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Is Earth's Atmosphere an Import?

Posted by Soulskill on from the one-thing-that-wasn't-made-in-china dept.

garg0yle writes "One of the questions about the formation of our planet is: where did the atmosphere come from? One theory is that the oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases were part of the coalescing ball, and 'seeped out' during the final stages of the planet's formation. However, a new article at Wired says isotopic analysis of krypton and xenon indicates that they (and the rest of our atmosphere) may be of extraterrestrial origin, either arriving via comets or being swept up from gas clouds."

29 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Rubbish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm an atmosphere skeptic.

    The existence of the atmosphere is a liberal hoax perpetrated on us by the scientific community.

    Can you see it? No. What are they trying to hide?

    1. Re:Rubbish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Also note how we get no answers refuting these questions brought against it. Seems like they're guilty of something if you ask me.

    2. Re:Rubbish... by pitchpipe · · Score: 2, Funny

      It was totally brought here by liberals to start warming at just the right moment! You see they HATE the US and if they get their way, we'll develop technologies to burn something other than fossil fuels. Don't you see what an evil, ingenious plan that is to bring down the US?! Genius, I tells ya, geni... Oh wait! Crap!

      --
      Look where all this talking got us, baby.
    3. Re:Rubbish... by Tanman · · Score: 3, Funny

      First, the Earth is a SPHERE. Now they talk about atmoSPHERE. Coincidence?

      Now, I'm not saying the same yahoos who say the Earth is round also say some magic dust from outer space fills my lungs with every breath, but don't you think it's interesting that I'm the only one at least asking questions about their true intentions?

    4. Re:Rubbish... by Arthur+Grumbine · · Score: 3, Funny

      Did the atmosphere rape and murder a girl in 1990? There are witnesses to the fact that the atmosphere was at the location of multiple rapes and murders in 1990. While the rapes and murders were happening!! At the very least the atmosphere should be charged as an accomplice, as crime scene investigators have conclusively demonstrated that the alleged rapists and murderers in the majority of the cases would have been unable to perform the heinous deed if the atmosphere.had not been present.

      Who is going to take responsibility for answering our questions? The atmosphere has remained eerily quiet in the face of such bold questions! We must demand answers!

      --
      Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
    5. Re:Rubbish... by martas · · Score: 4, Funny

      For a long time now, I have been afraid to come out with my story, but since this issue has been raised, I just can't stay quiet any longer. It is my duty as a citizen to report that for as long as I can remember, the atmosphere has been orally violating me. What's worse, my parents have known about this all along, and they have stood by and let it go on. In fact, as soon as I was born, they let the atmosphere touch me in the most inappropriate places. I also know of many other individuals who have been subjected to similar treatment by the atmosphere, though I won't name any of them - I will leave it up to them whether or not they decide to follow my example and tell the world about this horrible ongoing abuse.

      I hope the authorities will act upon my testimony, and finally put an end to the atmosphere's series of crimes.

      --
      weinersmith
  2. Weird conclusion by BlueParrot · · Score: 2

    In particular, heavier isotopes of each gas appear in larger proportions in the subterranean samples than they do in the atmosphere.

    This is exactly what I would expect from a diffusion process since heavier atoms would move slower than light ones. Granted the ratios may be too large to be explained in this way, but still.

    Also I dunno how large an effect it would be but in a system the radius of the entire earth, but would the mass difference make a measurable difference due to gravity ?

    1. Re:Weird conclusion by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 3, Funny

      Gravity is a lie perpetrated to keep the people down!

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  3. Who cares? by phantomcircuit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Honestly who cares?

    This has zero relevance to our basic understanding of the formation of the planets. The atmosphere is from some part of space. Whether it is from asteroids more recently than the late stages of the earths formation is kind of useless information.

    1. Re:Who cares? by Kerrigann · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Maybe it would give us hints about what to look for in other solar systems when looking for rocky planets with similar atmospheres?

      Maybe it would tell us something about whether or not our type of atmosphere is rare in the universe?

      Who knows, it might be useful. It should be at least as useful as studying the mating habits of the short-tailed horned lizard, or a million other things scientists study.

    2. Re:Who cares? by kraydel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't know about that being irrelevant information. The formation of our planet seems like something we may want to get as much information as possible about, because it may explain the development of other features, which, in turn, may lead to deeper knowledge about how other planets work.

      --
      I put the 'semen' in 'amusement
    3. Re:Who cares? by Narpak · · Score: 3, Funny

      Honestly who cares?

      Atmospheric scientists?

      --
      The Long Now Foundation
    4. Re:Who cares? by TimSSG · · Score: 3, Informative

      FYI:

      The is only a single Solar System in this universe.
      That is the name out our star system. Please use star system instead of Solar System when not referring to our star system.

      Tim S.

    5. Re:Who cares? by TapeCutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The entire Earth came from dust and gas. Sure some of it may have arrived a little late in big chunks or clouds but the reason our atmosphere has the composition it does now is that life changed it from something like Titan's atmosphere to what we see today. In otherwords life and the atmosphere co-evolved on this planet and they continue to do so, neither would exist in their current form without the other.

      The atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere are collectively know as the biosphere. If we find a spectra from another planet's atmosphere that has a similar composition to ours then our current state of knowledge would demand the conclusion that life created it. And yeah, it's worthwhile looking. IIRC scientists have already determined the atmospheric composition of several exoplanets.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    6. Re:Who cares? by Kerrigann · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wow, 'expoplanet'. Dunno how I typed that.

      It's like the sales-convention planet.

      It will be the first to be nuked out of existence from orbit.

