! 216412

  9. 380395 385085Im glad I discovered your article. I would never have made sense of this topic on my own. Ive read a few other articles on this subject, but I was confused until I read yours. 393210

  12. 83745 755590Hi there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a marvellous job! 588889

  18. 52921 629733Aw, it was a really very good post. In concept I ought to put in writing related to this in addition – spending time and actual effort to manufacture a excellent article but exactly what do I say I procrastinate alot and no means discover a strategy to go carried out. 150079

  19. 684487 217360magnificent post, extremely informative. I wonder why the other specialists of this sector do not notice this. You ought to continue your writing. Im sure, youve a terrific readers base already! 524545

  22. 464313 306734Truly fighter messages are supposed to amuse offer praise into the groom and bride. 1st time audio system watching more than the top places really should also remember you see, the senior guideline with the speaking, which is your specific person. very best man speeches brother 646858

  24. 560474 376315This internet site is usually a walk-through its the details you wished about this and didnt know who ought to. Glimpse here, and youll undoubtedly discover it. 833740

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.