Researchers believe they have finally solved the mystery of how the Earth was formed

• The theory explains the Earth’s distinctive chemical composition.

• The resolution can help tell the story of the other planets;

• Researchers believe that the Earth formed slowly through a gravitational field.

In addition to answering the mystery of how our planet got here, the theory will explain the strange chemical composition of Earth. a land. It can help to know History of other planets Like us too.

“The prevailing theory in astrophysics and cosmology is that the Earth formed from cartilaginous asteroids. These are relatively simple and small clumps of rocks and minerals that formed early in the Solar System.

“The problem with this theory is that no combination of these chondrites can explain the exact composition of the Earth, which is poorer in light and volatile elements, such as hydrogen and helium, than we expected,” the professor said.

Researchers have come up with many ideas over the years to explain this, suggesting that the collision of the raw materials that shaped the Earth generated a huge amount of heat and vaporized the lighter elements.

However, the isotopic composition of the Earth seems to indicate otherwise: “All isotopes of a chemical element have the same number of protons, albeit with different numbers of neutrons. Isotopes with fewer neutrons are lighter, and therefore must run away more easily.”

“If the heating evaporation theory is correct, we would find fewer light isotopes on Earth today than the original chondrites. But that is exactly what isotopic measurements don’t show.”

Researchers began searching for a better answer. The planets in the Solar System are thought to have formed over time, with smaller grains growing in the minor planets — tiny bodies of accumulating gas and dust — accumulating material through their gravity.

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Unlike chondrites, young planets have been heated enough to create a separation between their mineral core and the rocky mantle; Moreover, minor planets that formed in different regions around the Sun, or at different times, could have markedly different chemical compositions.

The team ran simulations of thousands of small planets colliding to see if they could produce objects similar to Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Simulations show that not only can a mixture of many different minor planets be Earth, but a planet with Earth composition is the most statistically likely outcome.

“Even if we suspected it, we still found this result very impressive,” says Professor Susi.

“Now we not only have a mechanism that better explains the formation of the Earth, but we also have a reference to explain the formation of other rocky planets,” says the researcher.

“The mechanism can be used, for example, to predict how the composition of Mercury differs from that of other rocky planets. Or how rocky exoplanets might form from other stars.”