Saturday, June 07, 2014

Was the Moon Created by a Giant Collision? German Scientists Say Most Deff

 
Most theories about the formation of the Moon use a "Huge Impact" a a probable cause for the Moon's creation.  Problem? Oh yes, analysis of samples from the moon show that they are identical with those of Earth's.  No third planet material is detected in either samples, which is a major setback to proving said theory.  

Now a German team has re-examined the moon rock samples and discovered a measurable difference in the ratio of Oxygen isotopes with the samples having a slightly higher concentration of Oxygen 17 than Earth rock does, which the researchers claim is evidence that a rogue planet played a part in the formation of the moon.

Of course not everyone is sold.  Critics of the updated huge impactor suggest that they would    expect a more radical difference in chemical compositions between Earth and the theoretical huge asteroid.  The German team also had only a small sample set to work with, but the lead researcher is pretty convinced: "This confirms the giant impact hypothesis."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

" Critics of the updated huge impactor suggest that they would expect a more radical difference in chemical compositions between Earth and the theoretical huge asteroid."

Why? What if the asteroid or small planet simply had always been nearby to earth and was formed about the same time from similar material?

Beam Me Up said...

You know, that didnt make a whole lot of sense either except that chemical analysis of asteroid debris shows a substantial difference in several oxygen isotopes. I would expect that if one observation is true then any others in the same vein would have to follow the same rules.

Thanks ANON