Scientists Identified The Theories Behind Formation Of Moon From The First Nuclear Explosion Of Earth

It’s been almost 70 years, Scientists from Manhattan Project tested their first Nuclear bomb during the World war II. Now, scientists have found radioactive glass from the testing site that reveals the theories behind the formation of Moon.

A group of Scientist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diago started examining on the chemical components of the green-colored glass. This radioactive glass is known as trinitite. Researchers found Zinc(Zn) and other volatile materials from the trinitite that was formed by the intense temperature, resulted from the plutonium bomb explosion.

According to ScienceDaily, those glass samples were collected between 10 meters (30 feet) and 250 meters (800 feet) radius from the ground zero at the trinity site, New Mexico. Scientists compared the test samples that was collected from the various distances of detonation site. Closest samples of the test site drained more Zinc and other volatile elements. The zinc that was collected from the test samples, enriched with a heavier amount of less-reactive isotopes.

Amount of Zinc and other volatile materials were lower at the nearest zones because those elements were evaporated due to the higher temperature. Scripps geoscientist James Day and the lead researcher of the study, said in a statement,“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 leftover materials from the event”. Their findings were first published on Feb. 8 in the journal of Science Advances.

The Same type of chemical reaction happened during the collision between Earth and a Mars-sized planetary body. Debris ejected from the collision course ultimately formed the Moon by getting together. According to the research by Dr. Day and his colleagues, there are huge similarities between lunar rocks and trinitite. Both of them are exhausted with volatile elements and no sign of water. This new study provides a new theory behind the formation of the moon that proves the giant impact theory.