What caused the water to apear on Earth?

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Ivanovich, Dec 21, 2007.

  1. Ivanovich Registered Member

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    Why other planets does not have water, what caused so much water on earth, what we know about water (except chemical formula), what is water if you think globally in universe scale ?
     
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  3. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    But now planetary scientists in Japan suggest the oceans were actually "home-grown" – they may have formed because the young Earth had a thick

    blanket of hydrogen, which reacted with oxides in the Earth's mantle to form lakes and seas.

    "Water is essential for the origin and evolution of life," says Hidenori Genda from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. "Why does water exist on Earth, where

    did it come from? These are fundamental questions for human beings."

    Scientists believe that just after the Earth formed, it was very hot and dry. Theory also suggests that millions of water-rich comets and asteroids

    bombarded our planet around 3.8 billion years ago, neatly explaining why oceans later appeared.

    What's more, the ratio of deuterium – or "heavy hydrogen" because it contains a neutron in addition to a proton – to hydrogen in our sea water matches

    the value found in water-rich asteroids, suggesting a common origin.

    But Genda and his colleague Masahiro Ikoma suggest another possibility. They say the Earth could have had a thick atmosphere of hydrogen, which reacted

    with oxides in the Earth's mantle to produce copious water.


    http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn12693-earths-water-brewed-at-home-not-in-space.html
     
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  5. Ivanovich Registered Member

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    I do think something like this too I believe its because earth position at this alienation from sun caused chemical reaction or something that caused water to appear.

    I heard there is some evidence that water was once on mars too, you think could it dry up or froze because sun changed its "shining" strength at some point of time and mars went out of the positive range and got frozen? Is there any evidence that sun was "shining" bit stronger or weaker in the past?

    Also how do frozen water gets on asteroids and comets?
     
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  7. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    There is water everywhere in the solar system. Earth, mars, the moons of jupiter and saturn, and many other places.
     
  8. John99 Banned Banned

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    As far as i know there could be hundreds\thousands even millions of planets similar to Earth.
     
  9. Ivanovich Registered Member

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    Have not heard about any planet in solar system that is PROVEN to have any water even frozen.

    Could be, but this is answer to what question?
     
  10. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    Too bad. You're missing out on some really interesting discoveries.
     
  11. Ivanovich Registered Member

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    I think i remember europa moon was mentioned in some documentary, but i am not sure, so whats planets proven to have ice?
     
  12. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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  13. blobrana Registered Senior Member

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    As a rule of thumb, it is probably safe to say that there are very few places that don't have H20.

    A more interesting question is does anyone know of somewhere in the solar system that doesn't have water/ice/steam?
     
  14. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    There probably aren't any that don't have some. Even the solar atmosphere has traces of H2O.
     
  15. blobrana Registered Senior Member

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    Hum,
    Perhaps some metallic Apollo asteroid.
     
  16. John99 Banned Banned

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    I was answering this:
    If they have water that alone would make them similar. Do you mean salt water, fresh water or something else?
     
  17. blobrana Registered Senior Member

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    The water that is present on the Earth was mostly delivered here by asteroid and cometary impacts.
    The reason why it is still mostly here is perhaps due to the Earths magnetic field, which has protected the atmosphere from the solar wind, and the physical size, and orbit of the earth.
    The earth's orbit also plays a part in the chances of that water being in liquid form. Another factor why it is in a liquid form is, i suspect, the presence of life forms, and tectonics.
     
  18. kaneda Actual Cynic Registered Senior Member

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    Ivanovitch. Ceres in the asteroid belt, about 580 miles in diameter and speherical is said to have more FRESH water than Earth. We know there's a fair bit on one of the poles of the Moon where the sunlight never reaches. A thread started here the other day showed frozen water on the surface of Mars. We have found traces of water on at least one planet outside our solar system.
     
  19. Ivanovich Registered Member

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    How they happen to have water on them?
     
  20. blobrana Registered Senior Member

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    Same as how they happen to have silicon, carbon, methane, etc in them.

    An alternative title for this thread could be `What caused XXXXX to appear on Earth?`.
    (Replace the XXXXX with your substance or element)
     
  21. blobrana Registered Senior Member

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    Deleted.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2007
  22. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I BELIEVE that dark matter is actually small ice crystals or some form of ice.
     
  23. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    Only one?

    http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071013.html

    You really need to do a search for water in the solar system. It's everywhere, in solid and liquid form. We've found "traces" (!) on dozens of worlds. Wake up.
     

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