New study proves Moon was created in massive planetary collision

New study proves Moon was created in massive planetary collision
(phys.org)

(Phys.org)—It's a big claim, but Washington University in St. Louis planetary scientist Frédéric Moynier says his group has discovered evidence that the Moon was born in a flaming blaze of glory when a body the size of Mars collided with the early Earth.

The evidence might not seem all that impressive to a nonscientist: a tiny excess of a heavier variant of the element zinc in Moon rocks. But the enrichment probably arose because heavier zinc atoms condensed out of the roiling cloud of vaporized rock created by a catastrophic collision faster than lighter zinc atoms, and the remaining vapor escaped before it could condense.

Scientists have been looking for this kind of sorting by mass, called isotopic fractionation, since the Apollo missions first brought Moon rocks to Earth in the 1970s, and Moynier, PhD, assistant professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences—together with PhD student, Randal Paniello, and colleague James Day of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography—are the first to find it.

It's one of those questions many might have thought settled long ago, but the science was never quite there to definitively say whether the moon was created in a planetary collision, captured as a rogue body, or formed at the same time as the Earth. This shows once again the perseverance of science in answering these questions.

As long as no-one shows me how he smacks two footballs together and creates a perfectly shaped baseball from the impact, I am not convinced.

I mean a tiny speck of Nickel .. really now ?

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
As long as no-one shows me how he smacks two footballs together and creates a perfectly shaped baseball from the impact, I am not convinced.

I mean a tiny speck of Nickel .. really now ?

Of Course!! The moon broke off the Earth, formed and then got in to perfect orbit and rotation and then started controlling our tides!!

What part about that don't you understand?

reply to post by H1ght3chHippie


But it is not just Nickel, its the heavier variant.

This is the important thing

it didn't have to be from a solid body impact.

it could have been catastrophic in some other way... I think that should be reworded.

Didn't Velikovsky say this?..in Worlds In Collision...

A99

Originally posted by akushla99
Didn't Velikovsky say this?..in Worlds In Collision...

A99

YES, many, many, many, ...years ago, and so the so called ancient miths wolrd-wide.

As usual, we arrived too late....
Star.
S&F to the OP.

I'm not saying it isn't an interesting observation but a rolling dust cloud doesn't have to mean a mars sized object hit the earth.

I'm not sure how they get that part from the observation they made.

Originally posted by Arken

Originally posted by akushla99
Didn't Velikovsky say this?..in Worlds In Collision...

A99

YES, many, many, many, ...years ago, and so the so called ancient miths wolrd-wide.

As usual, we arrived too late....

Star.
S&F to the OP.

edit on 18-10-2012 by Arken because: (no reason given)

YET again your are wrong!!!

Worlds in Collision is a book written by Immanuel Velikovsky and first published April 3, 1950. The book postulated that around the 15th century BCE, Venus was ejected from Jupiter as a comet or comet-like object, and passed near Earth (an actual collision is not mentioned)

Care to explain

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
As long as no-one shows me how he smacks two footballs together and creates a perfectly shaped baseball from the impact, I am not convinced.

I mean a tiny speck of Nickel .. really now ?

But these weren't two bouncy footballs, they were enormous (by human standards) balls of rock and metal, with plenty of kinetic energy. When two such objects collide, the rock and metal shatter and melt. The heavier metal sinks into the proto-Earth, and the lighter rock is ejected into an orbit around the Earth. In time, the ejecta coalesces together and, due to gravity, forms a ball.

Originally posted by wildespace

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
As long as no-one shows me how he smacks two footballs together and creates a perfectly shaped baseball from the impact, I am not convinced.

I mean a tiny speck of Nickel .. really now ?

But these weren't two bouncy footballs, they were enormous (by human standards) balls of rock and metal, with plenty of kinetic energy. When two such objects collide, the rock and metal shatter and melt. The heavier metal sinks into the proto-Earth, and the lighter rock is ejected into an orbit around the Earth. In time, the ejecta coalesces together and, due to gravity, forms a ball.

Exactly!

Hang on, Is it just me or hasn't this been known for like, Ever, I've always thought this is what happened.

reply to post by crackfox


It was a hypothesis, just one of several. This discovery actually provides some evidence to support it.
en.wikipedia.org...

It's like with the Andromeda collision. We kinda "knew" that the Andromeda galaxy will collide with us, but the recent calculations gave it a certainty.

reply to post by wildespace


Aaaah, Thanks.

reply to post by wildespace


Not exactly true. It is known that the Moon came from Earth, but there are problems for the Impact Theory. For instance, the planet colliding with Earth should have different Isotopes, and for most simulations, the Moon should be made up mostly of material from the proto-planet, not Earth. The fact we see all Earth material on the Moon is strange.

Now we have more evidence of it, and there are simulations that fit an impact and mostly Earth material on the Moon. So we are still learning the specifics of what likely happened.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


The Moon hitting the earth is nothing new to science ?

Yeah because we don't witness the BIRTH of new stars on a daily basis now in outer space.......That should mean nothing.......SCIENCE proves that the moon collided with Earth, so we should believe it to be true....

Sorry for my ignorance, but this is horse $H!T.......

Star to the OP....Doesn't mean it isn't a good topic of conversation, just didn't happen......

Originally posted by Chrisfishenstein
Yeah because we don't witness the BIRTH of new stars on a daily basis now in outer space.......That should mean nothing.......SCIENCE proves that the moon collided with Earth, so we should believe it to be true....

Sorry for my ignorance, but this is horse $H!T.......

Star to the OP....Doesn't mean it isn't a good topic of conversation, just didn't happen......

Correct the Moon didn't hit the Earth, another object formed in the early solar system did that collision with the Earth then formed the Moon.

All of this happened in the early history of the Solar System. Calling the proto-planet in Earth's orbit "Earth" is a bit misleading. There were no oceans, continents, trees... probably a toxic atmosphere composed CO2 and other volatiles, not unlike Venus today. So, please don't imagine Mars smashing into North America and spitting the fully formed Moon out of the Pacific!