A new theory suggests we can thank a 4.4 billion-year-old collision with a planet like Mercury for Earth's life-giving carbon.
CBC Radio ·
The ratio of volatile elements in Earth’s mantle suggests that virtually all of the planet’s life-giving carbon came from a collision with an embryonic planet approximately 100 million years after Earth formed. (A. Passwaters/Rice University based on original courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)
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Quirks and Quarks8:54Billion Year Old Carbon Mystery Solved - 2016/11/19
The source of Earth's carbon has long been a big mystery for scientists.
Carbon is an essential element for life on Earth. Every element of life you can think of contains carbon as its main building block. And due to its molecular personality, all the carbon present as the Earth was forming was either lost to space or became locked in our planet's metallic core.
A schematic depiction of early Earth’s merger with an embryonic planet similar to Mercury, a scenario supported by new high-pressure, high-temperature experiments at Rice University. Magma ocean processes could lead planetary embryos to develop silicon- or sulfur-rich metallic cores and carbon-rich outer layers. If Earth merged with such a planet early in its history, it could explain how Earth acquired its carbon and sulfur. (Rajdeep Dasgupta)
So there really hasn't been a single, good theory for where we got our carbon from, until now.
A new theory developed by Dr. Rajdeep Dasgupta from Rice University suggests we can thank a planet like Mercury for all the life-giving carbon on Earth today.
