Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Scientists Have Finally Sampled the Most Abundant Material On Earth

Posted by Soulskill on from the not-made-out-of-people dept.

rossgneumann writes: The most abundant material on Earth didn't have a name, and, in fact, hadn't been seen — until now. For the first time ever, scientists have gotten their hands on a sample of bridgmanite, a mineral that is believed to make up more than a third of the volume of the Earth. In a new paper published in Science late last week, Oliver Tschauner of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and his team describe bridgmanite for the first time.

1 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wait till they see water! by bjohnson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Compared to the volume of the rest of the planet, much of it consisting of, you guessed it, bridgmanite, water is a very thin film on the surface....water is about 0.02% of the total earths' mass