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Updated April 19th, 2021 at 17:11 IST

US scientists roast meteorites in lab to recreate formation of planets

A team of scientists at the University of California, US, are roasting meteorites in a lab in a bid to try and recreate the birth of planets.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
US
Image: Pixabay | Image:self
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A team of scientists at the University of California, US, are roasting meteorites in a lab in a bid to try and recreate the birth of planets. Meteorites are often referred to as what was “left over” from the building blocks of our solar system after the Big Bang, which was the explosion that brought the universe into existence. Now, to seek answers regarding the formation of the planet, the scientists said that they are trying to simulate in the laboratory this very early process when a planet’s atmosphere is forming so they can put some experimental constraints on that story. 

Myrian Telus, one of the co-authors of the study published in Nature Astronomy, explained that when the building blocks of a planet are coming together, the material is heated and gases are produced. And if the planet is large enough the gases will be retained as its atmosphere, she added. The idea behind planetary formation is that these planets are composed of something similar to that of their host star or their Sun, which would indicate that their atmospheres should have a rich amount of hydrogen and helium. 

However, when it comes to the process of outgassing, where the meteorites release gas, it shows that water vapour is the primary gas, followed by carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide as the second and third most abundant gases. "Using solar abundances is fine for large, Jupiter-size planets that acquire their atmospheres from the solar nebula, but smaller planets are thought to get their atmospheres more from outgassing," said Telus.

What involves baking a meteorite?

In the study, the researchers at the US Santa Cruz explained that they set up a furnace and connected it to a mass spectrometer and vacuum system. The spectrometer then measured the mass to charge ratio of ions. These measurements are often used to calculate the exact molecular weight of a sample component, such as the amount of water vapour or hydrogen present, the scientists said. They added that the vacuum system, on the other hand, takes care that no material from outside can enter and mix up the results of the test. 

(Image: UCSantaCruz/Website)

The team of scientists picked out the meteorites Murchison, Jbilet Winselwan, and Aguas Zarcas, whose composition is the closest match to that of the sun and planets. They said that these meteorites also did not carry the risk of melting due to the heat from the baking. Additionally, they also believe that these space rocks contain some original elements that can help them to understand the composition of the photovoltaic system across eons of planet formation. 

The rocks were heated to a temperature of 1200 degrees Celsius, and the system studied the gases that were produced due to this. In addition to water vapour, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxides, the team also found small amounts of hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide gases.

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Published April 19th, 2021 at 17:10 IST

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