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Scientists Have Finally Sampled the Most Abundant Material On Earth
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.
some info not in the summary or article:
Formula: (Mg,Fe)SiO3
System: Orthorhombic
Name:
Named in 2014 by Chi Ma and Oliver Tschauner in honor of Percy Williams Bridgman [April 21, 1882 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA - August 20, 1961 Randolph, New Hampshire, USA], winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1946 for his work in high-pressure physics.
Technically, it's not "on Earth", it's "in Earth".
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
Unobtainium has been obtained? Now it's "Misnamedium".
Table-ized A.I.
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
actually the total amount of water would only cover the entire surface with a uniform layer one fifteenth of one percent the total radius of the planet. Water is in fact, therefore, pretty scarce on Earth.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
It is to the Vogons.
I'm guessing that this is not settled science (whatever that is) and that at most they have a model to justify their model.
Hard to say at this point. I'd classify this under "basic science". We have a lot of scientific models that this research touches on: models of what the earth's interior looks like, of how rocks change under pressure, of crystal structures, etc. And in turn, a lot of practical work is based at least in part on current scientific understanding material science. So improving our understanding of basic geology is probably good for practical applications in the long term. But it's not directly applicable in the near term, as some kind of breakthrough where you're going to find houses or shoes built out of wonder-material "bridgmanite".
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I thought stupidity was the most abundant material on earth.
You will never see that happen, just as you have never seen any of the strawman garbage you attribute to "space nutters" said by any actual person.
Isn't that the stuff that Aussies make sandwiches out of?
Water is in fact, therefore, pretty scarce on Earth.
That's like arguing the material a balloon is made of is scarce on a balloon. Its true that there's not much of it in the total volume of a balloon. But it still makes up pretty much 100% of the surface area ON a balloon.
Similarly bridgmanite is pretty rare on the surface, even if it is the most common by far when you start looking further down.
It's ice cream!
We wrote some poems about it.
Well, for the most part, it's not liquid.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
How about "Gamer Tears"
You are welcome on my lawn.
How about Unobtainium?
...dirt.
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
Is it green? Ode to a lump of green putty I found in my armpit one midsummer's morning.
Water is in fact, therefore, pretty scarce on Earth.
That's like arguing the material a balloon is made of is scarce on a balloon. Its true that there's not much of it in the total volume of a balloon. But it still makes up pretty much 100% of the surface area ON a balloon.
...
Two strikes for you - first you make a poor analogy (In a completely deflated state the rubber is the entire volume and mass of the balloon), and second you missed the opportunity to make it a car analogy.
A better analogy would be that paint (or enamel) is pretty scarce on a car since such a tiny fraction of its total mass consists of paint, even though us "surfacists" consider the paint a very important characteristic of the car.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
Of course cool.
They couldn't touch it at its usual temperature!
The Bayonne Bridgemen Drum and Bugle Corps must be thrilled!!!
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Ye gods, send in the Vogon Constructor Fleet to make it quick and painless.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Wooosssh!
No, just on reddit.
There's more water on Europa than on Earth.
I donno, lately I'm finding more tech news and geek/fandom interests by browsing reddit/all than I find on Slashdot.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Water is indeed one of the most common molecules in the universe. This makes perfect sense since its two components, hydrogen and oxygen, are the first and third most common elements, and second most common, helium, does not readily form molecules.
Water is vanishingly rare on Earth compared to the universe at large.
Have gnu, will travel.
No, this is about Earth, not Mars.
Yes, that is the sound of a fast moving electric car!
abundant - existing or available in large quantities; plentiful.
sample - a small part or quantity intended to show what the whole is like.
How can something plentiful be completely inaccessible?
Yes, they correctly sampled a meteorite, they did NOT sample from the earth.
Sorry, but just because it exists in an asteroid, doesn't mean it is abundant on, or in earth.
Jason Koebler should have a lot more critical thinking in an article as important as this purported discovery.
Yep, construction filler (earth crust would collapse without it, or at least encompass small area) and a significant contribution to Earth's gravity.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
How can something plentiful be completely inaccessible?
Well, it could for example be something blocking access to it.
No-one is arguing that the sun doesn't have plenty of mass. I still consider it highly inaccessible and don't think that we will be able to get a core sample anytime soon.
No! I refuse to believe Earth has over 30% vegemite filling!
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
> abundant - existing or available in large quantities; plentiful.
...
> How can something plentiful be completely inaccessible?
The key word is "or". I.e. you can condense the above definition to read (for this case): "Abundant: existing in large quantities". Doesn't have to be accessible.
I learn from all my mistakes, I intend to be a genius at the end of my life.
I was thinking along the lines of: females are plentiful, but for a lot of slashdotters they're completely inaccessible.
They sampled the most abundant material on Earth....WELL, how did it taste?
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I believe the most abundant material on earth is not infact what they claim at all. I believe the most abundant material is actually these.
http://virulentwordofmouse.fil...
Holy Cr@p! Are you implying that Buckaroo Banzai, my hero and spiritual guide, is not real?!!? Well there goes my religion.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
No! I refuse to believe Earth has over 30% vegemite filling!
It'd explain why the oceans are so salty.
The obvious and accpted name should be, Alotofite
Pain is insignificant next to the power of the force.
Microwave before use
that's roughly equivalent to the wax layer on the skin of an apple.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Does that include the water recently found in ringwoodite?
Or the sound of a deflating balloon
Actually, TFA links to an earlier article that discusses a sample of ringwoodite (the transition layer material between upper and lower mantles) that had water trapped inside it. The whole thing was encased by a diamond that emerged in Brazil. They claim that it "confirms predictions from high-pressure laboratory experiments that a water reservoir comparable in size to all the oceans combined is hidden deep in Earth’s mantle." The ringwoodite sample was 1.5% water by weight, so water is still a small percentage of Earth's mass, but there is more than just surface water.
It's not liquid, it's not hot, and it's not magma.
Everyone knows the most abundunt material is phlogiston!
actually the total amount of water would only cover the entire surface with a uniform layer one fifteenth of one percent the total radius of the planet. Water is in fact, therefore, pretty scarce on Earth.
How many libraries of Congress is that?
They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
No, it should be pretty hot down in there. But not liquid.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
How's it feel to know all the sci-fi garbage you drank with a firehose as a kid will never, ever come true?
Sweet, we found someone who can prove a negative! Somebody get me the entire math community on the phone.
Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
How can something plentiful be completely inaccessible?
Women. To Slashdotters.
Have gnu, will travel.