    7. Re:Who cares? by martas · · Score: 3, Insightful

      the full implications of knowledge cannot be predicted.

      --
      weinersmith
  4. Re:comets by noidentity · · Score: 5, Funny

    You forgot to capitalize an instance of "water" in your first and last sentences. I also think you should capitalize "moons", "worldly", and "substances", for good measure.

  5. Wha...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's hard to understand how you can extrapolate a whole atmosphere's origins by looking at a couple of very rare gases like krypton and xenon.

    Given that all the elements that make up the Earth were manufactured in the same solar furnace(s) why is it necessary that some originated separately from others? How do you then explain the huge atmospheres of the Gas Giants? It would take an unlikely number of very large asteroids to do the job.

    This hypothesis suffers from the same shortcomings as the Transpermia idea. It just moves the problem elsewhere, at best.

    1. Re:Wha...? by wizardforce · · Score: 3, Informative

      Incorrect. Isotopic ratios vary depending on the conditions in the planetary nebula that formed our solar system. The disk tends to fractionate into "layers" with refractory materials tending to be toward the sun and volatiles tending to be fairly far away from the sun. Volatiles like Hydrogen and Helium would be expected to accumulate around large terrestrial masses ~50 Earth masses out around Jupiter and beyond. Volatiles like Hydrogen and Helium don't accumulate as significantly near terrestrial planets as close as the Earth is due to the fact that the Earth and similar terrestrials were of insufficient mass to retain significant Hydrogen and Helium. This is due in large part to the density of the nebula which formed our solar system.

      --
      Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
    2. Re:Wha...? by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Oh, dear me. I can *see* the little propellers tied to your wrists helping you wave your hands.

      In this case, the isotopic ratios are small fractions of the differences between the masses of different actual elements. The profound mass differences and related escape velocities of different gaseous _elements_ far overwhelms the differences in masses between the distinct isotopes: thus, any atomic weight related differences are nearly irrelevant. The possible exceptions are tritium and deuterium, which are respectively 3 and 2 times the mass of hydrogen atoms, but they're unstable enough that they're unlikely to come from ancient sources. Rather, they arise as byproducts of certain types of fission, especially tritium. In their cases, plain hydrogen ions or molecules can be lost to interplanetary or interstellar space relatively easily. Deuterium lasts, tritium has a half-life of 12.5 years, so it's long-gone.

      But do _not_ confuse the "density of the nebula" with the mass or the atmosphere of Earth and other planets. I can see where that would be dominated by the overall mass of the nebula from which they formed, but the proximity of the planets to the Sun influences the elimination of atmospheric hydrogen and light chemicals by keeping the planets warmer and allowing them to lose their lighter chemicals to space.

      Some Krypton isotopes are stable and thus more likely to reflect ancient conditions than tritium, for example. And refinement via normal, chemical means available on a planetary mass or its crust are unlikely to refine the isotopes, so it's reasonable to make some guesses about the original materials of the atmosphere's creation from the isotopic ratios.

  6. Look at the science by JadeBuddha23 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Vegetation on this planet has been here a huge amount of time. How much time? If all of human existence, in it's entirety, were a single pixel, the age of the earth would be nearly 6000 pixels long. Vegetation have been here for 1300 pixels. That's an awful long time for the plants (completely unencumbered by man) to create oxygen.

  7. or maybe by quickpick · · Score: 2, Funny

    God created the earth?

  8. Science? by jwiegley · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How the HELL did this article get filed under "science".

    Venus has a significant atmosphere. Saturn has an atmosphere. Neptune... atmosphere. Jupiter... ALL atmosphere. Hey, look at that! All the planets larger than Mars have a significantly thick atmosphere.

    Maybe it's as simple as their gravity is sufficient to trap gasses.

    Please refile this article under "Intellectually Bankrupt" instead.

    --
    I will never live for sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
    1. Re:Science? by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Interesting

      None of the planets you list have the proportionally large amounts of O2 that Earth does. It's not that Earth has a large atmosphere, it's that the atmosphere is in so many ways different from even the other Earth-like bodies (hint Venus and Mars' atmospheres are dominated by CO2). The gas giants are a totally different creature; they are largely made up of hydrogen.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Science? by repepo · · Score: 2, Informative

      How the HELL did this article get filed under "science".

      Venus has a significant atmosphere. Saturn has an atmosphere. Neptune... atmosphere. Jupiter... ALL atmosphere. Hey, look at that! All the planets larger than Mars have a significantly thick atmosphere.

      Maybe it's as simple as their gravity is sufficient to trap gasses.

      Please refile this article under "Intellectually Bankrupt" instead.

      I think the question is the origin of the gases, not the mechanism that keeps them trapped.

    3. Re:Science? by TapeCutter · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Life is reponsible for the O2 we see today, it's the waste product of plants photosynthesisng CO2. It's not that farfetched to think we could terraform the venutian atmosphere to contain a lot more O2 by simply sprinkling airborne photosynthetic micro-oganisimis on it.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    4. Re:Science? by TapeCutter · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "Granted, if the time frame were to match that of what it took on earth, it would take a billion years or two."

      Modern micro-organisims are many orders of magnitute more effcient at breeding and CO2 cracking than ancient stromatolites but yes it would still be a fairly slow process compared to a human life span.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  9. "analysis of krypton..." by david.emery · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... indicates that they (and the rest of our atmosphere) may be of extraterrestrial origin..

    Duh. Why do you suppose they call it "krypton," Kal-El?

  10. Gravity's just a theory by Nicolas+MONNET · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just a theory. Why should we believe it more than Intelligent Falling?