New clues about how Earth got its moon

According to UCLA, a rock’s volume is comprised of 90% oxygen, and oxygen also accounts for 50% of a rock’s weight.

They previously thought the impact was only a glancing blow – and the Moon was formed from the remnants of Theia.

In June of 2014, a team of German researchers, led by Daniel Herwartz of the University of Cologne, reported using a new technique to separate out oxygen isotopes from samples, and that their technique had detected a very small difference in the number of O and O isotopes in Moon samples when compared to Earth samples.

Young said that the study’s measurements indicate that earth and the moon are identical within the precision.

The theory that the Earth and moon share a composition is not new data (although previous studies have found differing results) but the point Young was making is that, according to the UCLA researchers, had Theia struck Earth from a side angle, the moon would consist mainly of Theia’s matter, which would have a different composition than what is found in Earth rocks.

Young said that if Earth had only received a glancing blow, most of the moon would have been made up of Theia, and the Earth and moon rocks would not be so similar.

If that were true the Moon would be made up of different materials from Earth.

The group utilized condition-of-the-art engineering and processes to create thorough and terribly exact dimensions and confirmed them with the new mass spectrometer of UCLA.

On Earth, 99.9% of the oxygen is dubbed O-16, because each atom is comprised of eight protons and eight neutrons.

Scientists have long known about the 4.5 billion-year-old collision.

However, there also are small quantities of heavier oxygen isotopes: O-17, which have one extra neutron, and O-18, which have two extra neutrons. This high-energy impact due to collision between the two planets formed the moon, according to study lead author Edward Young, a geochemist and cosmochemist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Scientists say it didn’t survive the collision, except for some pieces that got mixed in with the Earth and moon.

When Earth and Theia crashed into Each other, did the early Earth lose any water it might have had?

Theia would have likely become a planet if weren’t for the destructive meeting with the Earth. Some of these asteroids may have been rich in water, Prof.

Citation: “Oxygen isotopic evidence for vigorous mixing during the Moon-forming giant impact”, Edward D. Young, Issaku E. Kohl, Paul H. Warren, David C. Rubie, Seth A. Jacobson & Alessandro Morbidelli.

Matija Cuk, who today works as a research scientist at the SETI Institute, and Prof.

The study is detailed in the latest issue of the journal Science.