Originally published August 9 2005
Scientists ponder new moon gas theory
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Scientists think they have found why the moon is full of nitrogen: They believe it came from Earth.
If the idea is correct, then the Moon could serve as an attic of information that could reveal when Earth's magnetic field was jumpstarted shortly after the planet formed.
The Moon is thought to have formed when a Mars-sized object slammed into Earth in a glancing blow that kicked up a bunch of superheated material.
It was all so hot that nitrogen and other so-called volatile elements didn't survive, theoretically leaving the Moon bereft of them.
But examinations of lunar soil brought back by Apollo astronauts finds plenty of nitrogen.
The new scenario is based on the possibility that Earth's magnetic field was not born with the planet 4.5 billion years ago, but developed sometime thereafter when the molten iron core took on a "differential rotation," meaning the outer and inner parts of the core rotate at different rates.
The magnetic field serves as a protective shield, blocking many (but not all) of the charged particles that stream in from the Sun and keeping cosmic rays largely at bay, too.
Before the magnetic field formed, nitrogen molecules in Earth's atmosphere broke down into nitrogen ions, and ions in the outer atmosphere escaped freely to the Moon, Ozima's team figures.
If that's the case, then scientists should be able to find out when the magnetic field turned on by checking if the amount of nitrogen is significantly higher in lunar soil of a particular age.
The Moon may in fact contain different flavors of nitrogen from all three sources -- the Sun, interplanetary dust particles, and Earth, says Bernard Marty, a French researcher who wrote an analysis of the concept for Nature.
"Ozima and colleagues' hypothesis is nonetheless thought-provoking, and has the merit of being testable," Marty writes.
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