Nuclear Explosion On Earth Simulates The Giant Impact Hypothesis Of The Moon’s Formation

Out of the several Moon formation theories proposed over the years, the giant impact hypothesis of the Moon's formation is most widely accepted. It seems scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, have found yet another proof of it.

James Day and his team studied the glass formed in the sand, near the ground-zero site of the first-ever nuclear blast made my men. The U.S. Army tested its first-ever nuclear bomb at the Trinity site, in the Southern New Mexico, on July 16, 1945.

Due to the heat and energy produced in the blast, the top layer of the sandy soil melted and led to the formation of a green color glassy layer, which is often referred to as trinitite. The trinitite can be found scattered in a region spreading 1,150 feet from the point of detonation of the nuclear bomb, Scientific American reported.

Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography tested the green radioactive glass obtained at a site, which is about 800 feet from the ground zero and tested its elemental composition. The study results published in the Science Advances journal revealed that the glass was almost completely devoid of water molecules and volatile elements, such as zinc. The small traces of zinc they did find were heavier, less reactive radioisotopes of zinc with a different atomic mass.

Lead researcher of the study, James Day, said, "The results show that evaporation at high temperatures, similar to those at the beginning of planet formation, leads to the loss of volatile elements and to enrichment in heavy isotopes in the left over materials from the event."

Science Daily reported that the scientists found extreme similarities between the elemental composition of the radioactive glass and the samples obtained from the surface of the Moon. The giant impact hypothesis of the Moon's formation proposes that a similar high-energy explosion caused due to collision between ancient Earth and a Mars-like celestial body led to the formation of the Moon. The high temperature produced as a result of the explosion may have caused the evaporation of the volatile elements like zinc, scientists say.

Day said that the present study "gives us confidence that we're interpreting the data from these lunar rocks in the right way."