Expansionary Institute

STUDY: Earth Coalesced into Planet Much Quicker Than Believed (Expansionary Theory),

STUDY: Earth Coalesced into Planet Much Quicker Than Believed
Earth Took 20 Million Years to Form into a Planet

A meticulous study of two elements found in meteorites has led researchers to surmise that it took Earth 20 million years to coalesce into a planet rather than the 50 million years previously believed

The group studied radioactive forms of the elements niobium and zirconium found in samples of meteorites. Because meteorites are the oldest objects of our solar system available for study, scientists use their components as a kind of radioactive chronometer to help estimate time intervals separating events during the formation of the solar system, including the formation of the Earth.

While recent attempts to use the niobium-zirconium chronometer had produced the 50-million-year estimate, the group reported the new 20-million-year figure is the result of performing mineral separations in the samples for the first time, and using extreme precautions to maintain the purity of the samples. Researchers used special processing equipment, anti-contamination air flow and filters, magnetic separation devices and a wide range of chemical separation techniques to avoid any interference by foreign materials.

Brigitte Zanda-Hewins, an adjunct member of the graduate faculty at Rutgers University department of geological sciences and associate professor at the mineralogy laboratory of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, is among a group of researchers publishing its findings in the journal Science, today.

"We designed an extremely careful approach to separate the minerals and isolate the right ones," she said.

Source: Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Cosmiverse Staff Writer

Wed Mar 13