Origin of Earth’s volatile chemicals liked to meteorites: Research

Subject: Science and Tech

Section: Solar system

Context:

Researchers at Imperial College, London have uncovered the likely far-flung origin of Earth’s volatile chemicals, some of which form the building block of life.

Details:

Researchers took 18 meteorites of different origins, 11 from inner solar sytem known as non-carbonaceous meteorites, and 7 from outer solar systems known as carbonaceous meteorites.

Research findings:

Researchers found that half of the Earth’s inventory of volatile element zinc came from the asteroid originating in the outer solar system– the part beyond the asteroid belt.
This material is also expected to have supplied other important volatiles such as water.
Volatiles: are elements or compounds that change from solid or liquid state into vapour at relatively low temperatures.
- They include the six most common elements found in living organisms as well as water.
- The addition of these materials is important for the emergence of life on earth.
Earlier scientists have thought that most of the volatiles come from the asteroids near earth.
Significance of the findings:
- The finding is important in understanding the clues about how earth came to harbour the special conditions needed to sustain life.
- Our solar system plays a bigger role than previously thought, without the contribution of our solar systems earth would have a much lower amount of volatiles, which would have made the earth drier and unable to sustain lifeform.

Asteroid belt:

The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centred on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars.
It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets.
The identified objects are of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, and on average are about one million kilometres (or six hundred thousand miles) apart.
This asteroid belt is also called the main asteroid belt or main belt to distinguish it from other asteroid populations in the Solar System.