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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.

6 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. (Mg,Fe)SiO3 by Noah+Haders · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  2. Summary is wrong by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 5, Informative

    Technically, it's not "on Earth", it's "in Earth".

    --
    -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  3. 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

  4. Re:Wait till they see water! by rudy_wayne · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought stupidity was the most abundant material on earth.

  5. Re: Cool by vogonity · · Score: 5, Funny

    We wrote some poems about it.

  6. Silly scientists by M0j0_j0j0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The obvious and accpted name should be, Alotofite