Where did all the Earths water come from?

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In summary, the source of Earth's water is a topic of ongoing research and debate. Some theories suggest that it came from the primordial gas cloud that formed our solar system, while others propose that it was delivered later through meteoric bombardment. However, the abundance of oxygen in Earth's crust suggests that the oxygen in the atmosphere is not solely from accretion, but also from some other replenishing process. Additionally, it is unclear why Earth has the most water of any planet, and the role of Jupiter's gravitational shield in potentially deflecting meteorites is still being studied.
  • #36
Yeah they are a unique look, sort of makes me second guess the vast differences between the front / back side, and the solar systems, "largest crater".

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jaxa moon

jaxa_moon.png


Anyways, here is a article explaining why water originating outside of the solar system may have grown to popularity, and an alternate view explaining it may be Earth brewed.http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12693-Earth's-water-brewed-at-home-not-in-space.html

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.

Also, chemical reactions favour the gradual exchange of hydrogen in water molecules for deuterium. Genda and Ikoma conclude from their calculations that that the oceans might well have been chemically manufactured right here on Earth.
Oh... and here is lightning on Mars...

http://www.space.com/7102-lightning-detected-mars.html

"We saw the lightning," said Christopher Ruf of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who first developed the new detector for use on Earth-orbiting weather satellites.
OMG... here is someone suggesting there is a form of lightning on the Moon...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/11/101118-science-space-full-moon-electric-charge/

A strong electric field near the surface was discovered by the Kayuga (Selene) lunar orbiter, managed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

JAXA launched the Kaguya probe in 2007. The craft orbited at a mere 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the moon's surface for 20 months, returning the first high-definition movies of the lunar landscape.

I mean it's probably nothing comparable to the Earth, however that's interesting...

Especially considering I have previously read people trying to link noctilucent clouds formation on the Aurora Borealis...

300px-Helkivad_%C3%B6%C3%B6pilved_Kuresoo_kohal.jpg


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud
 
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  • #37
Oh, here is an article mentioning the amount of Hydrogen and Oxygen in the mesopause

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/JD095iD10p16457/abstract

Atomic oxygen and atomic hydrogen have been inferred from the hydroxyl airglow measurements on Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) spacecraft between 0.01 and 0.0013 mbar (80–93 km). This constitutes the first measurements of the seasonal and latitudinal variations of these atomic species, in the mesopause region.

Article says "first measurements" and is published in 2012 September, so perhaps this is new information to the science community?

As it was already mentioned that Hydrogen doesn't exist in quantities large enough, earlier in this thread.

Anyways, the Mesopause Region is where all the sprite lighting occurs and notulecent clouds form.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud

Night clouds or noctilucent clouds are tenuous cloud-like phenomena that are the "ragged-edge" of a much brighter and pervasive polar cloud layer called polar mesospheric clouds in the upper atmosphere, visible in a deep twilight.
 
  • #38
Just a quick interjection: a chemical reaction occurs only on the exterior of atoms with the electrons. The nucleus of the atoms themselves are not affected. The electrons around the nucleus simply change positions around the nucleus creating a structure that locks the two atoms together in a bond.
Nuclear fusion and nuclear fission is when the nucleus of the atoms themselves change either by breaking apart or colliding to a bigger nucleus. This forms entirely new elements and requires enormous amounts of energy far above the scale of any chemical reaction. This kind of process does not occur naturally anywhere on Earth (maybe in the center I'm not sure). It pretty much only occurs naturally in stars. I heard once that the water we have on Earth is from comets but I'm not sure If that is the major consensus. I'm almost completely sure it's not formed from chemical reactions of lightning in the air and definitely not created new matter. Lightning creating new matter goes against the first law of thermodynamics. Water is a stable compound and chemically is not disappearing anywhere except in plants when they are making glucose. But we replace that water when we metabolize glucose.
 
  • #39
Delong. Yes... no new matter is required. Hydrogen and Oxygen fuse, in a eletro chemical process. Gamma ray bursts, the some of the brightest events observed in the universe, normally in distant Galaxies have been found to exist above storm clouds.ON A SIDE NOTE

The Swiss are already firing lasers into the sky to make preciipitation with the intent rainfall.

The Chinese are already lacing clouds with silver iodine to promote conductivity.Ever smell Ozone during a lightning storm? Ever heard a thunder clap, followed by a fast downpour?

Great Day Outside!

:D
 
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  • #40
Drakkith said:
Earth may have the most visible water of all the planets, but there's no telling how much might be in the gas giants under their outer atmosphere. Even if Jupiter has a small fraction of a percent of water composing it, it could be MORE than all the water on the earth. However I really don't know, so don't take that as a fact..

The last figures I saw on an estimation of the composition of Jupiter's atmosphere put the water content at 0.0004% but considering Jupiter's Mass that figure comes out to approximately 50% of Earths total mass.

Thats a lot of water :)
 

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