Thursday, September 19, 2024

Here’s How Water Came to Earth, New Research Suggests

Scientists of the Star and Planet Formation from the University of Copenhagen, Isaac Onyett, have proposed a new theory about the origin of water on Earth, stating that it was absorbed from Earth’s space because the Earth was young and thirsty.

The theory is published in the most prestigious journal ‘Nature’, stating that almost 4.5 billion years ago when the sun was born, it was surrounded by a proto-planetary disk 9disk of dust and gas) during the initial stages. The tiny dust particles might have been quickly taken up by forming planets, producing a ‘thirst’ for water.

As explained by the scientists that the proto-planetary disk also contained icy particles and just like a vacuum cleaner, it captured icy particles as well. Martin Schiller, a member of the team, stated that their theory of planets formation suggests that they were formed due to the gradual collision of bodies which increased their sizes progressively. In that case, the presence of water must be a chance event.

Scientists explained their theory using silicon isotopes measuring the process of planet formation with timescale involved. The isotopes were evaluated in more than 60 meteorites, producing a connection between Earth and other planetary bodies in the solar system.

Concluding the theory, the geochemists expressed that any formation of a planetary body like Earth would have water, being at the right distance from sun.

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