A collision with another planet that can allow life on Earth

You are the earth Today’s walking may not be the same planet that was born 4.5 billion years ago. Many scientists believe that in its cradle, the Earth collided with another world of its size MarsAnd instead of its destruction, it was converted, it merges the mass of this strange body to become the planet we know. Modern research adds another layer of connection to this supposed cosmic event: scientists believe that without this other body, the basic conditions of life may not appear on Earth.

A team from Bern University in Switzerland argues that, because of its proximity to the sun, the proto that was present before this possible collision was the main volatile elements to form complex particles. They suggest their analysis of hydrogen, carbon or sulfur, and it evaporates in the first 3 million years of the formation of the Earth’s proto. Thus, if the Earth evolves without external inputs, this is likely to be a more drier world, and more hostile to developing complex life.

On the other hand, if a body was formed on the outskirts of the solar system-a region that produces rocks with abundant water and other volatile elements-and then hit this rocky planet like the Earth’s proto, then this could have provided the strange chemical richness that distinguishes our planet today, even after the primary evaporation of the Earth. This hypothesis is compatible with other proposals that indicate an outside of the ground of the water, which according to the photography of the ice meteorites bombed the primitive land and supported their particles.

In a study published in Science progressThe researchers measured the radioactive decomposition specifically for two counterparts, manganese -53 to chrome -53, in both the ground samples and meteor shrapnel on Earth. Since these space rocks were formed at the same time as the sun and the planets of the solar system, the analysis of its effects and their composition is equivalent to opening a time capsule from the past. By calculating the radiological decomposition of Mengenies -53, researchers revealed the time point where the planets stopped exchanging materials with their environment and the constant chemical elements that they will keep forever.

Their results showed that Proto Earth sealed its elements just 3 million years after the birth of the solar system. Moreover, they found that the proportion of the early planet of Mengenis to the chrome was very low, indicating that the Earth’s proto was a very hot world, able to expel the Mengeans. Since this element is less volatile than the most important elements, such as hydrogen, carbon or sulfur, these should also have escaped.

“Thanks to our results, we know that the Earth’s proteo was initially a dry rocky planet. Therefore, it can be assumed that the collision is just a collision with theia that brought volatile elements to the Earth and made life in the end possible there,” said Pascal Crochet, the first author of the report, at Bern University press release.

Theia is the name of the virtual body that is believed to have hit the Earth’s proto about 4.5 billion years ago. The researchers believe that the effect would have occurred between 30 and 100 million years after the beginning of the solar system – that is, several tens of millions of our planet Dam was known to be a very dry world.

However, the arrival of water and other volatile elements is not equivalent to the emergence of immediate life. It does not result from water alone, but it creates a more chemical and physical environment for other molecules to appear, and with them, the biological processes behind the cells. In this sense, she put the theater, but she did not ignite the spark.

This story was originally appeared on Wireless En español It was translated from Spanish.