very rare type of helium gas It is called “primordial helium” or even “helium-3”, and it escapes from a nucleus a landAccording to a new study Published in the scientific journal Geochemistry, geophysics and geological systems At the end of March.
Primordial helium is an isotope – or “variant” – that is much rarer than ordinary helium, because it has only one neutron in its nucleus instead of the usual two. According to the researchers, it is “one of the wonders of nature” that can help us understand in depth the history of the Earth, where this type of gas appeared in a blast the great explosionThe event that led to the birth of the universe 13.8 billion years ago.
publicity celebrity
Read also
On Earth, primordial helium makes up 0.0001% of all helium on the planet. It can be created by a number of processes – such as radioactive weathering of tritium, It is a rare isotope of hydrogen. The fact that it escapes from our heart is nothing new: Scientists estimate that this escape corresponds to about two kilograms (kg) of material per year – enough to fill a balloon the size of a table.
But researchers didn’t know exactly how much helium-3 came from the Earth’s core compared to the mantle, nor how much of it is in our “natural reservoirs.” To answer this question, researchers at the University of New Mexico compared two models of Earth — one during the formation of our planet (when primordial helium was still accumulating) and the other after. moon formation (when assumed, Collision with another planetary body The satellite formed and made us lose a lot of gas).
According to Peter Olson, a geophysicist and lead author of the study, not all of the gas was expelled after the impact. What remained here continued to flow through the interior of the Earth. It makes sense that the core is its reservoir because it is “less susceptible to large impacts compared to other parts of the Earth system”.
By comparing the isotope’s behavior with its escape rate, the authors determined that there were about 10 teragrams (10 million tons) of primordial helium in the Earth’s core. Our exchange model [de hélio-3] During the formation and evolution of the earth, the core of the mineral is meant planet Like a leaking tank, but it supplies the gas to the rest of the earth.”
However, the study itself admits that its results are not definitive, due to the fact that its authors have to make a series of assumptions. These assumptions, along with many other uncertainties, may indicate that there is less primordial helium in our cores than the study predicts.
Have you seen our new videos on Youtube? Subscribe to our channel!
“Friendly zombie fanatic. Analyst. Coffee buff. Professional music specialist. Communicator.”
